Safe Computing 101 - Basic Computer Safety and Maintenance

The enemies of disk drives are dust, heat, impacts, liquid, voltage spikes, and Windows (I might

Should you spill onto your keyboard or laptop without such a covering in the way, immediately flip over the keyboard

Another kind of voltage spike is a static discharge. This is what you get when you shuffle around on the carpet, then kiss your significant other, or zap your little brother in the cheek with your finger. It's actually high voltage and can damage your computer, especially if you have opened up the box Norton Internet Security Customer Support Telephone touched something inside. You can discharge yourself (after you have stopped shuffling on the carpet!) by touching grounded metal before touching your computer.

Heat

Heat is public enemy number one for computers. Heat kills computers and disk drives. Disk drives generate heat and many people stack several disk drives together in their computer with no Midevil Fantasy Blog Journal Web Page Templates between. Don't do it! Or at least add a hard drive cooling fan, which can be had for less than $5 at places like geeks.com. If possible, keep your computer out of sunny windows, and in a room (or car) at a reasonable temperature. If it's uncomfortably warm for you, it may also be so for your computer.

Dust

Heat and dust walk hand in hand to damage your computer. Dust makes a fine blanket that accumulates over time to heat up you disk drive, your processor, plug up your fan, and - as an added bonus it's conductive and can short out components in your computer. What to do?

Change the computer's location. A computer on the floor especially on a rug under your desk - is a prime candidate for getting an internal blanket of dust. Place the computer off the floor preferably a foot or more off the floor and on a hard surface. Many of us have a desk that has a perfect little enclosed spot just made for a computer. It is also a perfect breeding ground for dust bunnies.

Dust out your computer every three months or so. If you've never done it, you will be shocked at how much dust comes out of it. You'll want to use clean compressed air canned air works great, but if using an air compressor, make sure the air coming out is clean and dry by blowing it at a piece of white notebook paper first. Dirty or wet don't use it. If using canned air, don't shake the can while spraying, or you will spray out ice-cold propellant that give components a thermal shock and wastes your canned air as well.

You will want to have the computer unplugged. If possible, you'll want to have the computer's case open (unless it is a laptop). Blow out the system fan and any other fans that you see. Be careful not to dislodge the fan on the processor chip on the mother board. Blow out the space between the hard drives. Blow from the back of CD or DVD drives, and from the front of any floppy drives. Blow out any Email Marketing Vs Direct Mail like USB Dlp Hdtv Hl Monitor P6163 Samsung or memory card slots. Blow out any other vents or slots. Keep going until no more dust comes out.

So, to review: heat bad, dust bad, dropping bad, liquid bad, voltage spikes bad, Windows it's up to you.

To remedy: keep your computer comfortably cool; dust it out from time to time; locate it in an area free from bumping doors, feet, printers or pets; use a UPS; and for goodness sake, when you drink, practice safe...computing.

Steve Burgess is a freelance technology writer, a practicing computer forensics specialist as the principal of Burgess Forensics, and a contributor to the just-released Scientific Evidence in Civil and Criminal Cases, 5th Edition by Moenssens, et al. Mr. Burgess may be reached at http://www.datarecoveryworldwide.com or via email at info@datarecoveryworldwide.com