Whatever electronic equipment you are cleaning, do not clean it while it is turned on! Do turn the device off and remove the power source. Do not use dripping wet sponges or cloths. Do use damp cloths and alcohol-based cleaners as they will dry faster. Do not attempt to dismantle a device if you are unsure whether or not you will be able to put it back together. Do consult a manual or instructions from the manufactu

Cleaning a modern LCD screen isn’t the same as cleaning an old-fashioned CRT monitor. That is because CRTs are covered with glass, while LCD displays have a softer plastic-based surface. To clean your LCD without damaging it, you need a lint-free cloth, distilled water (for dust) or isopropyl alcohol or white vinegar (for oily stains) and a bottle, ideally an atomizer. Spray your cloth with water or a 1:1 isopropyl alcohol : water mixture. Then carefully wipe the screen with the damp cl

The benefits of SSDs are not in question. But how do you install one? Actually, installing a hard drive is one of the easiest upgrades possible. Anyone with two hands and a screwdriver can do it. Here’s

Power for system components will come from either a regular molex 4 pin, or SATA style plug for SATA devices. Case fans will often come with daisy chain connectors for regular molex power plugs, like t

How exactly this is done depends on your computer model. I recommend searching Google and YouTube and I’m sure you will find instructions. Generally, you can expose your computer fans, then use a vacuum cleaner or canned air to remove dust, and a damp cloth to wipe it down. Do the same for the intake grills and vents. DO NOT remove the heat sink unless you are prepared to replace the thermal compo

Choosing the Performance tab option, you should two options. First is Overclock, which you probably won’t need to touch. However, ensure that the GPU Memory setting is set to the default 128 MiB. You can change this, however. For instance, 64 MiB is perfect for low-intensity desktop tasks such as word processing and em

This most commonly occurs because you’re using an older operating system or an unpopular one. Windows XP will work with most of today’s hardware despite its age, but you’re often going to be left with reduced functionality. Mac OS X is very finicky about the hardware it will work with. Linux is a little better, but only if you stick with popular, well-supported distributi

There are two ways to place an operating system on the new drive. One is to clone the data on your previous drive to the new one. The other is to start fresh and put a new installation of your operating system on the new dr

Having recently heard the woes of some family who are getting by with a tiny netbook and some kind of obscure Linux, I decided to build them a real computer for Christmas using components I have left over after various upgrades. I thought it would make for an interesting article to document the build process with photos, so here it

You’ll also need to install your preferred Raspberry Pi operating system. While there are several alternatives of varying degrees of suitability , we recommend the latest Raspbian Jessie with the PIXEL desktop environment . Also consider a hard disk drive and other storage if you’re planning to try using the Pi as a standard desktop long-t

Some of the power connections in desktops have remained the same over time, but some haven’t. The most recent examples of new connections are SATA and PCI Express. If you own a computer that is more than five years old it may not support them, and that means you won’t be able to use a SATA hard drive or a PCI Express video card without an adapter. Always makes sure that your power supply has the connectors required to accept any new hardware you might purch

For standard office tasks, LibreOffice is preinstalled with the PIXEL desktop.This is the modern fork of the popular Open Office suite, and has been configured for the Raspberry Pi. Including a word processor, spreadsheet tool, database and presentation software, LibreOffice will complete your Raspberry Pi desk

Each USB port requires 4 cables, so the bundle of 8 can be split up into two sets of 4 cables. One USB port uses the top set of pins, one the bottom. The cables should be labelled with either a 1 or 2 , plus something similar to the follow

Webmail can put unnecessary load on your browser as webmail apps tend to use a lot of AJAX and JavaScript. Fortunately, you can use the bundled Claws Mail email client. Other lightweight alternatives include the Mozilla Thunderbird-like Icedove Mail, which you can install

Along with the Pi itself, you’ll need a few extras. To use the computer as a desktop PC case Recommendations|https://pcbuildinsight.com/, you will need a keyboard and mouse, something you may have avoided if you’ve been accessing the device via S

After all, there may be times that you need to check your email or browse the web. You might want to use your Raspberry Pi to make notes of what you’re doing (perhaps keeping track of your progress using the programming tools, for instance), or use the web browser to carry out some brief resea