Here in Hawaii, one of the most common items that needs to be replaced on a computer is the Power Supply. Often this is due to power spikes, loss or brown outs, and you can buy an” uninterruptible power supply” that will alleviate those issues. Another way that they fail is due to dust. We have a lot of dust in our air, and the fans get corroded and jammed up. Pay attention if your computer is making a lot of fan noise…. Most of the time fan noise on the power supply will go away after a few minutes, so folks can tend to leave it and not fix it. One day the noise will stop, and it will seem like all is fine, but nothing could be further from the truth. Usually this is due to the fan no longer spinning at all, and soon that power supply will burn up from overheating. Make sure if you hear noise coming from your fans that you get it checked out as soon as possible. We have seen customers that have had to replace their entire computer due to this issue. We keep power supplies in stock and its an easy and not to costly fix.

Ever look at a web page and the text is too small? Too large? Here is an easy fix. Hold down the CTRL button on your keyboard, and then hit the plus sign key to make the text larger, or hit the minus key to make your text smaller. You can hit them repeatedly to keep enlarging or shrinking. If you want to put it back to normal, hold the CTRL key and then hit 0.

Malware and Adware is so easy to get these days, and most folks aren’t even sure how it got in their computer in the first place. Most Malware comes from downloading a program and not paying attention to the installation. Nowadays when you are installing any program, you should watch for checkboxes that show up during the download or installation. Often there will be a box (already checked) with a blurb saying that you will get some great program that will look for drivers for you, or speed up your computer. Many of us are used to just hitting the “next” button over and over till a program installs, but this is now the best way to get infected with malware. Make sure you uncheck all boxes that are offering you something that is not exactly what you were trying to install in the first place. This will help reduce your risk of becoming infected with debilitating software. Also don’t forget to run your Malwarebytes.

Always make sure to clean out your computer inside the case if you own a desktop. Heat is one of the worst things for your computer (aside from water). If dust starts to cake inside your machine, it’s like giving it a warm blanket. If you are diligent, and clean it out regularly with canned air, it will be fine, but if you wait, and the dust cakes on the inside of your fans, nothing less than an air compressor will remove the dust (unless you want to scrape it off by hand), as canned air will not have enough pressure. Dust can cause your computer to overheat and fail and can be a costly fix. Also remember to never us a vacuum on you computer, as they can static charge the air and create a static electricity spark that can harm RAM or Processor. It’s a great and easy way to keep your computer healthy. If you own a laptop, just blow out where the intake and exit holes are for the fans. Also blow out around your keys on your keyboards… it’s amazing all the stuff that falls in there!!