Basic DIY Computer Repair

I always thought I could fix anything, until I tried fixing computers. You need some help from someone that knows, whether it is online help or buying a book or going to school. I found out that most of the problems that your computer will have is in the software. The hardware can give you problems too, but not as often.

Removing and replacing a video card or sound card for a better one is simple. My teachers told us to remember, K.I.S.S which stands for Keep It Simple Stupid. You want to turn off and unplug the computer from all power before doing anything inside the computer. I once hit my computer case with a video plug that had power going to it and blew up my computer with lots of smoke and stink. Wear a grounding strap before touching the motherboard or any of the components. A screw holds the video card and/or sound card in place on the tower. Unscrew this and pull the card out. When replacing the card insert it at an angle and make sure it is secure then put the screw back in.

Sometimes if your computer is not getting enough air circulating inside the tower to keep the components cool, it will act sluggish and the fan may get noisy. Do not have your computer in an enclosed cabinet, it will get hot and burn out the motherboard. Another culprit to computers is dust. Look at the fan on the back of the tower; is it all dusty? Make sure that the computer is off and unplugged. Get a vacuum and vacuum out any dust bunnies. Do not put a powerful vacuum to the motherboard; it could suck up the jumpers that configure the board. Use a small paintbrush or canned air to clean it out.

If your computer is running slow, go to the control panel > administrative tools > computer management > disk defragment and defrag your disk. A disk partition is fragmented by several different causes; not doing your scheduled maintenance is the main problem. Consider that your computer is a desk at work and each program you open is a file on your desk. When you are finished using that file, or program, you do not get up and put it back in the file cabinet where it is supposed to be, you just pile it on your desk. After a while, you cannot find anything on your desk, it is fragmented. Defragmenting your disk puts everything back in order and it is now easily and quickly accessible.

Then go to Start > accessories > system tools > disc cleaner and let it do its thing. Then you have the option of deleting the files it found that you do not need and programs you may not use anymore. I have cleaned up 2 GB of space with this one program. Make sure that you always delete programs you no longer use in the control panel > add and remove programs. This will take entries out of the registry also. If you delete programs without using add and remove programs, you leave traces behind that will slow down your computer.

The best way to fix your computer yourself is with guidance from the operating system web site and online DIY computer repair sites that have the information you need. So try it and you may learn a few things.