Check the Cables First

By Corey Sandler, published on June 9, 2008
Source: Tom's Guide | Keywords: , , | Themes: Desktop Computers

6. Check the Cables First

Before you think I’m trying to embarrass you with a problem I haven’t had myself, let me assure you that sooner or later every computer owner — including authors of PC repair books — has a moment of sheer panic caused by something as simple as an unplugged PC or monitor or a blown fuse caused by a disagreement between the vacuum cleaner and the color TV.

Always check the electrical connection first if your computer appears to be dead. Is the PC plugged into the wall and is the other end of the power cable properly attached to the PC? Check the power outlet by plugging a lamp or radio into the socket. If your computer is plugged into a spike protector, line conditioner, or uninterruptible power supply (something I highly recommend), check that one of these protective devices hasn’t blown a fuse.

The next thing to check is the jumble of cables worming out of the back of the computer. It’s easy for one of them to get unplugged by a vacuum cleaner, your cat, or a tug from the other end of the cable.

Check all the connections to make sure that they are firmly seated on their sockets. Screw cables into connectors where possible, making certain that the plugs go into place evenly without one side off-center.

A loosely connected video cable, for example, can sometimes cause blurred characters or a color shift. A wobbly printer cable can make “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party” come out as “Mpe od yjr yo,r gpt s;; hppf ,rm yp vp,r yp yje sof pg yjr [sryu.”

Comments | Print | Send to a friend

Sponsored links

Comments

mitch074 06/09/2008 8:31 AM
Hide
-0+

Not bad, but I'll take a few exceptions:

1 - cleaning up and defragmenting your hard disk is Windows specific.
The Microsoft block allocator is brain dead, was made that way, and will remain so for as long as Diskeeper and Norton Systemworks create revenue: a Mac OS X, xBSD or Linux-based system doesn't need defragmentation(*), as it is done by the OS on every disk access. You can get efficient defragmentation by:
- disabling System Restore: it doesn't work very well anyway, is a virus nest, and eats up to 6 Gb on your hard disk.
- setting your swap file to a fixed size.
- disabling file system indexing.
- deleting DrWatson's log.
- running Ccleaner once in a while with most settings enabled: once you have applied hotfixes, you don't need the uninstall files anyway. You'll need to clean up IE7's and WMP's patches yourself though.
- make Pagedefrag run at every boot after 0 second wait: the first time it may take a while to run, but it'll keep the Registry and swap file in one piece.

(*)to be fair, such a system may still fragment if you fill up a partition with huge files when it is already more than 80% full - Windows will fragment any file if you get past 10% partition capacity. Some say it's a way to prevent data corruption, as usually adjacent sectors are more likely to get corrupted, but then if that's the case Windows doesn't fragment ENOUGH.

2 - a resident antivirus is a resource drain.
Using a limited user account, a well configured firewall (in software or hardware, preferably both), and scanning downloaded files before you run them (and not making use of MS Outlook Express, which runs files for you) will keep you safe enough.
Not using IE may help, too: Opera or Firefox can operate as pure user level processes. Firefox 3 will be able to notify antivirus when a file is downloaded (if it interacts well with ClamAV, you can dump Norton and forget about the yearly AV tax).

3 - power surge protection.
A sound advice. However, a beefy PSU that you change every 1-2 years and a good power surge preventer are, in my experience, less costly and more efficient than a pack of batteries you'll need to renew every year. A good PSU in great shape can handle brown-outs, especially if your system doesn't draw too much current, and a surge protector will cover the PSU's most damaging attack. Changing the PSU regularly ensures that its capacitors remain at peak efficiency, and that its voltage regulators work as required. It is also unsound to clean up a PSU (it's dangerous!), so getting a new one is the most efficient way to get a clean one. With Vista, no UPS lasts long enough to allow you to save your files and shut down a system cleanly.

JonnyDough 06/11/2008 2:20 PM
Hide
-0+

Quote :Speaking just for myself, I figure I drop a glass or spill a can of soda once every few months.

Clutz. I eat and drink around mine everyday and I've never once spilled so much as a drop of milk.

Anonymous 06/12/2008 8:37 PM
Hide
-0+

Milk eh?

I'd suggest keeping your files on a NAS drive or USB external drive and formatting your MS OS every year.

Besides running a limited account try Virtual Machines for avoiding those pesky viruses

Comments are closed on this page.

Sponsored links