Top PC killers

This month’s article deals with some of the top causes of computer failures I encounter and gives you some tips on avoiding them. As always I recommend you backup your information regularly so that when you have a failure the impact is minimised. Remember the old rule “If it’s worth keeping it’s worth backing up”

Electrical Failures
Damage as a result of power failures, surges, or power outages is quite common and in many cases very severe. A power spike or surge may not kill your pc immediately but in many cases the damage done will surface within a short time. Power problems can result in the failure of the computer’s power supply and in the more severe cases damage to internal components such as your hard disk or motherboard.

Prevention: Invest in a solid surge protector and ensure it is rated to cope with computers. This is important as the cheaper surge protectors do not react sufficiently quickly to prevent a surge or spike hitting your machine.

Turn off and unplug your computer when not in use. This is not alone a good practice to prevent surges and spikes hitting your machine but also prevents the possibility of fire due to overheating of your computer.

Do not leave laptops constantly plugged in to power and do not leave the machine turned on overnight. While it may appear that the machine has turned itself off it usually is just in a hibernation state and is susceptible to damage from electrical failures.

Overheating
This problem occurs most commonly in laptops but occasionally I come across it with desktops. An overheating problem has the potential to seriously damage your computer resulting in either costly repairs or worse the machine ending up in the recycling centre. Heat problems can be solved if discovered and addressed early.

Prevention: Ensure your desktop computer is located in a well ventilated area and that neither the front nor rear vents are blocked. If you hear excessive fan noise seek technical assistance. With laptops avoid excessive use and if the underside of the machine becomes hot or you hear excessive fan noise turn off the machine and allow it to cool. As with desktops if the machine becomes excessively hot within a short period of time or you hear excessive fan noise seek technical assistance.