Thursday, October 21, 2010
Learning about the insides and workings of computers
The inside workings of a computer has never been something that interested me. I have only really looked inside a computer a few times to either add a CD-R drive or air clean the insides. I think the big reason why I never was interested with the inside of a computer was because I really did not know what the parts were and did not really care what they do just as long as they worked. I never took a class like this that really opened my eyes to what some of the parts do and how being knowledgeable about them can improve my experience with using a computer. As I said before, I did open my desktop to air dust it, but very rarely. I found out this week that having dust build up can actually insulate the parts and keep the computer hotter, slowing the machine down. Since finding that out on Tuesday, I have shared it with my family and have been telling some of my students to make sure they don't have dusty computers at home. Another interesting thing that I learned this week and have been sharing with others is the importance of the fan in the computer. I really had no idea that the fan was so important. If the fan isn't working properly, your computer will overheat and you will have major issues. I look forward to the next few weeks in this class and know I will be finding out more information about computers that can benefit me and others.
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Bill,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on not being interested on the inside of the computer. I too only cared that it worked and worked like I wanted it to. I used to "dust" my laptop once in a while. However, I have not in a long time. Since Tuesday I too decided I needed to be better about keeping my computer clean. Have you had a chance to clean your computer since Tuesday? Also, have you found a good way to clean a laptop? I think mine is really dirty and might be running slow because of this.
As long as my computer did what it was supposed to, I was also content. Little did I know that there was an intricate highway of circuits, chips, and wires that made computing possible. If any of those miniscule pieces gets damaged your computer is in real trouble. Who knew that dust would acts as an insulator causing overheating problems? Sometimes the smallest things seem to cause the most damage. It makes me wonder, how much dust is in my computer? Now that I know it’s there when do I have time to get rid of it?
ReplyDeleteBill---
ReplyDeleteI too pointed out the essential nature of the fan in my blog. Like you, I had no idea how important it is too have a functioning fan, along with dust-free components. Do you think this logic of using compressed air is for laptops too? I want to make sure that my laptop lasts a long time, but I also don't want to mess something up if compressed air won't really help anyway.
Sounds like you are picking up some useful information. The next time you buy a computer you will be poking around inside to see how many fans it has... the salesperson will want you out of the store!
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