Dusting Your Computer - Keeping it Cool by Steve Perlow
My mother always told me to dust, but I never did, mostly because I was lazy, but also because I couldn't find any tangible benefit to dusting. I just didn't see how I'd benefit from my room or my things being less dusty. Well now I've gotten a bit older, and I finally found a reason to dust - a... To get the computer running at full load I ran two instances of Prime95, a math application that will max out a CPU (2 copies running, one each for 2 CPUs), and copied 2 GB of Music on the hard drive to another folder on the same drive.

Reformat Hard Drive Under XP? by Bob Rankin
Do You Really Want To Format That Hard Drive? Be forewarned, formatting a hard drive is MUCH different than formatting a Word document. The format will erase *everything* on the disk (the operating system, your programs and data files) and leave you unable to even boot up the PC. ... But before you go all samurai on your hard drive, I recommend you follow all the steps in my Make Windows Run Faster! ... If you really want to format your hard drive... ... But first you'll probably want to back up your hard drive, or at least part of it.

Setting up a Tape Backup Strategy for your Business by Linus Chang
So you know a little bit about tape backup, but you're wondering how to set up a tape backup strategy for your business. Well, let's take a look at 3 simple steps to setting up a complete backup solution. Step 1: Purchase your tape backup hardware Firstly, purchase the tape backup hardware. ... If you need to perform file server backup (or Exchange Server backup or SQL Server backup) for small business, then one of the following tape drives should suffice: * Travan cartridge drive (up to 10 Gb) * DDS tape backup drive (up to 20 Gb) * DDS tape backup drive with hardware data compression...

2 Tips to Getting the Best Data Recovery Companies on Your Side by Tony Roberts
Forbid it that you have to experience a major hard disk crash – containing a lifetime of work – before considering the importance of your company’s data. Since today’s economy is becoming increasingly technology driven, the loss of sensitive data without backups is tantamount having your... It would also be advisable that you refrain from doing anything to your hard disk as you could very well exacerbate the damage to the drive. ... You will want to choose the right company to deal with the kind of media you need recovered – hard disks, CD-ROMS, tape media, etc.

Why You Should Not Attempt a "Do It Yourself" Data Recovery by Andrea Stone
Data recovery is a highly specialized and complicated procedure. Care must be taken to prevent the disturbance of the fragile components that reside in a hard drive or other media. For this reason, data recovery can be expensive. Many people receive a price quote from a data recovery company and... Do Not Open a Failed Hard Drive to Attempt Recovery Many people do not understand the delicacy of the internal components of a hard drive. ... Do Not Freeze or Heat the Failed Hard Drive Many people have read about freezing a failed hard drive in order to recover the data.

Take Computer to a Trained Professional For Computer Repair by James Hunt
Computers are expensive devices that are changing every day. Computer specialists are working very hard to come up with new computer programs all the time. This means that you need to keep on top of things as well. Sometimes computer’s break down and need to be fixed. ... If you are hearing a grinding noise in your computer, then this usually means that there is a problem with the hard drive. ... What you need to do is back up all data that you do not want lost and have to replace the hard drive.

10 Tips to Keep Your PC in Tiptop Shape by Gary Hendricks
1. Get Rid of Dust One of the most common causes of overheating is dust and dirt. So you need to keep your system clean, inside and out. Try to clean it once a year using lint-free wipes. Make sure you use an antistatic wrist strap as well to protect your system when cleaning inside the case. ... Hard Drive Health Check If you use Windows XP, you should regularly check your hard disk's health with an error-checking utility. ... If the check discovers several hundred errors, your drive could be full of bad sectors - you'd best backup your important data and then try to get it repaired.

Stop Computer-Killing Dust in its Tracks by Erik Keranen
It attacks your computer like the South American army ant. Tiny, harmless looking critters by themselves, in larger numbers they can cover, kill and dissolve a full grown cow in a matter of hours. Okay, maybe not exactly like that. But, wood shop and machine shop owners are experiencing the... The most important thing is to maintain a regular computer cleaning schedule. ... You don’t have to buy all kinds of expensive tools and cleaning agents, and no heavy scrubbing or complicated disassembly is needed.

Your Hard Drive is Going to Explode – Why a UPS is Essential by Kevin Souter
It’s most peoples worst computing nightmare. You wake up in the morning, flip on the computer, and it doesn’t boot. Sometimes the problem rears its ugly head as a horrific clacking noise. Other times it simply gives a read error. At this point, most people panic. ... In other cases, if you want it badly enough, it will take thousands of dollars and a shipment of the drive to a clean lab where they will pull the platters inside of the drive and access them that way. ... While it is not fool-proof, having something that regulates the electricity flowing into your computer can reduce the risk...

3 Things You Need To Know Before Installing Windows Vista by Aaron Smith
The new generation of Microsoft Windows known as Vista was released earlier this year. Most new computers bought since the end of January will come preloaded with Windows Vista, but there are many people with older computers that will want to upgrade from Windows XP. ... This is when you format your hard drive, wiping everything clean that's on there now and installing Windows from scratch. ... If your video card isn't up to the task but the rest of your computer is Vista ready, you can upgrade to a newer card that will support it without having to buy a whole new computer.