• Fire
• Hardware Failures
• Theft
• Power Surges
• System Crashes
• Flood
• File Corruption
• Even Accidental Deletion

More and more businesses are turning to storing their data on computers instead of in filing cabinets, since it’s cheaper, faster, and saves space.  But, that leaves your data susceptible to system malfunctions, human error, and the whims of mother nature (tornado, lightning, etc).

Storing your data on tapes is time consuming and highly prone to failure.  Even if you can trust someone to remember to swap out the tapes on a daily basis, it may not be doing you any good.  Why trust your valuable business data to unreliable technology that was created decades ago?

Traditional comprehensive data backup routines usually take weeks to implement, thousands of dollars of hardware, and lots of time and money spent configuring and testing the solution before going “live” in a company.  On top of that, it usually requires an in-house IT department to manage the backup schedules and data restores.

Our solution, on the other hand has:

• No Setup Fees
• No Equipment to Purchase
• Quick to Implement
• Daily Monitoring for Errors and Failures
• Local Service and Support
• Free Data Restore (in the event of a hardware failure)
• Completely Automatic
• Military-Grade Encryption

If you ask any of our clients which is those features if their favorite, they would probably say “Local Support”.  In a world of outsourcing, overseas call-centers, and “e-mail only” support, it’s refreshing to be able to pick up the phone and call a local technician or do business face-to-face.  We pride ourselves on the fact that we can offer such personalized service.

With prices starting at only $24 per Workstation and/or $99 per Server, it is also one of the most affordable professional-grade online/offsite backup services in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Give us a call today for a FREE estimate, and sleep better tonight knowing that your data will be safe from harm.

Last month?  Last year?

Never?

If you are like most people, you fall into the last category.  If it aint’ broke, don’t fix it… right?

In case you don’t know what a “driver” is, a hardware driver a small program that sits between your operating system (e.g. Windows XP or Windows Vista) and a specific piece of hardware (e.g. printer, monitor, sound card, hard drive).

A driver interprets hardware signals and converts them into bits of information that your operating system can use, and vice versa.  That is why each piece of hardware you purchase usually has a “driver” disc that you need to install to make the hardware work properly (like that printer you purchased a while back).

Since the driver interprets between the hardware and the operating system, you are likely to have some drivers that will work for Vista, but not XP… or XP, but not Vista.  Which is why that printer probably came with several discs – one for XP, one for Mac… and maybe even one for Vista (if you purchased it within the last couple of years).

Now that we have that out of the way, you can see that drivers play a vital role in whatever computer you are using right now.  If it’s weren’t for these drivers, you wouldn’t be able to see the screen you are currently looking at, or even use the mouse or keyboard to scroll down this page.

Some of the most basic drivers are built into the operating system, so they are installed automatically… but, they are still there.

What does this have to do with you?

Drivers are often taken for granted and forgotten.  Once you install the driver and the hardware works properly, people usually don’t think much about drivers.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret, however.  It’s something that only computer enthusists and gamers know about:

Updating your drivers will often give you a dramatic boost in your computer’s performance.  Often it’s very noticable.

If that weren’t enough, updating your hardware drivers will often remedy a lot of problems too.  Newer, better drivers can help stabilize a flakey computer system when nothing else will.

You see, programs and drivers are written by people.  People, of course, are not perfect.  Therefore, the programs and drivers people write are NOT perfect.  They can slow down a computer if not written well… and cause absolute havoc when written horribly.

But, just like your golf swing and your sudoku skills, these programs can be improved upon.  So, a driver that was installed last year may have had 5 ot 6 complete rewrites since you installed it.  The newer drivers are not installed automatically… not even during a Windows update.

They are not doing you any good sitting out there on the hardware manufacturer’s website.  But, how do you get them installed without having advanced technical skills?

In the past, there weren’t too many choices.  But, here in our Fort Collins computer repair shop, we’ve discovered a program that we have really grown to love.  It’s called RadarSync, available at www.radarsync.com.

Downloading the program is completely painless, installing it is easy… and running the application is a piece of cake.

The program gives you the option to backup your drivers (useful if you are formatting your hard drive and reloading the operating system), or updating the drivers which is the subject of this posting.

Although there are other driver update utilities available on the web (Driver Genius Pro, Carambis Driver Updater), one of the coolest things about RadarSync is that it also checks for outdated programs, too!

For example, my first run of RadarSync on my machine revealed the I had an outdated version of my Mobile Intel 965 Chipset Driver.  But, in addition to that, RadarSync informed me that there was a newer version of 7-Zip available, and a newer version of VLC ready to be downloaded and installed.

It also let me know which of my computer’s applications were okay and needed no updating.

My only gripe about RadarSync 2009 is that you can’t maximize (or even increase the size of) the main window.  Hopefully, they will resolve this small annoyance in the next release of the software, making this application near perfect.

All in all, RadarSync is a great addition to update your outdated drivers and update  your software.  This alone will do a lot to speed up your system, make your system more stable and less prone to crashes.

Download RadarSync from www.radarsync.com.

I saw a bumper sticker the other day that says:

Throw it away? There is no away!

It’s true. It all has to go somewhere. And, wherever it goes, most of our old computers will be there too.

According to the most recent numbers from the Environmental Protection Agency, the United States produces over 2.5 million tons of “electronic waste” per year.

But, what about recycling this electronic waste? Isn’t it reused?

Well, the EPA went on to report that over 82% of this electronic waste goes into landfills, because the cost of recycling is too much (or the owners throw it in with the non-electronic garbage).

The saddest part of all this is the fact that most computers being thrown “away”, aren’t even broken. They are perhaps slow and in need of a tune-up. Or, at the very worst, they may need a single, inexpensive part replaced to make them work like new again.

Typically, a “broken” computer is only suffering from a software problem, such as a virus or spyware infection, registry corruption, or damaged operating system. But, even if the computer is suffering from a legitimate hardware issue, and in need of repair, a skilled computer repair professional can narrow down the problem, remove the afflicted component and keep the working components out of the local landfill.

But, instead of calling a local computer repair business and getting an estimate, many computer owners will get fed up with his or her misbehaving machine and decide to replace it with a new one. What do they do with their old computer? They recycle it, of course, which seems like the environmentally responsible thing to do… but, as noted above, these computers end up in a landfill over 82% of the time.

Not only are these people wasting their own money, but they are putting an even greater burden on the environment. If you stop to think about it, they are also placing an even greater burden on those who will one day choose to clean up our gigantic mess: our children, our children’s children, and countless more generations after we are gone.

Want to know what your next step should be?

Doing your part for help the environment doesn’t mean knowing where the closest computer recycling center is. It’s picking up the phone and calling your local computer repair shop.

When you speak to them, explain the problem your computer is having along with telling them the year that your computer was purchased. Based on this data, a skilled computer repair professional should be able to estimate a cost, and then tell you if your computer is actually worth the cost of computer repair.

In most cases, computer repair is much more affordable than you think. We perform these types of phone estimates for clients in our Fort Collins computer repair shop all the time. It doesn’t hurt to call and ask, right?

Bradley Chapple, IT Consultant & Owner of Aspen Computer Services, Loveland Colorado

Is your computer not as fast as it used to be? Do you consistently get application crashes, “time outs” and the dreaded hourglass? When you press the power button on your computer in the morning, can you start the coffee, take a shower, style your hair and get dressed, all before your computer is finished booting?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, your computer needs more than another cup of coffee. It needs a tune-up. You probably already know that there are a myriad of ways that a computer repair professional can help you. But, unfortunately, not everyone can afford to call a computer repair specialist every time something breaks – especially those hardest hit by the current economic downturn.

I’ll be honest, here. As a computer repair consultant and owner of a computer repair shop in Colorado, I am not one to suggest the use of free tools very often. When someone can afford to purchase software, I usually advise them to purchase a quality retail product, because the paid-for software is typically far superior and the user is entitled to support.

In my experience, free tools are usually either crippled versions of their related non-free products, or simply don’t do a good enough job to be useful. But, there are a few free tools that are exceptions to that rule, and offer a good product for those who genuinely cannot afford to purchase off-the-shelf software.

So, with that being said, here are my 5 suggestions for free tools to speed up your slow computer. All 5 of these popular tools can be searched for and found easily through Google.

1. CCleaner

CCleaner is legendary for its usefulness in helping rid computer systems of any and all junk that has accumulated on a hard drive. However, there is a hidden gem in CCleaner: its ability to find and clean problems in the registry.

Using CCleaner once per week will keep your system running pretty smoothly all by itself. But, combining it with the other tools listed below will give you some synergistic results. For example, in our computer repair shop, we use CCleaner before any antivirus scan because it will help the scan go much faster (the resulting drive has fewer files to scan).

2. Startup Inspector for Windows

In case you didn’t know, too many programs that load on start-up can quickly cripple a good computer. Limiting start-up programs to only the bare essentials is an excellent way to reclaim much lost speed. Some people even go to extremes and disable all start-up programs and non-Microsoft services, but that can have a negative impact on things such as backup schedules, antivirus protection, and useful keyboard shortcut keys.

Startup Inspector for Windows takes the guess work out of this process. Not only does this utility take the place of MSCONFIG’s very limiting interface for managing start-up programs, but it also has the ability to access a database of known start-up programs. It will even give you suggestions for disabling certain applications, or leaving them intact so as to not limit the functionality of certain programs.

3. Malwarebytes

Nothing chokes a computer’s speed faster than Malware. But, how do you sort the good from the bad? Is that toolbar you installed a bad program? How about that game you love to play online? Could that “coupon finding” toolbar that you just installed be a virus in disguise?

That’s where Malwarebytes can help. It’s one of the best free malware removal utilities that I know of. Many seasoned computer repair technicians swear by it. Although the free version of Malwarebytes is “crippleware” (the free version doesn’t provide real-time protection), it does a very good job if run manually on a regular basis.

4. Avast Antivirus

Avast is a program that I’ve warmed up to over the years. As I stated earlier, I’m picky about that software I recommend. That goes double for antivirus protection, because antivirus protection is usually your only barrier between you and the scumbags of the Internet. I will never respect those who would steal and use someone else’s identity and/or financial information to get something for nothing, rather than to work honestly for what they want.

If you absolutely cannot afford antivirus protection, do not go without it. Instead, download Avast Home Edition. Avast Home Edition is completely free, but you do have to register it before the 60 day trial has expired. Registration is free, and afterward you can use it for a year before having to re-register. In addition to being free, Avast works pretty well, too.

5. Defraggler

Without getting into the technical details of what fragmentation is, or how it happens, let’s just say that if you haven’t defragmented your hard drive lately, you are probably overdue. Defragging your hard drive is like reorganizing your storage closet. It makes things easier (and therefore quicker) to find.

There are very few tools that rival Defraggler. Although I tend to prefer Diskeeper more than Defraggler due to it’s ability to perform real-time defragmenting, Diskeeper is not free. However, Defraggler is a close second to Diskeeper and is completely free of charge.

Coincidentally, Defraggler is made by the same company as CCleaner. It seems that Piriform is on a roll when it comes to developing and releasing free and useful utilities. Google the term “defraggler”, download it, use it. Leave it running overnight, as it will probably take several hours to finish.

The Clean-Up Proces – Step by Step

The order you use these free computer repair tools are up to you, but as a professional who has done this more times that I can count, here is my recommendation for how to use these free tools to speed up your slow computer.

1. Use Startup Inspector for Windows to remove unneeded programs from startup
2. Reboot
3. Use CCleaner to clean junk files from the system
4. Clean the registry with CCleaner
5. Reboot
6. Update Malwarebytes and scan. Remove anything it finds.
7. Reboot if it recommends you to do so.
8. Update Avast and scan. It should quarantine anything it finds automatically.
9. Reboot if needed.
10. Use CCleaner (again) to clean up any junk left over from the virus removal.
11. Yes, clean the registry with CCleaner one more time, also.
12. Defrag the hard drive to reorganize the remaining “good” data on your drive.

Conclusion

In 9 out of 10 cases, using these 5 free utilities will have your computer back up to speed. If you properly utilize these tools and your computer is still not functioning properly, it doesn’t mean that the tools did not work.

Perhaps your computer problem is beyond the scope of these tools. Maybe you don’t have a sufficient amount of RAM memory. There is also a possibility that your computer has a serious hardware issue (such as a failing hard drive) which requires the attention of a computer repair professional.

Luckily there a hundreds of websites on the Internet that will provide free advice to those in need. They won’t do the work for you for free, but will be glad to provide information and resources to help you help yourself. There are even a few that offer free video training on how to repair your own computer. By doing your homework and asking a lot of questions, you can learn to solve any computer problem without spending any money at all.

Good luck.

lsass.exe – Application Error
The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000005). Click OK to terminate the application.

I quickly informed her that any other time that I have seen this message, it’s been virus related.

After picking up the laptop and bringing it back to the shop, I easily reproduced the error message that she had described.  Sure enough, there was the lsass.exe error message.

Based on what I have seen in the past, I decided to assume that it was virus related.

I flipped over the infected laptop, found the hard drive compartment and removed the hard drive with my small “phillips” screwdriver.

AT this point, I plugged the laptop hard drive into my workbench computer via my laptop ATA adapter.  Note:  If this had been a SATA laptop drive, a standard SATA data cable and power connection would be just fine.

So, I fired up my workbench computer and booted to my main XP OS, which has Kaspersky and a variety of other tools already installed.  Keep in mind that when I say “my workbench computer”, it’s basically just a high-powered workstation with the side cover removed and plenty of places to plug in SATA and PATA hard drives.  So, you can use whatever spare computer you have around (or a friend, family member’s or neighbors).

Kaspersky ran and found a ton of infected files on the drive, and automatically quarentined them.  After Kaspersky ran, I told Malware Bytes to scan (for good measure).  Note that you can probably use other Antivirus tools, but these are the ones we use here in the shop.  Also, keep in mind that you can use Kaspersky’s 30-day trial edition to perform this same task, and Malware Bytes is free.

After the scan was done and all of the “unwanted” files were removed, I shut down my workbench computer, disconnected the drive and reinstalled the laptop hard drive back into laptop.

I then plugged the computer in, hit the power button and waited.

Problem solved!  The computer fired right up and went straight to the desktop.

After the computer booted up all the way, I installed Kaspersky onto the system and ran it.  Kaspersky found a few things in the registry and removed them, so I decided to run Malware Bytes again too.  It also found a few things.  Just for kicks I ran Spybot S&D and once again, it found a few suspicious items.  Just so that we are clear, I removed everything that any of the programm found.

Afterwards, I cleaned up using CCleaner and everything ran very smoothly after that.

At least in this instance, running a virus scan on the drive from an external system will certainly resolve the “lsass.exe – Application Error – The application failed to initialize properly” error.

If you are looking to resolve your lsass.exe error, this is a great place to start.

Good luck.

Being the owner of a computer repair shop in Fort Collins Colorado, I keep a close eye on pricing. We know what we charge, and we know what our competition charges. Most desktop computer repairs cost typically average around $170. On the other hand, an entry level desktop pc will cost $300 to $400. Keep in mind that this dollar amount will only buy the cheapest computer on the shelf. A quality desktop computer will cost more.

The same can apply to notebook and laptop computer repair. In our computer repair shop, the average cost of a laptop repair job is $260. At the time of this writing, the cheapest laptop I could find was about $500 (netbooks are not included in this figure, since they are less powerful, and are considered by many to fall outside the definition of a true laptop computer). But again, this is a “cheap” $500 laptop, and in most cases you will not be happy with the performance, reliability, or lifespan of this laptop.

So, think about it before you decide to replace your old computer with a new one. You could be wasting a lot money on an emotional purchase – not a logical one. Your computer could need a very inexpensive upgrade to make it run twice as fast. It may on need a little “tune-up” to restore its stability.

Your best course of action? Call a computer repair professional, explain the problem, and then tell them the year that your computer was purchased. Based on this information, they should be able to estimate a cost, and then tell you if your computer is actually worth the cost of the repair.If all else fails, ask your computer repair professional if they can put a maximum cap on the cost of repair. We do this for clients in our Fort Collins computer repair shop all the time. It doesn’t hurt to ask.

After sorting through thousands of websites on how to start a blog under your own domain name, don’t you wish that someone would just show you how to start a blog the easy way? I am going to give it to you straight this Start a Blog How To. Starting a blog with your own domain isn’t that hard if you know a few basic things:

1. What you are going to write about

Are you interested in dogs?  Cats?  Horses?  Stock Car Racing?  Model Trains?  Monster Trucks?  Hillbillies?  The stock market?  Healthcare?  UFOs?  Sex?  Politics?  Religion?  With a blog, the world is your oyster.

If you already know for sure what you want to blog about, it might help to do some keyword research so that you can pick out a good name for your blog… and get a feel for how popular your blog could eventually be.  You will find a lot of keyword research tools out there, but the best free tool is still Google’s own Keyword Research Tool.

Most people have an idea of what they want to say to the world through a blog.  It’s usually something that you are passionate about.  However, so people are passionate about a lot of things.  Some people will be very passionate about a topic, learn everything they can about it and then move on to something else.  Personally, I’m one of these people.

So if you are like me, and are not sure what you want to blog about right now, don’t get too hung up on your domain name or keyword research.

Just register your own personal name as your domain name.  Be sure to do it before someone else does! Please don’t get too freaked out about identity theft.  Professional authors register their own name as their domain all the time, and there are probably a few hundred people with the exact same name as you already.

2. Where to host your site

If this is your first blog, you want something easy.  The easiest place that I have found to both register a domain name and post a blog (all within a matter of 5 minutes) is Startlogic.com.  I’ve used StartLogic with a dozens of my clients and I’ve been very happy with the experience every time.  It’s easy to setup, the users never have problems.  It’s great.

[When I was first starting out, I used to use Powweb.com quite a bit.  In fact the website you are currently on is hosted by Powweb (if you don't believe me, check the whois database).  Powweb was replaced as my favorite when I found StartLogic, but I've been too lazy to move my site over to StartLogic].

The nice thing about StartLogic is the ease in which you can start a blog.  With just a few clicks, you can have your own blog up in running.  As I said before, it’s a process that takes less than 5 minutes, without having to know anything about uploading files, FTP, running scripts, PHP5, or any of that nonsense.  Plus, you get a free domain name and lots of other goodies when you sign up too.

3. How much time you have to post to your blog

You should probably take an honest look at your life, your obligations, your family’s needs and then determine how much time you really have to commit to starting and maintaining a blog.  If you can commit 2 hours per week to your blog, maybe you should start with 1 post per week to be safe.  If you can commit 3 hours per week to your blog perhaps two posts per week is a safe bet.

Why think about this ahead of time?  Why estimate on the safe side?

People will want to see a certain level of consistency in your posts.  If you start out with a post to your blog every day, and then two months later you are only posting to your blog once every two weeks, people are going to become upset.  If you post less frequently at first, but your post frequency rises over time… that is more acceptable.

Also, blogging is supposed to be a cathartic experience, or a feel-good activity of passing on your knowledge.  It’s supposed to make you feel good!  But, if you over obligate yourself by setting your blog post frequency too high, blogging will become a chore.  You will be stressed when you miss deadline after deadline, and then you will quit altogether.

Do yourself a favor and set a nice easy goal of one blog post per week, and work up from there.

4. Your writing skills will improve

If you already like to write, great!  If you don’t like to write, don’t worry.  Most people feel this way because they haven’t had enough practice, or somehow feel that their writing skills are substandard.  Don’t worry.  Your writing will get better the more you do it.  Professional writers rewrite their own books and articles MANY times before submitting them to an editor.

Not only that, but most blog don’t even have readers for the first few months.  Yep, it’s true.  So, you’ll have plenty of time to write, rewrite, and edit.

5. Readers will not come right away, but they will come

As I said above, for the first few months, you may not have any readers at all.  That’s okay.  Readers aren’t coming yet because it takes a while for the search engines to find your new site.  Many new bloggers just starting their new blog enjoy the fact that no one is reading their site at first.  It gives time to hone your skills a little.

But, don’t be discouraged by this.  The best  advice every given to me on blogging was to blog for yourself, not for the reader.  A blog is short for web log… and a log is like a journal.  So, just write your blog as though are keeping a history of your thoughts, feelings and opinions on a certain subject.  But, remember other people will eventually find your blog and read what you write, so please don’t put your deepest darkest secrets in your blog.  Save those for your offline journal.

Summary

If you have just chosen to start a blog, it can be an amazing experience.  It can be rewarding both mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  Just remember to manage your self-expectations and you’ll be fine.

Good luck!

In part two, we discussed the value of giving your components some rest on a regular basis.

Today, we will get right down to part three!

Consider the cost of operating a computer 24/7/365.  Even when it’s not in use, a computer is working and using electricity.

The third reason why you should power down your computer at night, is to give yourself a direct savings on your energy bill… and help the environment in the process!

Here is an example of how much money you could be saving by turning off your computer, when you sleep at night:

Using the example of an average 200W computer (and electricity at $0.075 per kWh), NOT turning your computer off at night would cost you about $125 per year.  This is for full-time operation. 

Turning your computer off while you sleep, eat dinner, and watch television might chop that number in half (for the sake of round numbers).  Cutting it down only 12 hours per day would bring the cost down to about $60 per year, saving you about $60 per year, per computer.

If you work 8 hours per day, commute about hour per day, and sleep 8 hours per day, and watch television 1 hour per day, perform other random duties for an hour (shop, eat, clean, read) you might be able to bring your total cost of computer operation down to less than $25 per year.  Saving you $100 per year per computer.

The same can apply to an office, but the difference is that many offices have multiple computers.  By changing one little office habit, you could dramatically reduce your utilities bill, play a major part in reducing your environmental footprint, and help make employees a little happier.

Here’s what I mean…

An office that decides to power off it’s computers at the end of the workday and leaves them powered off the entire weekend could bring their costs down to less than $30 per computer for the year…. a savings of almost $100 per computer, per year!  Imagine now, how happy your office staff would be if you then gave them an additional $100 bonus on their Holiday check.  Talk about boosting morale!

Today, we will cover part 2.

The second reason why you should power down your computer at night, is to give your hard-working internal components a rest.

There are several parts of a computer system that are working constantly:

1. System Processor Fan
2. Video Processor Fan
3. Power Supply Fan
4. Hard Drive

All of these items spin at a rapid rate, some faster than others.  Although all of these items to designed to spin a long time, each one of these items represents a “point of failure” in your computer system.

Since physics has taught us that anything which moves will be subject to friction, and anything subject to friction will suffer some eventual wear, it goes without saying that these parts will not last forever.  To put in more in layman’s terms:  Just because you drive your car slowly and never “burn rubber”, doesn’t mean that you wont eventually wear out a set of new tires.

As for the list of components that I listed above, here is why it’s important for those items to stay functional:

1. The system fan cools down your processor, which is one of the hardest working computer chip in the computer.  The system processor becomes extremely hot, and without a fan to keep it cool, your system will shut down to avoid overheating and starting a fire.

2. The video processor fan is probably the second hardest working computer chips in the system, although not all computers have a dedicated video card or video processor fan.  However, if you do have a video processor with a fan, it must stay in working condition or your computer will become very unstable and unreliable.

3. Not many people give much though to the power supply fan, but it is also essential in keeping the computer is working condition.  Since the computer’s power supply is actually a miniature electrical transformer, converting AC power to DC power, which produces a lot of heat.  If this fan stops working, the entire power supply typically needs to be replaced.

4. Last but certainly not least, when your computer is turned on, the metallic platters that hold all of your important information (photos, documents, e-mail, geneology projects, etc) are spinning away inside your computer.  Not giving your hard drive a periodic rest can be extremely detrimental to any computer user who stores valuable information on their computer, but does not take the time to backup their data… just ask anyone who has lost irreplaceable photos, or important projects such as an autobiography or valuable e-mails.

Turning off your computer when not in use gives all of these components a rest and will prolong the computer’s useful life.

If you have any questions, or would like to schedule an appointment for computer repair and/or IT services in the Fort Collins and Loveland, Colorado areas, please call us today!

I disagree.

The rumor comes from the fact that a circuit is more likely to blow when electricity is first applied, much like a light bulb is more likely to “pop” when you first flip the switch.  This may be true about light bulbs and some other types of circuits, but it’s not exactly the case with computers.

There are more factors involved which also need some consideration.

1. Dust accumulation
2. Component “wear and tear
3. The cost of operation
4. Indirect costs
5. Rebooting helps performance

Over the next week or so, we’ll be exploring these with a little more depth.

Today, we’ll go ahead and tackle the first item on the list:  Dust accumulation

A computer needs a certain amount of air flow to keep it’s components cool.  A byproduct of this continuous cooling process is dust.  Many of the dust particles that get sucked into the computer will become caught on the sharp edges of the internal components and just stay there.

Why is dust bad for your computer?  Here are three reasons:

First of all, dust can clog fans and heat-sinks, which restrict airflow and leads to overheating.

Secondly, dust collects on the circuitry and can cause electrical shorts, which can lead to malfunctions, instability and lost data.

Third, it can insulate hot components, keeping them from cooling off properly- much like a sweater can insulate your body in the winter.

Long story short, turning off your computer at night stops the fans that would otherwise be pulling more dust into your computer.  A computer that is kept on 24/7/365 is going to accumulate far more dust than a computer that’s turned on only half the time.

Our next post (Part Two) will explore why some components undergo a certain amount of “wear and tear” while turned on, and also explain while this can be very bad for both you and your computer.

If you have any questions, or would like to schedule an appointment for computer service in the Fort Collins or Loveland, Colorado area, please give us a call.