spring cleaning
moods' post inspired me to write this rather that hijack her blog with all my ramblings.
I just finished with my pc spring cleaning ritual of blowing out the whole thing with compressed air (cringe if you must but im talking about high volume air, not that crap in a can! the air compressor in my garage has a moisture filter so I dont have to worry about spritzing condensation all over my board) gently blowing off everything inside and making sure to really spend some quality time on the power supply box (thats the only place that i really let the air blast hard) its amazing how much stuff gets in there. while I was at it this year, I replaced my video card with a newer looking one that was passed on to me but never installed. "truck dismount" now runs a bit faster (google it. I found about it here at biorust because it was mentioned in the Quick Flames tutorial. the game is small, addictive, and simple.)
my screen saver runs a bit faster and smoother.
I also took the time to make sure that it didnt need to be defragged yet, and to clean up my un-needed files.
Now, I believe that most people here at biorust understand the importance of regular file mantainence, but after working at wallymart for a number of years its astounding how many people buy a pc and then do nothing to keep it running. Many people would complain "I just bought this computer a year ago and its running sooooo slow, I think I have a virus." the conversations usually went like this:
"do you have an anti virus program?" the answer was almost always yes, and that they update often (only because the virus program prompts them to)
"well that rules out most viruses. when was the last time you defragmented your hard drive?" at this point, I usually got a blank stare, a few blinks, and a "what's that?"
one person I talked to hadn't defragged in over 3 years!! and she wondered why when you click on the start menu it slooowly rose off the bottom of the screen, and that it would take 5 minutes to load a program like ie6. the only thing she knew was that it seemed to be slowly getting worse.
I actually watched my neighbor touch, no, rub (with his bare hand) his board and video card. WHEN THE THING WAS RUNNING!