Good computer ventilation

I have seen nice computers used at the office or the factory. They are bought maybe because the old computers are not able to perform or degraded and maybe also bought to accommodate new staff. But after a while I do see a similar pattern. When, a person workload gets more and more, by the day. The paperwork piles up on their desk or bottom of their desk, and the papers are stack very close to the computers. Same thing applies for the factory computers, carton of boxes of wood and metal plates are always kept near and close to the computers.

And at times, offices want to look neat and tidy. They build a cabinet box to house the computer unit to hide it. The cabinet that houses those computer is so tightly compact that the computer fit just enough for it to go in, and though they have made holes for air to flow out at the back, the cabinet is pushed very close to the wall. Is it because they want to save space?

Computers need to BREATHE, YES! You heard me right. They need to breathe not like us, computer takes in cooler air, when the cpu fan blows towards the cpu chip that churns out heat from processing data, and the hot air is pushed out. Then there is a fan at the power supply unit which cools down the circuit and heatsink inside. Sometimes, a bigger fan will be installed on the inside casing to draw cooler air into the casing.

You can have a lot of fans installed into the computer, but if the entire intake is blocked by stacking papers or boxes at the side and back of the computer, the fan will find it hard to draw in cool air.

Have you tried going in a small storeroom with the door close and try to arrange stuff inside, It would be save to say within a minute or more you will start to sweat and after a few minutes, stuffy and gets hotter, why?

The hot air is circulation inside the storeroom and not able to get out fast enough, now try to open the door and you will feel fresh cool air rushing in and no more hot air. When you breathe in the air, it is cool and you will find that, you sweat less and your body begins to cool down.

Same thing that is happening to the computer, if cooler air is blocked from going in, the hot air will circulate inside and it and if it gets too hot computer might shutdown as it has a built in thermostat to monitor cpu chip heat, to keep it from overheating. Too much heat might cause other hardware problems to the main board, to the capacitors and hard disk as well in the long run.

Always give enough space, a simple touch of your hand onto the casing top or side of it can tell you if it is warm or hot. If it is hot, then not enough ventilation is provided and you need to do something about it.

It especially needs good ventilation when some are switched on 24/7, all the time. If you have a chance, try to visit a big server room or an IT facility room, the place is not only clean its FREEEEEEZING cold!

Backup your data, please

Many times, when someone needs help in most cases is while data get corrupted. Previously, when floppy disk (1.44MB) was used, corrupt data will show CRC error (cyclic redundancy check). It might be a scratch on the drive or mold grown or floppy disk drive head is dirty. We had a lot of problem back then, to save the data.

Nowadays as storage becomes larger, more data can be stored and makes a person more dependent to keep a lot of data on one place. And when storage is accumulated till it's full they will find it hard to backup.

The data which most people are concern with, which i come across:

1. Photos taken during holiday trips
2. Photos taken as proof of work completion (field work or site projects)
3. Accounting software data.
4. Excel files with formula calculation on staff salary/over-time/allowance or account bookkeeping.
5. Word files of legal documents and company profile
6. E-mails in outlook express, microsoft outlook, live mail, eudora, etc..
7. Contacts and data sync from mobile phone to computer.
8. Music and video files

 Reasons for not backing up data that i hear most often:

1. Real busy no time to do it.
2. Too much data to backup, don't know where to start.
3. Thought the computer will backup itself.
4. Always delaying to buy backup storage media, no budget.
5. My IT guy will do it for me.
6. Data is huge, take a long time to backup, so i do it once a month or maybe once every 3 months.
7. Not good at using the computer, afraid i will delete something, i only open files, amend and save the work given.
8. Backing up data is not my job (most frequent with management staff in office environment)
9. Does backup but don't do a proper backup as data is all over the place in the computer hard disk.
10. Backup data is difficult, because every time a change is made, means have to make a copy and overwrite the data on my storage media, if not data won't be up to date, double work, very troublesome.
11. Nobody taught me to backup (in the office, they can download video and song media and transfer to the external drive to bring home. Isn't that a form of backup?).

 Ways of backing up data:

1. CD/ DVD can store 600MB/ 4.7GB. Suitable for small file backup.
2. Thumb drive/Pen drive from 1GB to 64GB. Suitable for being portable and light weight. Easy to carry around in pocket or put into handbag.
3. External drive (portable hard disk). More storage up to 2TB (2000GB). Can keep a lot of data. Will take some time to copy if data amount is huge.
4. Small files up to around 15MB to 20MB at a time, can be saved at e-mail server.
5. Can rent space on online storage to keep data.
6. NAS (Network-attached storage). Need to do setting on it once, to set which folder and schedule to backup. Can access to it anywhere around the world if both side have internet access, log in to the system open files and edit. Have other good features. Will auto backup. Hard disk size depends on model type and most will have 2 hard disk or more. 

Those that have problems with missing or corrupted data  will understand the pain of rebuilding their work done from scratch. They will spend long hours going through items and to key in data back to the computer system software. Please do make it a habit to do backup at least once a week or if you could daily, would be best if you are going to have huge data.

Doing it daily might use up not more than 10 minutes of your time, but rebuilding missing data can take up many many many hours and sleepless nights.

Saving Files to Documents and Folders

There have been many times, a lot of people that work on the computer and find out that they don't maintain their files saved and folders created properly. Some were saved in My Documents some in Downloads, some in C drive, some in D drive, some in Public folder and even some in Windows directory. Files were all over the computer hard disk and is not arranged, so when it is time to look for it they get into trouble.

So the fastest way of looking for the file is, if you remember the name of the file you can always go to Start and on top of the start button will be the Search programs and files and type in the file name and click on the search icon beside it in windows 7.

In the old days (and even today) before computer were available, i asked, how do the files and folders were arrange to the filing cabinet? Normally the paper would be arrange by name or date and then kept in a file for the person or company name. And they are arranged in alphabetical order in the filing cabinet. Or if you want to separate out personal and company then you could, a bit more work but faster to find.

Same with the computer, if you think that My Documents is a good to save all your documents and files, and making it the main filing cabinet the please do so. If not, and you want to make D drive as your main filing cabinet you can do so as well.

But please make sure to do create folders and sub-folders properly. Example:
Inside My Documents Folder
You create a main folder name for COMPANY A
Inside the folder (sub-folder) one for Director 1, one for Director 2

So anytime you draft a file for director 1 and try to save it, you have to save as and look for My Documents then COMPANY A then Director 1.

There are times when we create too many documents we don't remember when it was done and when we save a file with the same name it will overwrite the existing file. If you would want to keep the existing file the you have to give a different name.

What i like to normally do is to name my files or folder using the date format.
Example
year first (2013) month second (10) and date third (01) and a name last (companyA).
So it will look like this 20131001companyA. 

So if the file is not there first thing you can search is the year like 2013 and all words containing 2013 will appear.


I have seen this format many a times while doing scanning and also while transferring images from digital camera to the computer and find that it is a good format to use and it has never fail me yet. So you might want to give it a try.

The real purpose is when you arrange and do proper file management, you will know exactly, what date the document was created and where the files are stored or kept and will not need help to find those files.



 

Windows 7 login corrupt

Facing some issues on some computers this September month, so i am going to log it to the blog today.

To start with, windows 7 screen will appear with the usual startup after power on. Logo will come on as usual and for those that have a password login account, you log in by typing the password.

After that you will notice that after a few seconds a screen will notify you stating “The user profile service failed the logon, user profile cannot be loaded”. Then your next thought is that you have keyed in the wrong password and try to do key in again. Again same message appears.

Next you try to shut down, the power up the computer again and try to key in password again. Same message comes out. In big trouble now?

Let’s try to restart the computer press F8 key on the top first row keyboard button. Sometimes you have to press fast a few times until a screen comes out with a black screen with white text and words like

Repair your Computer

Safe Mode

Safe Mode With Networking

Safe Mode With Command Prompt

Etc….

First, try to “Repair your Computer” and follow the instructions and a screen will appear to try to repair. Let it run till finish, if you find that it takes too long and try to cancel, it will inform you that process is still running. Please do not restart or power off the computer at this stage, might do more harm than good.

If all goes well it will say repair successful, exit and restart the computer. See if you can go login your account.

If there is a problem, it will say that it can’t repair and you will be given an option to go to the startup recovery. Just shut down computer.

Right, if you still can login with the password, then we shall move to the next available option. Start the computer again and press F8 till you go back to the black screen again. This time choose the Safe Mode. Window screen appear and login in as usual.

If you can login here then you will see that everything is larger, no there is nothing wrong with your eyes and no the screen did not increase in size. When the computer runs in safe mode, it’s running on default setting and loads up basic command so that troubleshooting the computer is easier.

Next a screen will tell you that you are running in safe mode, just close that window screen. Most important thing to do now is to click on start menu button, at your left bottom screen. A menu comes out, click on All Programs, then Accessories, System Tools and System Restore.

It will say starting restore and a screen pops out with Restore system Files and Settings. Press next at the bottom to go next screen, it will then show you a number of date option or we call it restore point. The dates shown are for us to choose, to go back in time when we had no problem. (Wish I could do that with my life too, sigh!) 

Let’s continue, example, today is 27^th September and your problem started at 26^th September. So we may want to restore our computer back from 25^th or before. If you can’t find the dates available, there is an option below the dates to show more restore point. Choose a date and press next.

A screen will inform you that system restore is running and please do not shutdown or power off. Let it finish and it will restart by itself. And don’t go anywhere, when it’s restart, we need to go back to F8 again and Safe Mode to login again. A screen will then show you “System Restore Successful”. Now we can restart the computer and let it boot up on its own.

If everything goes well, you can now login with your password as usual and a final advice, PLEASE BACK UP YOUR DATA!!!

What desktop computer to buy?

There are lots and lots of choices of desktop computers in the market. So I am going to breakdown into steps of choosing which computers are suitable.

• Budget
• Usage
• Branded
• DIY
• Warranty

Budget

The first and most important thing is how much you would want to spend on a computer, USD400, USD1000, or USD2000? You have to set a limit. Why? The computer technology is moving faster and faster and speed, storage, hardware is changing often. What you may buy now would be obsolete around 2 to 3 years or sooner. You should consider this as well.

Right, once you got your limit set, now it time to go look for computer. Easiest way is to browse online to buy, but you may be tempted to buy above your set limit. So before you click on “buy now” let’s look at the Step 2.

Usage

What do you want to do on a computer?

Casual user, computer usage more towards typing a letter or two, using the internet to pay bills, check e-mails, check online flight bookings, music, watching videos, chatting and keeping up on Facebook with relatives and friends.

This you can do with a price range around USD 400.00. (Desktop with keyboard, mouse and monitor).

For the Office that requires heavy usage of multitasking and documentation and workload, price range should be around USD 600.00 to USD 700.00 (Desktop with keyboard, mouse and monitor). If requirement is low then casual user computer price around USD 400.00 will do just fine.

Heavy computer gamers are a total different story. Normally, they would want something that they can upgrade and add in additional hardware’s from time to time to keep up with the changing trend of games.

Here the minimum range is around USD 1700.00 to above the USD 10,000 mark.

Branded

HP, Dell, Lenovo, Benq, Acer, Razor and others, pick your choice. There are in different colors, size, and shapes. Noticeably, most would look into 3 main things like normal desktop size which is quite bulky, next will be the slim casing type which could save you space on your table and the newest type, the All-In-One which combines your desktop computer with the monitor into one. And quite slim too, like a picture frame.

 DIY (Do It Yourself)

For those that like to customize, then this would be a lot of fun, as they get to choose what type of hardware that goes into assembling the computer. Customize computer provides a more personal touch to who they are, like all things in life. Some say building a DIY computer is cheaper, but it depends on what you put into it.

These are normally for the gamers and those that are comfortable with new technologies and know what they want out of a computer which they call “rig”.

Warranty

Most computers come with a minimum warranty of 1 year, though some can provide up to 3 years with additional charges. The only issue that concerns me is, if the computer hardware breakdown within the warranty period. How long will the waiting period be, before the computer can be back in service again?

Normally most, Branded computer center will say 3 to 5 business working days. Some do provide onsite warranty (depends on what type of warranty, purchased as stated in agreement).

DIY warranty for computer rig depends on stock availability and most do not do 1 to 1 exchange. And they need to send it back to the supplier or manufacturer which might take a longer time, anywhere from 2 weeks to a month or longer.

So please take all these into consideration before making a purchase, to make sure your get the maximum benefit and pleasure, using the personal computer.

Search the internet

A lot of people are on the internet, and nowadays some cannot live without it, it’s so amazing what you can do and find on the internet. I see most of them use popular daily websites like Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, E-mails, Forums and now Blogs too. What happens after that? Surely there is more, right?

School children are given assignment to do research on the internet.

Busy people that need the internet to get information fast.

Retired people that want to explore the internet.

When they open the internet browser, and try to look for something, most of them will spend a lot of time on a single subject. While it might be a good thing but I am guessing otherwise. WHY? Because there is too much data to handle and may not be searching correctly.

Let’s try 2 popular word, “youtube” and “car”.

When I search “youtube” I get this result and if I search “car” I get this result. (click to enlarge  picture)

See any difference? Youtube, about 5 billion results yet youtube website link is still first.

But for Car, about 3 billion results, but the word car is so general first link is to advertisement.

Still don’t understand?

Youtube is a unique word by itself and tons of people will recognize it for what it does, video clips.

This will push the word “youtube” to the top or we call it ranking as it is popular.

Example like a popular song will always hit the top of the song chart because many people like it or purchase it.

As for Car, tons and tons of people use it, love it hate it cares for it and some spends a lot on it. But on the internet it’s just a general word, nothing unique.

So, how to make the word “car” more interesting?

Answer

• KEYWORD. Your “word” is the key to unlock what will show on the internet.
• Choose combination words like Volvo car, Volvo car engine, Volvo car forum and see what results is displayed.
• Be more creative in word search. Since you know car is a general word, get rid of the word car and    instead, use the car names for a unique search: Ferrari, BMW, Nissan, Ford and etc.
• From here on, you can refine your search even more like year made of the model, if you are looking for spare parts or if you intend to modify it.

So the intention is to cut down the search, find what you need and save time so that you can do more or do more on other things on your mind or if you are on a tight dateline. Sometime, certain keyword will appear from the searched links. As you go along, you will find that the more you use the faster the result because you are making use of the keyword search instead of going round and round looking and poking into the vast information library.

Yes, it’s a huge library, but luckily we have search engines to help us do the indexing. What are search engines? They are a program that’s written to help search the internet using a “spider” that goes around looking for websites, identify what the website does, slot it correctly like filing and storing it. And when you do the search on the internet browser it will then display the results for you to see.

Popular Search Engines: Google, Yahoo, Bing etc.

Popular Internet Browser: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera etc.