It seems that summer is finally, slowly, coming around. Sitting on the beach yesterday it was very pleasant, but still a bit chilly in the wind. That turned my thoughts to things you should do for your PC to get ready for the upcoming summer, and especially hurricane, season.
PCs in general don't like heat or humidity. The heat problem is mainly because today's PCs generate lots of heat internally. The processors get very hot, and RAM gets hot, and hard drives get hot, and now even plug in cards get hot. The newest breed of display controller cards (VGA cards) is so fast and sophisticated that they require built-in fans to cool them. But most PCs have adequate cooling capability - the problem is when that cooling system breaks down.
The first thing to do is to slide open the case side cover (most PCs are built that way) with the power still on. Obviously you need to be very careful here to watch out for moving components (fans) and keep away from any wires or voltage. Make sure that all the fans are running; you should see a fan on the processor, a fan at the back of the power supply, perhaps one or more case fans, and perhaps a fan on the display card. If you don't want to open your PC, or can't with the power on, there are software utilities that you can download which display and monitor temperature within the case if your PC is so equipped.
The main cause of heat buildup is dust. Now is the time to clean out that PC - shut it down, remove all the external connectors (this might be a good time to label them all if you don't know how they plug back in) and take the unit out on the back porch. Remove the case covers, and using one of those air blower cans, blow out all the dust you can find. Pay special attention to the fans themselves, and any vents or holes in the case. Don't do this in the house, as the amount of dust in there will be more than you think. If your PC is not all that dusty, you have a very clean house!
If you don't have air conditioning on, humidity is the biggest problem. This will affect the airflow inside the case, but also the moisture can cause connections to go bad. If you can't turn on the A/C, it would be best to run the PC all the time - 24 hours a day. Turning it on and off will cause condensation inside the case.
And now we come to hurricane preparedness. It's really good that you learned how to remove the cables from the back of the PC in the previous step, because in the event of an evacuation that is what you should do. Quickly remove all the external connections and put the PC itself in the car, or cover it with a plastic garbage bag and seal that as best as you can. Taking your PC with you is the easiest, quickest, and safest method of preserving your data. Don't worry about peripherals, including the monitor - they can all be replaced if need be. It's the data on your hard drive that counts! Just cover everything else with plastic.
Taking good backups is also another way to preserve your data. But you need to backup on something that you can easily carry with you. I know people who backup to a second hard drive inside their PC. This is OK, but unless you take the PC with you, you loose your backup. Backing up on an external USB hard drive is a good practice; backing up on CDs is also effective. Make sure to take the external hard drive, or CDs, with you when if you have to evacuate - put that on your emergency preparedness list.
(Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport - Oak Island area. You can visit his Website at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail questions or column ideas to him at bsc@bobseidel.com. For specific inquiries, please call Bob Seidel Consulting, LLC at 278-1007.)