Summer is drawing to an end and it’s been a good one.

You probably threw open all the windows and doors to keep cool while enjoying the summer breezes. And so you should – but now realize that you’ve had a lot of dust, pollen, and other things travelling throughout your home and probably being sucked up the intake fan in your desktop computer.

Computers are like televisions, they just seem to attract dust – and the problem with dust is it creates heat, and heat is the enemy of computers. You need to get rid of this dust.

Ok, now I’ve got that out of the way – still with me?

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Phillips screwdriver (cross-head)
• Paint brush
• Can of compressed air

Step 1 – Unplug the Power

This is very important! Don’t ever skip this step when you are dealing with the innards of your computer.

Remove the power cable and all other cables from the back of the computer.

Step 2 – Remove the case panel

Most standard computer cases have two screws at the back holding on the side panel on the case. Unscrew and remove these and slide off the panel. When you face the front of the computer you usually want to remove the panel on the left.

This will expose the motherboard, fan, wires, disks, etc.

Step 3 – Air and brush

First, let’s talk about using compressed or canned air. This air is under pressure and if you just pull the trigger and let it blow then you will notice the can gets very cold very quickly. This is bad and causes condensation (water) which is obviously bad for electrical circuits! What you want is short bursts of no more than 1 second with the can held about 6 inches away. Do this wrong and you risk a dead computer!

Ugh, see all those grey brown dust clusters at the bottom of the computer? You may want to do this outside or in an easily cleanable area. You can pick out by hand the largest ones.

Start at the top and blow out the power supply where the power cord plugs in (you removed it in Step 1 right?!)

Work your way down and use the paint brush to gently help stubborn areas – gently!

Pay particular attention to both the power supply and the CPU fan and heat sink – but be very careful not to allow any condensation. If you see evaporation and white smudge then your are holding the air can to close or spraying for too long.

Step 4 – Check Connections

Before we close up the case, check that all the ribbon cables and other power connections are all tight (and still connected!)

If you have any suspicion that you may have caused condensation then now leave the case open for 20 minutes.

Step 5 – Attach Case Panel

Slide the case panel back on and tighten down the two screws.

Step 6 – Attach Cables

Re-attach all the cables, putting the power cable back last.

Now the moment of truth. Turn the computer back on and make sure it boots up correctly. If you have any problems at this point it is hopefully due to either cables at the back of the computer that are incorrectly plugged, or one of the cables inside is disconnected or incorrect.

Most cables are coded and shaped in such a way that they can only plug in one place. Make sure all the connections are tight.

It’s really pretty hard to actually break the computer while cleaning it unless you’re just rough or knocked something inside. However if the computer will not start up, don’t play too much as this might cause further damage. Take the computer to a competent service provider and have them check it.

No more dust!

Now that your computer is dust-free it will run cooler and better throughout the winter. Enjoy using it and give some thought to maybe doing this again in the spring.

/Technicalguy

Need help or technical information? Call Foreverwarm Consulting’s mobile support number at 604-715-5107

Foreverwarm Consulting Inc provides peace of mind to small businesses through proactive computer and network support.

FOREVERWARM CONSULTING INC
Call: 604-715-5107

Learn how to optimize Outlook 2007 to manage your job search activities

“Your job search is a process. Actually, it is a multi-process, with many concurrent processes (based on multiple employer contacts) taking place at the same time.” (College Grad Job Hunter by Brian Krueger)


Learn how to use Outlook 2007′s Tasks, Calendar, and Contacts to organize and stay in control of your job search multi-processes.

Try it now! View the first 5 pages

We will show you how to:

• Separate your job emails from your regular emails
• Separate your potential employer contacts from your friends and  relatives
• Use Calendar to schedule important job search activities
• Use Outlook Tasks to easily manage and review your job searching To Do’s

US$14.95

Searching for a Job is time consuming, with lots of little activities that hopefully culminate into an interview and offer. You’ve gone to a lot of work to seek out potential employers, replying to ads, pushing out resumes. Don’t let all that good activity turn into a missed job opportunity because you missed a follow-up date or appointment.

Stay on top of potential employer communications, be able to quickly scan and review what needs to be done next and done today. Confidently prioritize your job search tasks because you will know what is more important.

This 20 page guide offers a process to keep track of all your job opportunity activities, all in one place, Outlook 2007.

This e-Book is available online, right now, for US$14.95. You can begin getting in control of your job search today.

“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.”
- Milton Berle

If you have every tried to sell something on Craigslist you know that responses can appear very quickly – sometimes almost immediately after you finish your listing. How do they know? How can YOU know when Craigslist is selling something you want?

Craigslist has become something of a cultural phenomonon, with 41.4 million visitors in the month of January 2009, according to techcrunchies.com. It has listings for countries and cities around the world and sells everything under the sun.

Here’s how to use Craigslist to your advantage when looking for that next car, house, gadget, or job.

Searching

Craigslist’s search features are quite powerful and can help you filter down to exactly what you want. We’re going to search for a wine fridge for my overflowing wine collection. Here’s the steps:

Step 1 – how to search

I purposefully picked a search term that was two words (wine fridge) to emphasize a point. If you go to the Vancouver version of craigslist.com and type in the words wine rack you will get, as of this writing, 17 responses. However if you search for “wine fridge” with the enclosed quotes you will only get 8 responses. Why is this?

Enclosing your search term in quotes makes Craigslist search for the two words together, whereas without quotes it searches for each word inidividually. In our search 17 people listed something with either the word “wine” or the word “fridge” in it, however only 8 are actually selling a “wine fridge”.

Step 2 – Picture or no picture

I don’t know about you, but I prefer those people who have taken the time to include a picture with their submission. Clicking the “has image” box in the search window at the top of the page will filter anyone who has not included a picture. This reduced the search to only 4 sellers for our wine fridge.

Step 3 – Other Filters

Depending on what you are searching for you can select price, number of bedrooms, etc, and you also have the tabs across the top to filter by city location.

Step 4 – Keep the search

Now the fun part! Once you have the search the way you want and are getting the listings that properly match what you are looking for, scroll to the very bottom of the page. At the bottom-right you will see this

If you use Yahoo’s RSS reader you can click the link and it will add itself automatically. If not simply right-click on the RSS icon and copy the link, then paste it into your favorite RSS reader.

If you are using Outlook 2003 or Thunderbird you have a RSS reader built-in. If not there are many free RSS readers out there including Google and Yahoo.

So there you go! Now, when someone adds a Craigslist submission that matches your search term you will be the first to know and be able to respond before that beloved item gets snatched by someone else.

Got any other Craigslist tips? Let us know!