One other thing.
Try not to be afraid of your computer. They're not quite as fragile as people think. YES it's a good idea to be cautious. But no more so than working
around a car engine. Almost nothing you do with the system can't be fixed. There's always a way to solve or work around a problem.
DON'T PANIC!
Don't be afraid to open the side of your computer and take a peek. You don't have to do anything major, but I agree - first thing is look at the
cooling fans and see if they're working, see if they're covered in dust. If you have a separate video card, check and see if it has it's own
cooling fan. (most of the newer ones do have a small cooling fan) And do the same as above. Can of compressed air to everything that looks dusty.
If a fan is not working, try leaving the side of the case open and placing a small fan blowing air into the computer to help circulate the air. Don't have
it pointed perfectly straight on. Place it at an angle so as to encourage the air inside the case to circulate. This has the advantage over the short term of
helping your computer cool down if it's having problems, and the long term disadvantage of leaving more dust inside the case to be cleaned later.
I'm currently having to use this solution myself as the fan on my video card has gone bye bye and now the video card has a tendency to overheat. I try to
blow out the dust from the computer every few days. I could get away with not worrying about this quite so often if we didn't have a cat in the house.
>.>
Again - I want to reiterate: Try not to be afraid of your computer. The damn thing's not going to bite you after all. ^_^
Try not to be afraid of your computer. They're not quite as fragile as people think. YES it's a good idea to be cautious. But no more so than working
around a car engine. Almost nothing you do with the system can't be fixed. There's always a way to solve or work around a problem.
DON'T PANIC!
Don't be afraid to open the side of your computer and take a peek. You don't have to do anything major, but I agree - first thing is look at the
cooling fans and see if they're working, see if they're covered in dust. If you have a separate video card, check and see if it has it's own
cooling fan. (most of the newer ones do have a small cooling fan) And do the same as above. Can of compressed air to everything that looks dusty.
If a fan is not working, try leaving the side of the case open and placing a small fan blowing air into the computer to help circulate the air. Don't have
it pointed perfectly straight on. Place it at an angle so as to encourage the air inside the case to circulate. This has the advantage over the short term of
helping your computer cool down if it's having problems, and the long term disadvantage of leaving more dust inside the case to be cleaned later.
I'm currently having to use this solution myself as the fan on my video card has gone bye bye and now the video card has a tendency to overheat. I try to
blow out the dust from the computer every few days. I could get away with not worrying about this quite so often if we didn't have a cat in the house.
>.>
Again - I want to reiterate: Try not to be afraid of your computer. The damn thing's not going to bite you after all. ^_^