HSC Newsletter – September 2016

Keeping Cool

Dear reader,

First off, our apologies for missing the August edition of the newsletter, what with holidays, a busy workload and some tough problems to solve, we just missed out on the deadline. My hat is proverbially ‘tipped’ to any journalists, bloggers, writers or anyone else out there for that matter, writing to a deadline…!

Hopefully you’ve all been enjoying the last few days of unusually warm September sunshine *(Although as I’m writing, the heavens appear to have opened and we should perhaps start counting the animals two by two…) or did so over the summer break, perhaps lounging outside in the sun, or cooling down with a nice iced beverage. As I’m sure you can imagine our digital devices aren’t such ‘fans’ of the warm weather, and much like us humans, over heating can cause serious problems.

Over the summer we have had a succession of failed and failing computers in for repair, all due to over heating and cooling fan failures, so we thought we would share a few examples with you.

Here is a short video of an Apple Mac whose graphics card has failed due to clogged fans and thus overheating, unfortunately this is now not cost effective to repair. LINK

This is a screen shot of my own iPhone I was using to listen to music on the beach in the hot weather, this happened even though it was kept it in the shade!

There are some do’s and don’ts to help keep your equipment cool and safe from overheating.

1. Keep it ventilated: A common issue to be aware of involves using a laptop in bed or on a blanket. In doing this, the duvet or blanket tend to block vent’s so hot air cannot escape, it also acts as an insulator keeping the heat in and heating the whole computer. The solution would be to keep it on something hard and flat like a tray large book. This would at least allow minimal air flow under the laptop.
2. Placement: On a PC tower, you can check were the air ventilation holes are, usually they are on the side. Make sure that the side is not pressed up against a wall or desk blocking the air.
3. Keep it clean: For many of us, our ‘desktop’ computers should perhaps be called ‘underdesk’ computers…! It’s easy for dust to accumulate when the computers are stored on the floor or carpet, check out this video of a seriously dusty PC! LINK
4. Scan for viruses: Machines infected with viruses and malware will generate extra heat and require the fan to work doubly hard to cool it down. Often because the processor inside is being used constantly by the infection, or antivirus program, this constant use will not only slow the system down but also generate unwanted noise as well as heat.
5. Avoid the sun: If you keep your laptop or computer near a window you should take care to avoid direct sunlight on to the machine, as this will only add to the heat generated.

As part of our ‘Heath Check PC MOT’ we will clean out the cooling fans of your laptop or tower to help keep them running at their best. Keeping computers cool is important all the time not only in hot weather, as you can see overheating issues can be very serious and can cause irreparable damage.

Eye Candy

Some computer users go to extreme lengths to keep their PC’s cool, these days’ lots of top end gaming machines come with liquid cooling systems, where excess heat is channelled away from vital components in a more effective manner. These systems are popular among gamers not only for their heat channelling prowess but there *cough ‘cool’ factor. Elaborate systems include LED lighting, Transparent cases and coloured cooling liquid giving a very interesting and futuristic look to otherwise dull black or grey PC Cases. Check out these examples.

Don’t forget here at High Street Computers we build custom PC’s to order, and given the right budget you can make a pretty awesome machine, including liquid cooling and completely unnecessary but totally awesome LED lights. Ideal as a birthday or Christmas present, get in touch with a budget and/or requirements for a particular game HERE if you would like a free custom build quote.

Yours Andrew…

P.S. Please feel free leave comments below, or suggestions for future Newsletter topics!