Water is a tricky thing with computers. Sometimes it can cause a lot of
damage, while other times, it can clean up the equipment quite nicely.
It all depends on how sensitive the electronics are and how much they're
meant to be "beaten upon."
Keyboards are made to put up with the
constant impact of typing, day in and day out, for years. They're very
rugged components of your system and can take quite the pounding.
Because of the sturdiness of most keyboards, water has little effect on
them in the long term.
In the short term, as you noticed, water
can cause the keyboard to stop working. But as soon as the water dries
from all the internal electronics of the keyboard, things should work
again just fine without problems. You can speed up the drying process by
using an everyday hair dryer. Place the hair dryer about six inches
above the keyboard and slowly move it back and forth for about 10
minutes. Presto, change-o, all the water will be gone and your keyboard
will work!
What if it wasn't water?
I should
note here that this only applies to water. If you spill something that
has sugar in it, like soda, you run the risk of damaging your keyboard
permanently.
To fix a spill that's not just water, you actually
want to soak the entire keyboard in tap water for a good 20 minutes.
Don't use soap or anything special; that'll just exacerbate the problem.
Once the keyboard has soaked a bit, turn it upside down and shake out
all the water you can. Then take the hair dryer to it. Let it sit for a
few days, and it should work just fine.
Another important thing
is that this only applies to desktop keyboards. If you spill water on
your laptop keyboard, the water might have seeped through into other
computer components stored below the keyboard. In that case, the best
thing you can do is let it dry, give it a test, and if anything seems
wrong, take it into a repair shop. They should be able to fix it right
up.
8/25/2012
How to clean your computer monitor
So, how do you clean your LCD screen?
8/24/2012
The essential Windows maintenance list
Easy maintenance for your Windows home computer
When you buy a brand new computer, it's much like a new car: It runs
well, it's clean, and everything works as it should. But after 15,000
miles, it's time for a service — and the same goes for your computer.
The fact is, like cars, computers are complex machines, and they need just as much maintenance to keep them ship-shape. Fortunately, while you need a mechanic to fix most car issues, you can perform a lot of basic maintenance on your computer.
Basic computer maintenance
At the heart of every computer is your hard drive. Every photo that you open, every website that you browse, and every song you listen to requires your hard drive to spin up, find the data that it needs, and read it. That process in itself isn't messy — it's when you try to write at the same time that things get messy.
If you listen to iTunes (reading music from the hard drive) and then save a document you're working on, that document gets dumped onto your hard drive immediately. Your hard drive doesn't try to find an empty space to put the document — it just dumps it there with your music files, or your program files, or wherever it happens to be!
You won't notice a performance decrease immediately, but after a few months, your hard drive will become fragmented. That's when everything takes ages to load — and that's when it's time for your first bit of computer maintenance.
Defragmenting your drive
The process of defragmentation is simple: it takes those file fragments and moves them together. It moves each program so that all of its files are together on the hard drive — and then it does the same for your documents, music and photos. It doesn't stop the fragmentation process from happening again, though, so you do need to defragment regularly. There's no harm in running a defragmenter once a week; the more often you do it, the quicker the process will be.
Windows users, to defragment your drive and learn a bit more about hard drives in general, check out our guide. If you need more guidance, Microsoft has a short and informative video on defragmenting your hard drive.
General housekeeping
Like the oil of your car, your computer gradually gets bogged down with digital detritus. Temporary files from browsing the web and old unused programs are the most common culprits, and it only takes a few clicks to clean them up.
To launch the disk cleanup tool, hit the Windows key on your keyboard or click the Start button on your desktop, type "disk cleanup" and press enter. The selected drive should be correct (C:) — if not, select the drive with a Windows flag next to it and press OK. It will then take a while to inspect your computer, but eventually it will show you a list of files that can be safely cleaned up. By default, it will select only a few files to delete, but you can be more aggressive and select anything in the list. The more you select, the more space you will save and the faster your computer will be. Microsoft has a short video showing how to use Disk Cleanup, if you need more guidance.
The next step is to uninstall old programs that you don't use. You might want to do this to make space for new programs, or maybe you just want to remove all of the pre-installed stuff that comes with most new computers.
To uninstall programs, hit the Windows key on your keyboard or click the Start button on your desktop, type "uninstall a program" and press enter. Now it's just a matter of finding the programs you want to uninstall, and I'm afraid I can't help you with that. Look for programs with names you don't even recognize; they are prime suspects for space-wasting!
Malware and spyware
Finally, the last step is to delete the hidden programs that might be running on your computer. Just by surfing the web, you will accrue a variety of nasty cookies and nefarious programs (malware). Fortunately, removing them is simply a matter of downloading a free program and running it every week or two.
To clean your computer of malware and spyware, grab Malwarebytes (the free version is fine). Install it by following the prompts (you can't go wrong by hitting Next over and over). Once it's installed, run the program. If it asks to update its definitions, let it. Then hit "Perform full scan" and click Scan to begin!
It will take a while, and you might see a scarily large number of "Objects infected," but don't worry! Once the process is finished, hit Remove Selected on the left. You may be asked to reboot your computer to complete the process.
And that's it! Your computer should now have a lot more free space, run faster, and be free from any nasty programs.
The fact is, like cars, computers are complex machines, and they need just as much maintenance to keep them ship-shape. Fortunately, while you need a mechanic to fix most car issues, you can perform a lot of basic maintenance on your computer.
Basic computer maintenance
At the heart of every computer is your hard drive. Every photo that you open, every website that you browse, and every song you listen to requires your hard drive to spin up, find the data that it needs, and read it. That process in itself isn't messy — it's when you try to write at the same time that things get messy.
If you listen to iTunes (reading music from the hard drive) and then save a document you're working on, that document gets dumped onto your hard drive immediately. Your hard drive doesn't try to find an empty space to put the document — it just dumps it there with your music files, or your program files, or wherever it happens to be!
You won't notice a performance decrease immediately, but after a few months, your hard drive will become fragmented. That's when everything takes ages to load — and that's when it's time for your first bit of computer maintenance.
Defragmenting your drive
The process of defragmentation is simple: it takes those file fragments and moves them together. It moves each program so that all of its files are together on the hard drive — and then it does the same for your documents, music and photos. It doesn't stop the fragmentation process from happening again, though, so you do need to defragment regularly. There's no harm in running a defragmenter once a week; the more often you do it, the quicker the process will be.
Windows users, to defragment your drive and learn a bit more about hard drives in general, check out our guide. If you need more guidance, Microsoft has a short and informative video on defragmenting your hard drive.
General housekeeping
Like the oil of your car, your computer gradually gets bogged down with digital detritus. Temporary files from browsing the web and old unused programs are the most common culprits, and it only takes a few clicks to clean them up.
To launch the disk cleanup tool, hit the Windows key on your keyboard or click the Start button on your desktop, type "disk cleanup" and press enter. The selected drive should be correct (C:) — if not, select the drive with a Windows flag next to it and press OK. It will then take a while to inspect your computer, but eventually it will show you a list of files that can be safely cleaned up. By default, it will select only a few files to delete, but you can be more aggressive and select anything in the list. The more you select, the more space you will save and the faster your computer will be. Microsoft has a short video showing how to use Disk Cleanup, if you need more guidance.
The next step is to uninstall old programs that you don't use. You might want to do this to make space for new programs, or maybe you just want to remove all of the pre-installed stuff that comes with most new computers.
To uninstall programs, hit the Windows key on your keyboard or click the Start button on your desktop, type "uninstall a program" and press enter. Now it's just a matter of finding the programs you want to uninstall, and I'm afraid I can't help you with that. Look for programs with names you don't even recognize; they are prime suspects for space-wasting!
Malware and spyware
Finally, the last step is to delete the hidden programs that might be running on your computer. Just by surfing the web, you will accrue a variety of nasty cookies and nefarious programs (malware). Fortunately, removing them is simply a matter of downloading a free program and running it every week or two.
To clean your computer of malware and spyware, grab Malwarebytes (the free version is fine). Install it by following the prompts (you can't go wrong by hitting Next over and over). Once it's installed, run the program. If it asks to update its definitions, let it. Then hit "Perform full scan" and click Scan to begin!
It will take a while, and you might see a scarily large number of "Objects infected," but don't worry! Once the process is finished, hit Remove Selected on the left. You may be asked to reboot your computer to complete the process.
And that's it! Your computer should now have a lot more free space, run faster, and be free from any nasty programs.
Cheap Tablets for School
There are plenty of cheapo
tablets out there, with shoddy builds, aging hardware, and outdated
software, but there are also some excellent bargains, and that's what
we've rounded up here. The six tablets below all perform admirably, and
top out at $350.
Google Nexus 7
$199 (8GB), $249 (16GB) direct
At $199, featuring the latest build of Android (4.1 "Jelly Bean") and a quad core Tegra 3 processor, Google's own Nexus 7 is the cream of the crop for budget-minded tablet shoppers. Its 7-inch 1280-by-800-pixel display is sharp enough to enjoy all of your favorite books, TV shows, and movies. Read Google Nexus 7
review ››
$199 (8GB), $249 (16GB) direct
At $199, featuring the latest build of Android (4.1 "Jelly Bean") and a quad core Tegra 3 processor, Google's own Nexus 7 is the cream of the crop for budget-minded tablet shoppers. Its 7-inch 1280-by-800-pixel display is sharp enough to enjoy all of your favorite books, TV shows, and movies. Read Google Nexus 7
review ››
Amazon Kindle Fire
$199.00 at Amazon A new Amazon tablet could very well be on the horizon, but if you need yours now, it's hard to argue with the under-$200 price and top-notch software experience the Kindle Fire provides. It's the easiest way access all your Amazon content on the go. Read Kindle Fire
review ››
$199.00 at Amazon A new Amazon tablet could very well be on the horizon, but if you need yours now, it's hard to argue with the under-$200 price and top-notch software experience the Kindle Fire provides. It's the easiest way access all your Amazon content on the go. Read Kindle Fire
review ››
Barnes & Noble NOOK Color
$149.00 at Amazon.com With a recent price drop, the first tablet from Barnes & Noble makes a very compelling choice, especially if reading is your top priority. The hardware components aren't cutting-edge at this point, but at $150 it's a top choice for gobbling up your media anywhere you go. Read Barnes & Noble NOOK Color
review ››
$149.00 at Amazon.com With a recent price drop, the first tablet from Barnes & Noble makes a very compelling choice, especially if reading is your top priority. The hardware components aren't cutting-edge at this point, but at $150 it's a top choice for gobbling up your media anywhere you go. Read Barnes & Noble NOOK Color
review ››
Barnes & Noble NOOK Tablet
$219.9 at Amazon Barnes & Noble's second tablet has some useful features that set it apart from the Kindle Fire. For one, the card slot is a key feature if you have a large library of your own books, movies, and music you want to sideload. The Kindle Fire has a slight edge when it comes to Web browsing and app selection, but when it comes to books, no one beats Barnes & Noble, especially if you're an avid comic book reader. Read Barnes & Noble NOOK Tablet review ››
$219.9 at Amazon Barnes & Noble's second tablet has some useful features that set it apart from the Kindle Fire. For one, the card slot is a key feature if you have a large library of your own books, movies, and music you want to sideload. The Kindle Fire has a slight edge when it comes to Web browsing and app selection, but when it comes to books, no one beats Barnes & Noble, especially if you're an avid comic book reader. Read Barnes & Noble NOOK Tablet
review ››
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, 7-Inch Student Edition
$248.99 at Amazon.com The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) is a simple, elegant small-screen tablet that really shows off the polish and power of Google's latest mobile operating system for just $250. It also has a built in IR blaster, so it can do double duty as a remote control for your dorm room home theater. Read Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, 7-Inch Student Edition
review ››
$248.99 at Amazon.com The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) is a simple, elegant small-screen tablet that really shows off the polish and power of Google's latest mobile operating system for just $250. It also has a built in IR blaster, so it can do double duty as a remote control for your dorm room home theater. Read Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, 7-Inch Student Edition
review ››
Acer Iconia A200
$349.99 (16GB) list
$249.99 at Amazon.com
The Iconia Tab A200 offers a solid set of features at an uncommonly low
price for a 10-inch tablet—the list price is $349.99, but you can find
it at many online retailers for around $300. It's a bit bulky compared
with the iPad, but that bulk makes room for a full-sized USB port that
can connect with mice, keyboards, and external storage devices. It's
more expensive than the 7-inch tablets included in this roundup, but if
you value screen real estate, this is a good place to start. Read Acer Iconia A200
review ››
$349.99 (16GB) list
$249.99 at Amazon.com
The Iconia Tab A200 offers a solid set of features at an uncommonly low
price for a 10-inch tablet—the list price is $349.99, but you can find
it at many online retailers for around $300. It's a bit bulky compared
with the iPad, but that bulk makes room for a full-sized USB port that
can connect with mice, keyboards, and external storage devices. It's
more expensive than the 7-inch tablets included in this roundup, but if
you value screen real estate, this is a good place to start. Read Acer Iconia A200
review ››
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