Care your Laptop

Basic tips to increase Computer speed

2010-09-12T21:58:00.000-07:00

Are you wondering "why is my computer so slow"? Looking to speed up laptop computers overall performance? Well you have come to the right place. All computers and especially laptops slow down when they get a little wear and tear on them. Unfortunately instead of adjusting a few things, people believe they need to buy a new computer in order to increase laptop speed. This just isn't true. You can actually speed up your laptop with these three quick steps. I will also recommend a program that can perform all three automatically for you. Speeding up your laptop was never this easy!

1. Defrag your System

The first step is to run a disk defrag on your system. What a disk defragmenter does is increase the speed in which you can access information. Whenever your computer processes information it needs to jump from place to place and this takes time. Defragging your system allows your computer to stream information through one path. This will speed up laptop computers ability to access and run different programs.

You can use Windows defragmenter or any others Software

2. Eliminate Startup Program

The second step is to eliminate as many unnecessary startup programs as possible. Anytime you install a new program it will try to automatically start itself every time you power your computer on. This will dramatically slow down the speed your computer can start up or shutdown. These programs also eat up valuable RAM which causes the computer to be very sluggish. Eliminate all but the necessary programs and feel the incredible difference in your laptop processor speed.

Click windows orbit>search(type msconfig)>click startup tab>unclick any program to eliminate from running on windows start

3. Clean Registry

The third step is to clean up registry congestion. This is without question the most important step you can take to speed up your laptop. As we download new or remove old programs our registries get congested with useless and redundant files. This clogs everything up and leaves you asking why is my computer slow? Getting rid of those unnecessary files will not only speed up your computer but prevent it from crashing in the future.

These are three steps you can do right now to get your computer running like it did out of the box. If you are a computer novice and want a program to do the work for you I highly recommend visiting the link below. Instead of spending hundreds on new upgrades or thousands on a new laptop, why not just optimize your computer to reach it's peak performance for a fraction of the cost? Give it a try.

You need to download any program such as ccleaner or other else.

Download CCleaner

How to Secure Your Wireless Network

2010-09-08T08:46:00.000-07:00

Changing Administrator Passwords and Usernames

After you've taken your wifi router out of the box and started the setup process, you will be asked to sign on to a specific Web page and are required to enter information such as your network address and account information. In theory, this Wifi setup page is protected with a login screen (username and password).

The Problem: Though the username and password are intended to allow only you to get access to your Wifi setup and the personal information you have entered, the fact remains that the logins provided are usually given to everyone with the same model router, and because most people never change them, they remain an easy target for hackers and identity thieves. In fact, there are sites that list the default usernames and passwords for wireless routers, making a hackers job even easier.

The Solution: Change the username and password for your Wifi setup immediately after the first login. And if you are going to spend the time changing your password, make sure it is difficult to guess. Your name, birth date, anniversary date, child's name, spouse's name, or pet's name are going to be among the hacker's first guesses. And because many hackers use a technique called 'dictionary hacking,' (running a program that tries common English words as passwords) you should make sure that your password isn't just a common English word, but rather is a combination of letters and numbers.

Upgrading your Wifi Encryption

The lowest to secure encryption:

1. WEP(easy to hack)
2. WPA(hard to hack)
3. WPA2(harder to hack)

If the information sent back and forth over your Wifi network isn't adequately encrypted, a hacker can easily tap into the network and monitor your activity. When you type personal or financial information into a Web site, that hacker can then steal that information and use it to steal your identity.

The old encryption standard Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) can be hacked within 30 seconds, no matter the complexity of the passphrase you use to protect it. Unfortunately, millions of Wifi users are still using WEP encryption technology to encrypt their information, despite the availability of the vastly superior WPA2 encryption standard.

The Problem: Despite the superior encryption protection that WPA2 provides, most Wifi home users have failed to upgrade their protection because they were unaware of the problem, or simply felt overwhelmed by the technical prospects of upgrading. As a result, many continue to use WEP encryption, which is now so simple to hack that it is widely regarded as little better than no encryption at all.

The Solution: The solution, of course, is to upgrade your Wifi encryption to WPA2. But before you can add WPA2 protection, you will have to complete a few steps in order to update your computer. The first step is to download and install Microsoft's WPA2 hotfix for Windows XP. You will also likely need to update your wireless card driver. These updates, if needed, will be listed in Microsoft's Windows Update page under the subheading "Hardware Optional".

Now that your computer and wireless card are up to date, you will need to log into your router's administration page through your web browser (this is the page you signed into in order to setup theWifi router the first time you opened it up, the specific URL can be found in your router's instruction manual.) Once signed in, change the security settings to "WPA2 Personal" and select the algorithm "TKIP+AES". Finally, enter your password into the "Shared Key" field and save your changes.

Changing the Default System ID

When you got your Linksys or D-Link router home from the store and set it up, it came with a default system ID called the SSID (Service Set Identifier) or ESSID (Extended Service Set Identifier). This ID is also commonly referred to as the name of your Wifi setup.

The Problem: Usually, manufacturers assign identical SSID sets to their devices, and 80 percent of Wifi home users leave their system on the default setting. So that means that 80 percent of homes have Wifi systems titled, "Default" or "LinkSys" or whatever your provider sets as the default name.

The problem with these default settings is that they serve as strong signals to hackers who have been known to just cruise neighborhoods looking for Wifi networks with default names to hack into. Though knowing the SSID does not allow anyone to break into your network, it usually indicates that the person hasn't taken any steps to protect their network, thus these networks are the most common targets.

The Solution: Change the default SSID immediately when you configure your LAN. This may not completely offer any protection as to who gains access to your network, but configuring your SSID to something personal, e.g. "The Smith House Wifi Network", will differentiate you from other unprotected networks, and discourage hackers from targeting you. As an added bonus, having a Wifi network with a unique name also means that neither you or your family will make the mistake of connecting through a neighbor's Wifi network, and thus exposing your computers through their unprotected setup.

MAC Address Filtering

If you've had an unsecured Wifi setup in your home in the past, you can be fairly certain that at least one of your neighbors is mooching off your Wifi to connect to the Internet. While everyone loves a friendly neighbor, providing an easy resource for others to steal Internet access is morally and legally questionable, but even scarier is the harm those moochers can do to your computer.

In order to check who has been using your network, you'll need to check the MAC address. Every wifi gadget is assigned a unique code that identifies it called the "physical address" or "MAC address." Your wifi system automatically records the MAC addresses of all devices that connect to them. But busting your Internet-stealing neighbors isn't all that MAC addresses are good for, they can actually be a great help in securing your WLAN.

The Problem: You are not sure who or what is accessing and endangering your wifi network, and once you find out that someone or something is mooching off your network, you want to stop them. But how?

The Solution: Checking the MAC address long for your wifi network will give you a quick view of all the devices accessing your network. Anything that isn't yours, you will want to keep out. To do this, you will need to manually key in the MAC addresses of your home equipment. This way, the network will allow connections only from these devices, so your mooching neighbors will be out of luck. Caution: This feature is not as powerful as it may seem. While it will stop your average neighborhood moocher or amateur hacker, professional hackers use advanced software programs to fake MAC addresses.

Stop Publicly Broadcasting your Network

By now you've renamed your wifi so that hackers won't see the default name as they sweep for unprotected wifi setups. But wouldn't it be even better if hackers and curious neighbors didn't know you had a wifi setup at all? Usually, your access point or router is programmed to broadcast the network name (SSID) over the air at regular intervals. While broadcasting is essential for businesses and mobile hotspots to let people find the network, it isn't needed at home, so eliminate it.

The Problem:Why broadcast to the world that you have a wireless connection? You already know it; why do strangers need to know? For most personal uses, you are better off without this feature, because it increases the likelihood of an unwelcome neighbor or hacker trying to log in to your home network. The broadcast works like an invitation to the hackers who're searching for just that opportunity.

The Solution: Most wifi access points allow the SSID broadcast feature to be disabled by the network administrator. If you are using a Linksys router, instructions to disable your SSID broadcast are here, and for those of you using D-Link, your instructions are here (See Figure 1.6 on page 4). Otherwise, you will need to check the manual for your hardware for specific instructions on how to disable broadcasting for your router.

Auto-Connect to Open Wifi Networks?

Most computers provide a wifi setting that will configure your computer to automatically connect to any open wifi network without notifying you. While this setting isn't the default, many individuals select the setting because it makes connecting faster when you are traveling, or connecting at a friend's house. Even more common, is to have selected 'connect automatically' to networks that you regularly connect to. Again, this makes sense, as most people do not want to have to manually type in the name of their wireless network and the password each time they want to sign in at home. Unfortunately, both wifi setups can cause major security problems.

The Problem: If you connect to every available wifi network automatically, you will inevitably end up connecting to dummy wifi networks designed specifically to catch unsuspecting users and hack their computers.

Similarly, if you automatically connect to your regular wifi networks (meaning you don't manually type in your network name and password every time) then you may be setting yourself up for a security breach. That is because 80 percent of wifi users have not changed the name of their wireless connection. Therefore, it is very easy for a hacker to create a dummy network entitled "Linksys" or "Default", then sit back and watch 80 percent of computers automatically connect to the network since it has a 'trusted' name.

The Solution: Never select the 'connect to available wifi networks automatically' setup option under your Network Connections window. If you don't want to have to manually type in the name and password to your wifi connection each time you sign in (the safest option), at least make sure that you have named your wifi connection something unique, and that you eliminate all generic titled networks from your 'preferred networks' list. That way, you won't get automatically connected to dummy wifi networks setup by hackers and given the names, "Default" or "Linksys".

You've got a built-in firewall, so use it

Your IT security needs to use a layered approach. While no single layer of your security is enough to withstand every attack, adding layers to your security will help ensure that spyware and malware are kept out. Two important security layers are the router firewall and your individual PC's firewall.

The Problem: Routers come with built-in firewall capability. However, since there is an option to disable them, they can often be accidentally turned off by someone toggling options.

The Solution: Ensure that your router's firewall is enabled, along with related built in security featured which block anonymous internet requests or pings. This extra step will help hide your network's presence to the internet, and thus help protect your network. After all, it's harder for hackers to infiltrate what they can't find.

Positioning of the Router or Access Point

Wifi signals don't know where your house ends and where your neighbor's begins. This wifi signal leakage gives hackers and neighbors the opportunity to find your wireless network and attempt to access it.

The Problem: While a small amount of overflow outdoors is not a problem, it is important to keep this leakage to a minimum. This is important because the further your signal reaches into the neighborhood, the easier it is for others to detect and exploit.

The Solution: If you haven't yet installed your wireless home network, make sure to position the router or access point in the center of the home rather than near windows or doors. If you live in an apartment, consider that a wifi network is restricted in part based upon the materials that it must pass through, the more walls, doors, and metal the signal passes through, the weaker it is. So if your goal is to reduce leakage, you might consider mounting your wifi in a closet in order to reduce signal strength.

When to Turn Off the Network

Most of us know that it is impractical to constantly turn devices on and off. Having a wifi connection is in large part a device of convenience, and having to turn it off every time you aren't using it, eliminates much of that convenience. Unfortunately, a wifi connection is vulnerable when it is on; therefore shutting off your wireless signal when not in use would be a huge boon to its security.

The Problem: There is an inherent tension between convenience and security in deciding whether to turn off a wireless access point between connections.

The Solution: Just as you take extra home security measures when taking a vacation, like asking your neighbors to pick up the mail and leaving a light on, so also should you take extra wifi security measures when your network will not be in use for expended periods of time. Shutting down the network is a basic but effective security measure that can protect your network when you are not around to protect it, and hackers may take the opportunity to mount their attack.

Putting your Improvements to the Test

Now that you've made all these changes to your wifi setup, it would be nice to know that you are secure. Unfortunately, the only surefire test for how secure you are is to wait to see if you get hacked. Trial by fire is no way to test your security, however, so thankfully there is a program to help audit your wifi security.

The Problem: There is no way for the average home wifi user to know if the changes they made to upgrade their wireless security will really prove successful in keeping them safe.

The Solution: The Netstumbler utility, by Marius Milner will both determine your network's vulnerabilities and unauthorized access points. In addition to these security concerns, the downloadable program will also reveal the sources of network interference and weak signal strength, so that you can improve the strength of your wifi signal. Netstumbler is free for download, although the author asks that those who find the tool helpful make a donation to support the creation of future utilities.

Hacking and hackers history

2010-08-24T16:22:00.000-07:00

The original meaning of the word "hack" was born at MIT, and originally meant an elegant, witty or inspired way of doing almost anything.

Prehistory (before 1969)
In the beginning there was the phone company — the brand-new Bell Telephone, to be precise. And there were nascent hackers. Of course in 1878 they weren't called hackers yet. Just practical jokers, teenage boys hired to run the switchboards who had an unfortunate predilection for disconnecting and misdirecting calls ("You're not my Cousin Mabel?! Operator! Who's that snickering on the line? Hello?").

Flash forward to the first authentic computer hackers, circa the 1960s. Like the earlier generation of phone pranksters, MIT geeks had an insatiable curiosity about how things worked. In those days computers were mainframes, locked away in temperature-controlled, glassed-in lairs. It cost megabucks to run those slow-moving hunks of metal; programmers had limited access to the dinosaurs. So the smarter ones created what they called "hacks" — programming shortcuts — to complete computing tasks more quickly. Sometimes their shortcuts were more elegant than the original program.

Maybe the best hack of all time was created in 1969, when two employees at Bell Labs' think tank came up with an open set of rules to run machines on the computer frontier. Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson called their new standard operating system UNIX. It was a thing of beauty.

1969 - Arpanet, the forerunner of the internet, is founded. The first network has only four nodes.

John Draper, Abbie Hoffman

Elder Days (1970-1979)
In the 1970s the cyber frontier was wide open. Hacking was all about exploring and figuring out how the wired world worked. John Draper, a Vietnam vet, makes a long-distance call for free by blowing a precise tone into a telephone that tells the phone system to open a line. Draper discovered the whistle as a give-away in a box of children's cereal. Draper, who later earns the handle "Captain Crunch," is arrested repeatedly for phone tampering throughout the 1970s.

1971 - First e-mail program written by Ray Tomlinson

Counterculture guru Abbie Hoffman followed the captain's lead. His Yippie social movement starts YIPL/TAP (Youth International Party Line/Technical Assistance Program) newsletter helps phone hackers (called "phreaks") make free long-distance calls. "Phreaking" didn't hurt anybody, the argument went, because phone calls emanated from an unlimited reservoir. Hoffman's publishing partner, Al Bell, eventually changed the newsletter's name to TAP, for Technical Assistance Program. True believers have hoarded the mind-numbingly complex technical articles and worshipped them for two decades.

The only thing missing from the hacking scene was a virtual clubhouse. How would the best hackers ever meet? In 1978 two guys from Chicago, Randy Seuss and Ward Christiansen, created the first personal-computer bulletin-board system. It's still in operation today.

Two members of California's Homebrew Computer Club begin making "blue boxes," devices used to hack into the phone system. The members, who adopt handles "Berkeley Blue" (Steve Jobs) and "Oak Toebark" (Steve Wozniak), later go on to found Apple Computer.

Robert Morris

The Golden Age (1980's)
1980 - In October, Arpanet comes to a crashing halt thanks to the accidental distribution of a virus.

Author William Gibson coins the term "cyberspace" in a science fiction novel called Neuromancer.

In 1981 IBM announced a new model — a stand-alone machine, fully loaded with a CPU, software, memory, utilities, storage. They called it the "personal computer." You could go anywhere and do anything with one of these hot rods. Soon kids abandoned their Chevys to explore the guts of a "Commie 64" or a "Trash-80."

1983 - The internet is formed when Arpanet is split into military and civilian sections.

In one of the first arrests of hackers, the FBI busts the Milwaukee-based 414s (named after the local area code) after members are accused of 60 computer break-ins ranging from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The 1983 movie War Games shone a flashlight onto the hidden face of hacking, and warned audiences nationwide that hackers could get into any computer system. Hackers gleaned a different message from the film. It implied that hacking could get you girls. Cute girls.

Comprehensive Crime Control Act gives Secret Service jurisdiction over credit card and computer fraud.

Two hacker groups form, the Legion of Doom in the United States and the Chaos Computer Club in Germany.

2600: The Hacker Quarterly is founded to share tips on phone and computer hacking.

Computer Emergency Response Team is formed by U.S. defense agencies. Based at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, its mission is to investigate the growing volume of attacks on computer networks.

At 25, veteran hacker Kevin Mitnick secretly monitors the e-mail of MCI and Digital Equipment security officials. He is convicted of damaging computers and stealing software and is sentenced to one year in prison. He is the first person convicted under a new law against gaining access to an interstate computer network for criminal purposes.

First National Bank of Chicago is the victim of a $70-million computer heist.

An Indiana hacker known as "Fry Guy" -- so named for hacking McDonald's -- is raided by law enforcement. A similar sweep occurs in Atlanta for Legion of Doom hackers known by the handles "Prophet," "Leftist" and "Urvile."

The territory was changing. More settlers were moving into the online world. In Milwaukee a group of hackers calling themselves the 414's (their area code) broke into systems at institutions ranging from the Los Alamos Laboratories to Manhattan's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Then the cops put the arm on them.

1986 - In August, while following up a 75 cent accounting error in the computer logs at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, network manager Clifford Stoll uncovers evidence of hackers at work. A year-long investigation results in the arrest of the five German hackers responsible.

The Great Hacker War Occurs - To pinpoint the start of the "Great Hacker War," you'd probably have to go back to 1984, when a guy calling himself Lex Luthor founded the Legion of Doom. Named after a Saturday morning cartoon, the LOD had the reputation of attracting the best of the best — until one of the gang's brightest young acolytes, a kid named Phiber Optik, feuded with Legion of Doomer Erik Bloodaxe and got tossed out of the clubhouse. Phiber's friends formed a rival group, the Masters of Deception. Starting in 1990, LOD and MOD engaged in almost two years of online warfare — jamming phone lines, monitoring calls, trespassing in each other's private computers. Then the Feds cracked down. For Phiber and friends, that meant jail. It was the end of an era. Operation Sundevil was the name the government gave to its 1990 attempt to crack down on hackers across the country, including the Legion of Doom. It didn't work. But the following year Crackdown Redux resulted in jail sentences for four members of the Masters of Deception. Phiber Optik spent a year in federal prison.

Mitnick - Wanted Poster

Crackdown (1988-1995)
At the Cern laboratory for research in high-energy physics in Geneva, Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau develop the protocols that will become the world wide web.

Robert Morris appears with his Internet worm in 1988. Crashing 6,000 Net-linked computers earned Morris the distinction of being the first person convicted under the Act's computer-crime provision. Is punished by being fined $10,000, sentenced to three years on probation, and ordered to do 400 hours of community service.

Kevin #2 — Kevin Poulsen — was indicted on phone-tampering charges. Kevin #2 went on the lam and avoided the long arm of the law for 17 months. He, Ronald Austin and Justin Peterson are charged with conspiring to rig a radio phone-in competition to win prizes. The trio seized control of phone lines to the radio station ensuring only their calls got through. The group allegedly netted two Porsches, $20,000 in cash and holidays in Hawaii.

After AT&T long-distance service crashes on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, law enforcement starts a national crackdown on hackers.

Hackers break into Griffith Air Force Base, then computers at NASA and the Korean Atomic Research Institute. Scotland Yard nabs "Data Stream," a 16-year-old music student named Richard Pryce. The british teenager curls up in the fetal position when seized. His online mentor, "Kuji", is never found

A Texas A&M professor receives death threats after a hacker logs on to his computer from off-campus and sends 20,000 racist e-mail messages using his Internet address.

Kevin Mitnick was arrested again after he is tracked down via computer by Tsutomu Shimomura at the San Diego Supercomputer Center. This time the FBI accused him of stealing 20,000 credit card numbers. He sat in jail for more than a year before pleading guilty in April 1996 to illegal use of stolen cellular telephone numbers. He eventually spends four years in jail and on his release his parole conditions demand that he avoid contact with computers and mobile phones.

On November 15, Christopher Pile becomes the first person to be jailed for writing and distributing a computer virus. Mr Pile, who called himself the Black Baron, was sentenced to 18 months in jail.

The US General Accounting Office reveals that US Defense Department computers sustained 250,000 attacks in 1995.

I Love You Virus

Zero Tolerance (1995-1998)
Seeing Mitnick being led off in chains on national TV soured the public's romance with online outlaws. Net users were terrified of hackers using tools like "password sniffers" to ferret out private information, or "spoofing," which tricked a machine into giving a hacker access. Call it the end of anarchy, the death of the frontier. Hackers were no longer considered romantic antiheroes, kooky eccentrics who just wanted to learn things. A burgeoning online economy with the promise of conducting the world's business over the Net needed protection. Suddenly hackers were crooks.

In the summer of 1994 a gang masterminded by a Russian hacker broke into Citibank's computers and made unauthorized transfers totaling more than $10 million from customers' accounts. Citibank recovered all but about $400,000, but the scare sealed the deal. The hackers' arrests created a fraud vacuum out there in cyberspace.

Popular websites are attacked and defaced in an attempt to protest about the treatment of Kevin Mitnick.

A Canadian hacker group called the Brotherhood, angry at hackers being falsely accused of electronically stalking a Canadian family, break into the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Web site and leave message: "The media are liars." Family's own 15-year-old son eventually is identified as stalking culprit.

The internet now has over 16 million hosts and is growing rapidly.

Hackers pierce security in Microsoft's NT operating system to illustrate its weaknesses.

Anti-hacker ad runs during Super Bowl XXXII. The Network Associates ad, costing $1.3-million for 30 seconds, shows two Russian missile silo crewmen worrying that a computer order to launch missiles may have come from a hacker. They decide to blow up the world anyway.

In January, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics is inundated for days with hundreds of thousands of fake information requests, a hacker attack called "spamming."

Hackers break into United Nation's Children Fund Web site, threatening a "holocaust" if Kevin Mitnick is not freed.

Hackers claim to have broken into a Pentagon network and stolen software for a military satellite system. They threaten to sell the software to terrorists.

The U.S. Justice Department unveils National Infrastructure Protection Center, which is given a mission to protect the nation's telecommunications, technology and transportation systems from hackers.

Hacker group L0pht, in testimony before Congress, warns it could shut down nationwide access to the Internet in less than 30 minutes. The group urges stronger security measures.

Spread Virus, Spread...

New Milennium (1999 On)
As the millenium approached, general cyber-hysteria over the infamous Y2K bug was further inflamed by several serious hacker attacks. Well-documented by the media, these invasions were experienced directly (perhaps for the first time) by the growing masses of casual web surfers. In the second week of February 2000 some of the most popular Internet sites (CNN, Yahoo, E-Bay and Datek) were subject to "denial of service" attacks. Their networks clogged with false requests sent by multiple computers under the control of a single hacker, these commercial sites crashed and lost untold millions in sales.

Recent attacks on seemingly "secure" sites such as The White House, FBI and Microsoft.com have proven that despite massive public and private investment in cyber defense technology and methodology, hackers continue to pose a serious threat to the "information infrastructure."

2000 - In May, a new virus appeared that spread rapidly around the globe. The "I Love You" virus infected image and sound files and spread quickly by causing copies of itself to be sent to all individuals in an address book. In March, the Melissa virus goes on the rampage and wreaks havoc with computers worldwide. After a short investigation, the FBI tracks down and arrests the writer of the virus, a 29-year-old New Jersey computer programmer, David L Smith.

In October 2000, Microsoft admits that its corporate network has been hacked and source code for future Windows products has been seen.

Since 2001, viruses and attacks have only snowballed - almost too many to mention. See the timeline (our pages) and also check out the comprehensive timeline (off-site link) for more detailed information on specific hacks.

Kevin Mitnick - Captured...Free

CPU Temperature

2010-08-24T16:14:00.001-07:00

CPU Temps

All electronic devices, when at work, produce a lot of heat. This heat can be easily described as a necessary evil. When the electronic devices work, there is a conversion of energy and this causes the generation of the heat. It is what we know as the Joule Effect. The heat that is formed is generally very high and should be checked specifically in computers which are used for a longer time or computers that are under heavy load. The heat that is produced needs to properly dissipated. Heat has a damaging effect on the circuits of hardware and causes depreciation in the performance of the system and causes it to slow down.

One needs to understand why the heat builds up. There are many reasons that play an important role in the heating up of the system. The computers of yore needed to be placed in air conditioned rooms. The ones used today do not need air conditioning, but in spite of the fact, they need an amiable room temperature to work in. A proper heat transfer system also has to be in place. Heat transfer in the CPU is generally related to the internal workings, but even the improper placement of the CPU which might block the fan can be the cause of a less efficient heat transfer procedure. Besides this, a dusty environment also adds to the heating up of the system because the dust tends to clog up the important CPU parts and thus adding to prevention of proper heat transfer. There is a special kind of problem especially with the techies that they have a tendency to add additional software and applications (overclocking) in order to make the computer run faster than it was actually designed to run. This puts additional stress on the system.

Monitoring CPU Temperature

Heat sensors are generally added to systems that are most prone to getting heated up. For example, most CPUs, video cards, and hard drives will have heat sensors. Often times you can find the temps of your hardware in the BIOS. However, it is usually helpful to be able to see the temperatures when you are in Windows. For this, you can download a 3rd party software such as Core Temp or Real Temp. These both work well.

Lowering CPU Temperature

The easiest and cheapest thing to do is to make sure that your computer case is clean and organized. Making sure that all fans are clean and running well can solve many overheating problems and can lower temperatures even if you don't have an overheating problem. You can check out our article on cleaning a computer case for more help. Another easy tip is to turn off the computer when it is not in use. This can prevent overheating when you are not around to monitor the PC. There are many cooling techniques that are used besides the ones that the system comes inherently with. You can add fans to the computer case to increase airflow. You can also place the PC in a cooler part of your house. If you still need more cooling power, you can upgrade your computer case to a case which is better designed for cooling. Last, you can upgrade your CPU fan and heatsink to a bigger and more powerful cooler.

Maximum CPU Temperature

Below is a table from CPU-Temp.com that shows some of the top processors available in the market and the maximum temperature under which they can work efficiently. Please keep in mind that you want your processor to be running well BELOW these temperatures.

Intel CPU Model	Maximum Temp	AMD CPU Model	Maximum Temp
Core Duo Models	100 Degree Celsius	Athlon 64	65 – 71 Deg. Celsius
Core Solo Models	100 Degree Celsius	Athlon 64 FX	56 – 63 Deg. Celsius
Pentium M Models	100 Degree Celsius	Athlon 64 X2	63 – 75 Deg. Celsius
Core 2 Duo Models	60 – 72 Degree Celsius	Sempron Soquete 462	90 Degree Celsius
Core 2 Quad Models	62.2 Degree Celsius	Sempron Soquete AM2	55 – 69 Deg. Celsius
Core 2 Extreme	64 – 100 Degree Celsius	Opteron 1XX	65 – 70 Deg. Celsius
Pentium Dual Core	73 – 100 Degree Celsius	Opteron 2XX	67 – 71 Deg. Celsius

Overall, keeping an eye on processor temperature is important because a cooler processor is a faster processor. Also, if a processor heats up too much, it can be damaged.

How to Fix an Overheating Computer

2010-08-24T16:10:00.000-07:00

Overheating Computer/Laptop

Like every other machine, a computer heats up a little while you use it. The heat produced is blown away through the air vents by natural convention, or forced convention, depending if the electric powered fan is off or not. Electric components are mounted on innovative fin designs that help with dissipating heat energy. Transistors in computer and video chips also add to the heat your computer emits. If you have been using a computer for a long time you should be able to tell when your computer is overheating.

Causes of overheating

Overheating may be due to bad cooling design—this rarely occur nowadays. Gaming also triggers overheating. Severely multi-tasking the computer makes the CPU operate at high capacity and this generates a huge amount of heat in the process. Using your computer in a high temperature environment adds up to the heat energy an average computer produces already and can lead to overheating as well.

Signs of overheating

At high temperature, fail safe software, shuts down your computer to prevent damage. Blue Screen and frequent memory errors are some of other symptoms of an overheating computer. A simple sign to look out for is constant or frequent fan operation. You can also use a program like HWMonitor to monitor your CPU and video card temperatures.

How to Fix an Overheating Computer

The best way to fix an overheating computer is by reporting such problem to the manufacturer. That is, if you're still under a warranty. A warranty is suppose to protect you, the costumer, from any problem you may encounter while making good use of your computer over a given period of time. In severe cases, your computer manufacturer will either fix the problem or get you a new machine.

If you're using a laptop, a laptop cooler may serve a good purpose. Laptop coolers are electrically powered devices that consist of a fan and seat for your laptop. For desktops, some people prefer removing the cover of the casing. While this might improve ventilation, it's not a good way to fight computer overheating as it exposes the internal components of your computer to dust.

You can also disassemble and clean up clogged air vents and pathways of your computer. This is delicate, especially to people of less computer experience, as this exercise may affect the functionality of a computer. You can check out our guide on how to clean your computer for help with this. The best thing to do, if you're under a warranty, is to report to the nearest manufacturer's servicing centre around you. It's important to note, disassembling your computer or any other electronic product, under warranty, could terminate the warranty agreement.

Before you disassemble your computer, here're some few useful tips: First, try reducing screen brightness. This may help. In addition, there're software programs that can be of help too. If you're using DELL, you may want to control the thermal management by using precision fan control utility. Other free software programs are also available online. It's important to add, these software programs are written by people who have no link whatsoever to any computer manufacturer in the world, so it makes common sense to exercise caution with these and only used highly trusted and recommended software.

Dangers of Overheating

Overheating can damage your motherboard or any other vital system components such as your cpu or your video card. Also, a hot computer usually runs slower than a cooler computer. Keeping your computer from overheating can also keep the computer from slowing down.

How to assemble and disassemble v3000 laptop?

2010-08-22T13:50:00.000-07:00

Assembling and disassembling a laptop is quiet easy. But for a beginner, maybe it will take much time to assembling and disassembling a laptop. By doing this, you can save more on your money such as:

1. Solve your overheat laptop.
2. Clean all dust inside the laptop.
3. Change your faulty keyboard.
4. Clean your keyboard.
5. Change broken LCD and much more profit when you assembling your laptop by yourself.

How to check laptop temperature?

there are many tools you can download check your laptop temperature. HWMonitor is one of the best tool to check your laptop temperature. Click link below to download the software.

Download:

HWMonitor 1.16_setup.exe - installation
HWMonitor 1.16_32bit.zip - no installation
HWMonitor 1.16_64bit.zip - no instalation

note: Important to check your laptop temperature. Run this application while playing some game such as DOTA or any game to check your high level temperature. If you see the temperature going up to 80-100 Celsius, you need to clean your heatsink and apply new thermal paste on your processor..

Before you assembling your laptop, make sure you keep your screws properly because you have to faces with many screws.

Tools Required...
1. Thermal Paste
2. Brush
3. Cotton bud
4. Phillips screw driver
5. Small Phillips screw driver

STEP 1

1. Remove battery, HDisk case, RAM case, and Wireless card case.
2. Remove all the backbone screws, keyboard screws, speaker cover panel's screws
3. Remove HDisk and screws under hardisk

STEP 2

1. Remove your DVDRom
2. Remove Wireless NIC

STEP 3

1. Remove Keyboard
2. Remove all cable as on the circle below

STEP 4

1. Remove the Speaker cover panel
2. Remove LCD

STEP 5

1. Remove the front laptop Casing.
2. To open the casing, start at the top by following pictures below.

STEP 6

1. Remove all cable wire as shown on picture below.
2. Remove mother board screw.
3. Remove Motherboard.

STEP 7

1. Remove Heatsink.
2. Clean processor using cotton bud or any soft cloth or you can use an alcohol that you can find it in computer shop.

STEP 8

1. Remove fan
2. Clean the fan
3. CLean Heatsink

STEP 9

1. Apply a small amount of thermal paste on the processor
2. Put back the heatsink
3. Assemble back the laptop by referring to the step above.

How to crack Wireless Streamyx (WEP)

2010-08-14T12:53:00.000-07:00

Nowadays, malaysian people are using wireless streamyx modem that come from TM. actually that modem only support WEP encryption to secure their network. I tell you that WEP encryption is the low-level type of encryption. Which mean that you can easily crack or hack the network only about 3 - 5 minutes. The most safe way to encrypt your wireless is by using WPA2 encryption. People can still hack WPA2 but it take longer time to hack that password. And now, i want to show you how to hack WEP password from your neighbor streamyx.... (read more)

How To Take Care Of Your Laptop

2010-08-13T17:51:00.000-07:00

There are several easy steps that you can use to maximize the life of your laptop computer. By taking proper care of your laptop computer, you will insure that you have the computer for several years to come. Further, if you take good care of your laptop, when you decide to get another laptop, you will be able to sell your existing laptop for more money. Below are some useful tips on how to care for your laptop computer properly.

First, you should clean your laptop regularly. You should never use water to do so, as it can get inside the computer and damage the internal components. It is recommended that you purchase and use special electronic cleaning products or, at minimum, use rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab or q-tip to clean the keys on the keyboard. You can also purchase cans of pressurized air to clean out all the dust particles that accumulate in between the keys. Finally, be sure to clean the computer screen on a regular basis with a soft cloth.

You should always carry your laptop computer in a protective case. The case will keep the computer from being exposed to too much sunlight or water when you are carrying it outside and it will also keep the computer partially insulated--especially, if it gets jarred around in your vehicle or the like. Further, it is better that you purchase a separate carrying case for your laptop: you don't want to pack all of your belongings into one bag, only to have your belongings ruin your laptop by scratching it or crushing it beneath the weight of everything else you are carrying with you.

Finally, it is important to protect your laptop computer at all times. Never leave it in an area where it can be exposed to extremely high or low temperatures, don't pick it up incorrectly, or slam the computer carrying bag down on a hard surface while the laptop is inside of the bag. In the end, taking the above necessary precautions will increase the lifespan of your laptop computer.

Common problems for laptop's LCD Screen

2010-05-29T15:16:00.001-07:00

1. Your display show the rainbow color

This is not the inverter, video card or the LCD cable problem. This is a valid need to change your LCD. If you not sure, you can try connecting your laptop to another CRT/LCD monitor.

2.Vertical line or Horizontal Line

In this case, your LCD needs to be changed. Sometimes when you give a pressure on certain part at the casing, the lines will be missing. For sure there is your LCD problem.

3. Bad Graphic/ video card Problem

If you are not sure with your LCD that needs to be changed or not, connect you laptop to other LCD Monitor or CRT. IF you see the same screen appears on both, it's mean that problems with your video card. But when you see good Picture appears on the external LCD/CRT, it's mean that you need to buy new LCD.

Dust is one of the common reason for a fried motherboard

2010-01-13T06:45:00.001-08:00

*dust caused the heat-sink not properly cool

After cleaned

Pictures below show the temperature before and after the service that was taken from AMD processor and nVidia’s GPU laptop while playing DOTA.

Before service

After service

Laptop motherboards don't often malfunction through normal use, but when they do, it may be difficult to figure out why. In part this is because there is often no visible physical damage. Common reasons for a fried motherboard can include static shock, power surges, excess heat, parts failure or general mishandling. Many other, more complicated technical problems can be the reason for failure as well.

Static electricity is probably the most common reason for a fried motherboard. When handling computer/laptop hardware, such as a motherboard, it is important for a person to discharge the static electricity that has been built up in the body. This static charge, if transferred to the motherboard, may short-circuit its components, rendering it useless. Discharging can be done by touching a piece of metal before beginning work on the computer/laptop. Working on an anti-static mat or a hard floor is also helpful; operating a computer/laptop with a carpet underneath you can build up static charges and is not recommended.

Power surges and damaged power supplies are also reasons for a fried motherboard. A power surge can occur during a storm, and a computer/laptop that is not plugged into a surge protector has a chance of being damaged. A surge protector will help shield the computer/laptop's parts from shock. Even if a motherboard is unharmed during a power surge, damaged power supplies can cause it to break down after a while. Power supplies that do not output the recommended wattage may also cause issues with the motherboard.

Overheating, dust, and dirt are also common reasons for causing a fried motherboard. If the motherboard has been placed in a computer/laptop case that is very small, or poorly ventilated, it can easily become overheated. If the case has not been outfitted with a properly working fan, there is no way to move excess heat away from the parts. If the fan is clogged with dirt and rarely cleaned, it cannot properly cool the system. Dirt can also build up inside the laptop case and cause problems, making regular cleanings very important.