*ruary8,2(
Thursday, February 8, 2001
scienc
TECHN
Page 5 A
THE BATTALION
lent
flldlifeaJ
A involve!
.hZ’s.” 1
iJentifyiiifr
. people a|
iildle of
ed is, ifyi
Je probata
barker sail
on campiisj
napping li
illy int|
infection''
•\.P. Bent
x six to si
ragepe®
ht, and cc|
>rt, a receJ
wake up:!
s and alert
of 0.8 pe:j
ill, youef
'wenty-f®
ed. |
import*!
concern i
dies learn
is liiMf
■ enougnT
nselvesfij
ecauseiii!
testpeifnl
nerds saii
Cleaning tips
to make vour matni
I I ,,1.1 ,t-/ a __ 1 _
tnerDDam pro
By Steven Piwonka
77je Battalion
As the spring semester begins, you might remem-
■ her the old days at your parents’ house when your
mom or dad would try to use the spirit of the season
to trick you into cleaning your room. Well, it is still
winter for a few more weeks, but a few useful clean
ing tips can help protect and improve the life of a very
important investment: your personal computer.
Your computer s biggest fan
As any student living in a residence hall can tell
you, if you leave something out overnight, it will have
a thin layer of dust on it in the morning. The air in res
idence halls is full of dust, and your computer may be
suffering as a result.
Your computer’s processor generates a lot of heat,
and that heat is re-
The average per- ’ moved through either
sanal computer P assive , or aaivc
needs to be re- m T*' other '
placed every two to uses a fan to blow the
three years, and
the normal college
student needs it to
last for four or five,
so be sure to keep
it in good health.
heat away, or it uses
something that absorbs
the heat. If you can
hear your computer
running, there is a fan
inside.
Over time, dust can
build up on fan blades
ATTAUON
nission 1 '
and reduce cooling efficiency. It may even cause the
fan to stop functioning altogether. This loss of cool
ing can result in excessive noise, random errors and
crashes. In some cases, it may even cause death (for
your computer, not you).
Fans that cool the processor are also aided by case
fans, usually located tin the back-of the computer
case. These fans bring in cool air from the exterior of
the computer, so do not forget to clean them.
“These case fans are very important,” said Jon
Southern, a senior electrical engineering major. “The
internal fans can be running fine, but if the case fans
aren’t working, then the internal fans are just circu
lating hot air, which is pointless.”
Southern said cleaning the case is easy.
“Just go to any local computer store, and spend
three bucks on a can of compressed air that is com
puter safe,” he said. “Just turn the computer off, open
the case and spray out the dust, paying attention to
any fans.”
Cleaning the Fans may be enough, but if you want
to be careful, follow the advice of Karl Rister, a
sophomore personal computer supervisor working at
Texas A&M. “Once you’ve cleaned the case out, spin
the fans with your,finger to make sure they are spin
ning freely,” he said. “If not, don’t oil them — replace
them. They don’t cost more than $10. If you put oil
on them, you run the risk of throwing oil around the
case and causing a short or starting a fire.”
To further test 1 the fans, try turning on your com
puter with the case off and making sure all fans are
spinning and moving air. If everything looks fine, and
the fans are running fairly silently, you are done for
the year. If you think it might still be running hot be
cause of hardware upgrading or replacement, consid
er adding more fans.
Adding fans is as easy as looking inside your case
and attaching fans wherever space and power cables
permit. Most cases have spots for fans in the front and
back. Just make sure they are blowing in the same di
rection to keep a steady flow of air in and out of the
case.
Cleansing the inner self
If you are running a Windows-based op
erating system, you can make your com
puter run better by deleting old files and
rearranging existing ones.
Start by right clicking on your
hard drive (My Computer icon)
and click Properties. The
tab labeled Tools has
two utilities to help
you. Disk Doctor can
look for errors and
fix physical problems
with the drive and
Disk Defragmenter
can clean up your pro
grams and make them
run faster.
Disk Doctor inspects the hard
drive itself for symptoms of corruption or de
terioration. If it helps you out. it will correct er
rors, not make programs run faster.
Disk Defragmenter works differently. It rearranges
files in a logical order so the computer can find what
it is looking for.
"Say you’re working at your desk. Whenever you
get something new, it goes on top of everything else,”
Rister said. “Eventually, it all gets mixed together,
and you can’t find what you want without effort. You
can clean it up, and everything is great until it be
comes cluttered again, so repeat every so often.”
Running Disk Defragmenter every few weeks or
months should be sufficient; running Disk Doctor
every month or two will keep you covered. If you are
running a newer version of Windows, there may be a
utility to clean out your temporary Internet files, which
can really save space and speed up performance.
All in all, cleaning up your computer can extend
the life and functionality of an important investment.
The average personal computer needs to be
replaced every two to three years,
and the normal college student
needs it to last four or five, so
be sure to keep it in good
health.
NEW SHIPMENT OF LOOSE DIAMONDS
Just in time for Valentine’s Day!
ROUND DIAMONDS
PEAR DIAMONDS
3 colum®
a Telep
Holly**
r Nic*
, r e sp
j famil)
■ nge W
are
> do it-'
ri£ I
estiva 1
jicole t!
2.01
H
11
*7850°° EGL Cert.
1.05
K/L
S, 3
$2250 00
2.09
Antique
5600°° Old European Cut
1.00
G
VS,
5800°° GIACert.
1.80
D
si 2
1 2600°° EGL Cert.
1.16
E
S, 2
6 1 00 00 EGL Cert.
1.01
D
VVS 2
5900°° Antique Cut
PRINCESS CUT DIAMON
1.01
K
1?
I795 00
1.00
H-Internally Flawless 5950 00 EGL Cert.
1.27
J
VS,
$4150 00
.92
G
SI 2
4327°° EGL Cert.
1.04
F
vs,
496 1 00 GIA Cert.
.72
1
Sl 3
1500 00
1.02
1
vvs.
3825 00 GIACert.
.63
G
si 2
I350 00
1.02
H
vs,
43 24 00 GIACert.
.59
H
VVS 2
1 750 00 IGL Cert.
1.00
F
vvs 2
4900°° GiACect.
.42
G
Sl 2
550 00
.86
F
vvs 2
3 4 00 00
.72
E
VS 2
3700°° ELG Cert.
OVAL DIAMONDS
.49
1
850 00
1.36
.90
.66
.54
F
D
K
H
Sl 2
VS 2
vvs 2
SI 2
6624 00 EGL Cert.
4979°° EGL Cert.
1250 00
9 5 0 00
Special Valentine Offer!
EMERALD CUT DIAMONDS
1.02
1.01
1.21
1.00
.82
.49
.37
K
G
VS 2
Sl 2
$3750°° EGL Cert.
3550 00 IGL Cert.
Saturday, Feb. 10th
thru Wednesday, Feb. 14th
Citizen Watches with
the official A&M seal
MARQUISE DIAMONDS
$
99
SI 2
Sl 2
SI |
SI,
si I
*3900°
4130°
3950°
1450°
675°
EGL Cert.
EGL Cert.
Available in Gold
or Two - Tone.
Tone
While supplies last.
CLofin jJnc.
Class of '79
"Very Personal Investments"
313B South College Ave. (Next to Harry's)
846-8916
rt
You go to school to learn
You come home to:
Relax
Play
Workout
Study
2. 3 or 4
bedroom
apartment
homes
Apartment Features:
Individual lease by the
bedroom
Ethernet Service
provided
W/D in every unit
Monitored intrusion
alarms
Basic cable provided
Furnished units
available
Microwaves included
Community Features:
Sand volleyball court
State of the art
Multi-Media center
Game room
Fitness Center
On University Bus Route
Resort style pool
w/jacuzzi
SWING ^
Collegiate Residences
(979) 696-5711
(979) 696-5661 - Fax
1 1 7 HOLLEMAN DRIVE WEST
www.suhvillage.com
t=i