Laptops are usually built with intake or outtake ventilation on the bottom. Should these vents become blocked with thick carpets or even your legs, the fans won’t be able to draw heat away from the interior and the laptop will begin to overheat. Effectively, this means that laptop fans will not work . . . → Read More: Overheating Laptops are a Serious Issue]]> Heat is the enemy of electronic components. Desktops benefit from plenty of space for several fans. This makes the dissipation of heat simpler. Sadly, it is more difficult when you are dealing with a laptop. There are very few ways to control the operating temperature of your notebook.

Laptops are usually built with intake or outtake ventilation on the bottom. Should these vents become blocked with thick carpets or even your legs, the fans won’t be able to draw heat away from the interior and the laptop will begin to overheat. Effectively, this means that laptop fans will not work when resting in your lap. While a little heat now and again won’t instantly break your computer, this will damage the delicate components over time.

Some laptop cooling issues are not caused by obstructed vents, although it’s the most common issue. Running your laptop in an extremely hot environment can result in internal heating issues. It’s wise not to leave your laptop on a hot surface such as a metal table out in the sun or next to a hot stove. Keeping laptops off hot surfaces and away from heat sources are two easy ways to cut down on overheating problems caused by environmental issues.

A few companies sell stands and cooling pads that you can purchase for your laptop. If the fans are correctly positioned on this device, you could safely rest your notebook in your lap with a cooling pad. A notebook stand is a device that holds up your laptop to allow for better air circulation. A cooling pad is a powered device that uses fans like the ones inside your computer to pull heat away from your notebook. A cooling pad will usually connect to your laptop for power. They can also have power adapters that plug into a typical wall socket. These pads contain fans that will help cool the computer. The fans will either draw air to or from the laptop. You will want to choose a fan configuration that cooperates with the built-in fans on your machine. These notebook coolers are made with plastic or aluminum. Since it draws heat away from your laptop, aluminum is the preferred material.

However, if you are dealing with a recurring overheating issue, you are probably going to need a more complicated solution. Like any part of your laptop, the internal fans can fail. If your laptop suddenly develops a heating problem that it didn’t in the past, a broken fan could be the cause. Don’t attempt to fix this yourself: opening up your laptop can void the warranty and you could damage the very delicate hardware. Another complex issue that can arise is that Sometimes the thermal paste inside the laptop will stop functioning. In this case, new thermal paste should be applied. Again, this is not something that a novice user should attempt. This requires taking the laptop apart for serious work.

Heat is terribly dangerous for a laptop. As a result of their compact design, it is complicated to effectively cool these miniature machines. This means that a laptop’s operating temperatures should be checked on occasion. If you see high temperatures, you should have it serviced the first chance you get. This will massively extend the life of your laptop. You should be able to look up the proper operating temperature of your laptop on the web. You can use a sensor monitoring program to check that your components are operating at a safe level.

If you suspect that your laptop is having overheating issues, you can always call the folks at Geek Choice. Geek Choice is a national computer repair company offering on-site assistance for any problem. An overheating laptop that doesn’t improve with simple fixes (like keeping it off of soft or hot surfaces) needs immediate attention before any damage is done to the hardware.

There are a few good reasons why someone might not be satisfied with the standard builds available on the market. If you are a gamer, for example, you will probably need a high performance graphics card in your computer. A quality GPU is needed to play many cutting . . . → Read More: The Joys of Assembling Your Own Computer]]> For the vast majority of users, pre-built computers get the job done. However, for people who want a top end machine without breaking the budget, building your own computer can be a relatively inexpensive solution. Although the task may seem intimidating, assembling your own computer can be much simpler than it seems.

There are a few good reasons why someone might not be satisfied with the standard builds available on the market. If you are a gamer, for example, you will probably need a high performance graphics card in your computer. A quality GPU is needed to play many cutting edge video games. These cards are rarely expensive but are simply left out of many manufacturer’s systems. Gaming optimized hardware are usually included in much more costly machines. As if this weren’t enough, many computers do not include a power supply strong enough to run a quality video card. For someone who wants to play video games on a budget, this means performing some serious surgery on an inexpensive off-the-shelf system. However, if you are willing to build a system from scratch, you will have a fairly easy time buying a competitive setup at a low price, and you won’t have to deal with the frustration of a slow computer.

Building your own high performance computer is a simpler process than it might appear at first. You only really need a few basic parts. The short list includes a power supply, motherboard, processor, case, hard drive, and DVD drive. RAM is another necessity. If you want high quality graphics, you can include a quality video card in your shopping list. There are many more optional hardware components to choose from as well. Buying your own pieces allows you to customize your system to run the programs that you prefer. This can save quite a bit of money. Manufacturers frequently include hardware that will exceed the requirements you need in one category while failing to provide quality components in another.

The power supply is a particularly underrated piece of hardware. Future upgrades will only be made possible by having a good quality power supply. The same is true of the motherboard; a poor or outdated motherboard will not be compatible with high performance processors. You should choose a motherboard that has good upgrade potential. Your processor and motherboard must be compatible, otherwise your entire system will not function. If you invest most of your budget in those two pieces, you will be able to upgrade very easily in the future.

Once you have purchased your parts, make sure that you have the proper tools to put together your computer. You will probably only need a small phillips-head screwdriver, but other tools may be necessary. You can ask at the store or a representative online whether you will need additional tools when you purchase your parts. It would be a good idea to purchase an anti-static wrist bracelet while you are getting the hardware. Static electricity can damage your valuable computer parts. Since an anti-static wrist bracelet costs so little, you should purchase one for good measure.

Putting together the computer will be a bit of a challenge for the first-timer. Have patience. Carefully read the instructions that come with each component. Watch a few instructional videos. Take note of the shapes of each connector, they are specifically designed only to fit into the correct socket. Never try to force a part that does not look like it matches the slot you are attempting to fit it in. You should leave a little room in the budget for unexpected expenses; your first build might involve some accidental damage to parts. Do not dispose of any of the packaging or receipts for the components until you have finished building and tested your PC. You may find that certain parts do not work together despite appearing to be compatible, or a few parts may suffer from manufacturing errors that render them non-functional. Any such parts must be replaced with working, compatible equivalents.

Once you have completed your first machine, you will have an excellent, personalized computer and a sense of accomplishment. It will also be very easy for you to upgrade in the future. While the vast majority of consumers will be sated with pre-built computers, the user with specialized needs will find this strategy much cheaper.

Since computer repair is our business here at Geek Choice, we spend a lot of time rebuilding computers, testing hardware, and resolving compatibility problems. If you run into any issues while putting together your own computer, whether it’s trying to pick out the right power supply for your needs or troubleshooting a newly assembled machine that isn’t working, don’t hesitate to give us a call at 1-800-GEEK-HELP (433-5435) for advice or on-site support for all your tech needs.

Most unwitting consumers will start their system up with . . . → Read More: Never Ending Fight Versus Bloatware]]> The average person will get their system from a big manufacturer. This big manufacturer designs lots of computers with identical specifications. For the typical consumer, this will fit basic hardware requirements. However, there is a dark side to this arrangement. Bloatware is a sort of software that a manufacturer bundles in your start up process as part of an exclusive marketing deal. While some of the programs are valuable, there are often too many. To make matters worse, loading them all at start up will probably result in serious performance problems.

Most unwitting consumers will start their system up with bloatware and never eliminate it. Extra programs will creep their way into the start up process of the system over time. Ultimately, the system could perform like the target of a nasty malware attack. A couple of these bloatware programs require an active subscription. When you don’t choose to purchase it, the program remains on your system. It will periodically remind you to buy the subscription and continue to strain your processor.

For this reason, anyone who gets a system from a big name manufacturer should consider spending an evening dealing with this bloatware. It isn’t very prudent to allow your system to launch all of these programs at the same time. This chews up a huge amount of your system resources. This will in turn put undue wear on your processor. A fresh boot will allow you to get the most out of your brand new hardware.

To eliminate the bloatware, you will need to uninstall it from your system. If you’re using Windows, you can disable these items in the Startup and Services tabs of your MSConfig feature. This will prevent these programs from booting during the start up of your operating system.

You may possibly want to save a couple of these programs. The manufacturers occasionally include a couple programs that are actually valuable. Nevertheless, it could not be smart to allow them to load during the boot process. When you get your system, try out each program to settle on which ones you intend to keep.

If you build your own system, you won’t need to deal with bloatware. You will probably be installing a clean version of your favorite operating system without any extra software. While this will leave you without some software that you will probably need, you will have a much faster system. Most of these programs cover basic functions. You can usually find better-quality software online for free.

It’s regrettable that manufacturers have chosen to sell out the performance and stability of their builds to these invasive programs. It does allow you to get a lot of software at a lower price. This is the sole advantage. The software included may well have many programs that a broad spectrum of consumers would appreciate, but it’s uncommon that a solitary user would want everything that is pre-installed on their system. This means that you would need to be a really special consumer to actually be thankful for all of the bloatware programs that your manufacturer decided to provide.

When you get a new system, it’s probably wise to set aside an evening to eliminate bloatware after you get settled. It’s also wise to modify your operating system; operating systems often include unnecessary services that slow down your system as well. For some reason, software manufacturers adore forcing users to open all of their programs at the same time. Your computer delivers significantly better performance when you only open the programs you mean to use.

If you’re unable to eliminate bloatware from your system, consider the help of Geek Choice. Geek Choice is a computer repair company that offers nationwide support. Geek Choice is committed to offering on-site service to help in getting the best performance out of your system. If you need help with your system, contact a customer service representative at 1-800-GEEK HELP (433-5435).