Italy is without question the place to shoot high definition video. Nearly everything in this sun-drenched part of the world cries out for a photo or video capture. My feelings about the country have never wavered from this opinion.

Having said that, I must also admit that Italy - particularly in metropolitan areas - is a problematic country for videographers. Rome, among other Italian cities, has some of the toughest regulations and laws limiting commercial photography.

My husband, Wayne, and I formed our company - VITA Digital Productions - 5 years ago to shoot European video footage - both for our own specialty-market treadmill virtual walks ( www.treadmillwalks.com ) and to sell as stock footage to TV networks around the world ( www.hdeuropeanstockfootage.com ). We made the decision last year to switch over to HD (High Definition) footage after getting our first request for HD footage.

Our biggest concerns, in planning our recent three-week shoot in May 2005, were 1. the safe transport of our video equipment (all in carry-on bags, for obvious reasons!), 2. the ability to shoot in and around tourist-laden locations, and 3. finding ways to get video footage in spite of the stringent regulations enforced in Rome.

Wayne and I have done this several times over the past five years - researching a picture-worthy destination in Europe, making our own travel plans, and packing up like two serendipitous vagabonds to go forth and shoot (you’d just have to know me to appreciate how foreign this is - no pun intended - to my accustomed, orderly way of life). When I look back to the first part of 2001 (pre 9-11) and our two trips to Italy in spring and summer of that year, I realize now how easy it was to get through customs with unusual looking video equipment.

When the two of us travel on a video shoot, we have slowly learned to take the bare minimum of clothing so that we can accommodate the camera, tripods, SteadiCam apparatus, batteries, filters, wide-angle lens, fluid heads, and tape in addition to spare parts for repairs.

This trip, anticipating problems with airport security, we took pictures of Wayne wearing the SteadiCam vest and showing the camera mounted on the articulated arm. We then tucked the pictures inside the luggage for quick and easy retrieval. When the security agents x-rayed our bags, they never failed to have us open our luggage and inspect the equipment contained. It expedited the process when we were able to produce pictures showing how every piece of equipment fit together. Wayne also mailed a small and inexpensive packet of tools (a screwdriver, a pair of pliers and an Allen wrench) to each of our two hotels so that we would not have those little forbidden items confiscated in the airports. And for some reason, an Allen wrench is an absolute no-no with security agents! I suppose that all of the items could have been purchased in Italy, but time is money on a shoot and we didn’t want to waste time searching for a source in a strange city.

Safely arriving with all of our equipment in Italy, we were ready to begin shooting. We had an itinerary and a shooting agenda for each day, but we knew we would have to build in some flexibility to allow for both the weather and the unexpected. We have been extremely lucky in this regard, even on our two previous shooting trips to England.

So how does a videographer shoot around the tourists? If too many people are between the camera and subject or site being shot, the whole effort can be an utter waste of time. And also, unfortunately, the Italian polizia and carabinieri are quick to tell a videographer or still photographer to fold up that tripod and move on!! They do NOT have any patience with a foreign professional photographer, so common sense and a little stealth are requirements.

For tourist-filled sites, we have found that shooting in the very early morning works well for us. For one thing, Italy is a late-night country, so there are few people (and that includes police) out on the streets at first light. Typically, we would get to a site by 7 AM each morning, shoot for a few hours and then return to the hotel for breakfast: then back out into the streets for more shooting.

The first part of our trip focused on the Amalfi Coast where we filmed, in addition to some incredibly beautiful stock footage, a virtual walk through the Valle di Mulino (the Valley of the Mills) above Amalfi, another through Pompeii, a third on the Isle of Capri, from Anacapri to Torre Damecuta, and yet another from Ravello to Atrani into the Piazza Umberto.

The last two weeks of this trip took us back to Rome, where our focus was HD stock footage and Renaissance art - Bernini sculptures and Raphael paintings claimed the lion’s share of our time and attention. We spent much of our time filming the Pantheon (Raphael’s Tomb and the occulus); the Church of Santa Maria de Popolo and its Chigi Chapel; Santa Maria della Vittoria with Bernini’s "Ecstasy of St. Teresa"; the Fountain of the Four Rivers in the Piazza Navona; St. Peter’s Basilica and Square; and those delightful Breezy Maniacs of Bernini’s along the bridge to the Castel Sant’Angelo.

We devoted a day filming a virtual walk in the medieval town of Viterbo (just 1.5 hours by train from Rome). An historical note about Viterbo - had John Paul II or Benedict XVI been elected Pope in the 13th century, it would have happened here rather than in Rome. Now a well-preserved provincial village, but in its heyday, Viterbo was Rome’s greatest rival!

Rome was more crowded with tourists during this trip than we’ve ever encountered. Much of that could be attributed to pilgrims flocking to the Vatican in the month following the death of Pope John Paul II and the subsequent election of Pope Benedict XVI. We’ve also heard that more Americans are traveling to Europe this summer than ever before. Whatever the reason, there were visitors everywhere.

At the end of the trip, we were exhausted but satisfied with the 20 plus hours of High Definition footage we shot along the Amalfi Coast and in Rome. There was an unfortunate incident with a French gendarme in the Charles deGaulle airport, but that will remain a story told within the family!

Is a foreign shoot worth the time, expense, and aggravation? I’ll give you a resounding yes on that one - but with a caveat: pack an extra dose of patience and a big heart, and both will be rewarded many times over!

My husband, Wayne, and I own a video production company that focuses on European travel. In addition to our Virtual Walks Series, we also shoot stock footage of Venice, Rome, the Amalfi Coast, London, and English villages. We have sold our footage to numerous television networks and production houses around the world.

Most people think that all you have to do to purchase a new plasma television set is to walk into a shop, look around, and purchase the first set that catches your attention. This is how you’re supposed to do it, right? Wrong! Buying a television, whether it has a plasma monitor or a LCD monitor, takes careful planning.

The first step in finding your dream plasma television set is to measure the space where you plan to put it. This will help you to decide which size set to buy and will also help to guide your budget. Remember to measure your car, too- there’s nothing more frustrating than picking out and purchasing that perfect plasma television set, if you can’t fit it into the car to get it home!

If you’re going to splash out and completely redecorate your home entertainment room, you should think about contacting a home installer, to get some tips and ideas before contracting the work. Remember to take into consideration things which might affect your view of the TV, such as lighting, windows, and other parts of the room which could possibly cause a reflection or obstruction of the display.

Once you’ve thought about where you’re going to put your new plasma television set- and how you’re going to get it home- you now need to think about what sort accessories you’ll need. Will you be using it in conjunction with your camcorder? Will you need to purchase a set of external speakers, or will you be hooking the television set up to your stereo? If so, remember to check that the monitor or set has an AV-hook up. Having the hook up in the front of the TV will make it more convenient to attach your camcorder or gaming system.

Finally, you should consider the television set’s overall picture quality and ease of use. Take the time to sit and watch the set in the store, to get an idea of how you’ll feel watching it at home.

With a little preparation, you’ll find the plasma TV set that is just right for you and your home.

Tom Ace is the founder of Plasma tv Resources a website providing information on plasma televisions.

Q : What is over clocking?

Overclocking is when you make your system processor run faster that its normal speed. This has many advantages and dis-advantages.

Advantages : This is obvious, your system will run faster

Dis-Advantages : Your hardware is likely to have a less life span. Your components will run at higher temperatures and there is an increased chance your system will overheat and crash. You need to be very careful or you could blow up your processor and / or motherboard.

Q: What components do I need?

You need to buy a special motherboard. Most motherboards will automatically detect your processor make and speed and you can not make any configuration changes. When buying a motherboard you need to make sure that you can change the processors bus speed. You will also need to buy some extra fans for your computer as it will be working harder and as a result everything will run at a higher temperature. It might also be worth looking for a case that can hold lots of case fans.

Q: How do I overclock a processor?

What you need to do is over clock the processors bus speed. You will need to check the manual that came with your motherboard on how to do this. I would recommend that you start by only overclocking a little bit before you try to get the most out of your processor.

Q: Tips for Over clocking?

Start by overclocking only by a small amount. If you overclock your processor to much your system will not come on and there is a chance that you could damage the processor and motherboard. If you do overclock your processor to much and the computer does not come on you can reset your motherboards configuration by removing the power at the back of your PC and also removing the battery on the motherboard for a few minutes.

- Monitor the temperature of your processor. You can sometimes check this by going into your computer BIOS as it will be displayed in there. If it is not in there, there are freeware programs that you can download, Try searching www.download.com

- Make sure you have a descent processor fan. Always buy a fan that supports much faster processors as this will cool your processor much better. Buy and fit as many case fans as you can.

- Before overclocking your processor do some research by searching the internet for stories of what other people have done. This way you will know how much you can realistically overclock.

Good luck, and remember post your stories and experiences of overclocking in our forums

Article http://www.computing-forums.com/computer/how-to-overclock-a-processor-46.htm

Jason Barrett
www.computing-forums.com

My first article about digital recording that I have had published in various places on the net for some time, talks about the two main audio formats midi. and wav.

I have decided therefore, to devote the next few articles to addressing some of the questions I have received about this first article.

Keep in mind that the wav. format is the one that is used for burning directly to CD. To do this, you just need to open your CD burning software, find your wav. file and drag or drop it into your burn list.

Also keep in mind that you can record directly to wav. and forgo the midi. format completely. Midi. has some specialized recording uses that I will cover later in subsequent articles.

For now, some useful things that you can do by recording directly to the wav. format;

For example, someone asked about recording your old L.P.s (What’s that?) or tapes to CD.

To do this, you need to hook-up a tape player or record player (?) to the input of your sound card.

Most newer computers have a sound card, accessible from the back panel. If you look there, you will see the inputs to your sound card; an input for a microphone that will usually have a little microphone picture by it and another input for stereos and such. You will usually also find outputs for additional speakers.

The general input for stereos and such is where you plug the output of your player.

Next, find the software for your sound card. This can often be found in accessories. The software should include a recorder. You may have to select the proper input in your recorder’s options or file menu.

Next, play your tape or L.P. while recording it with your sound card recording software. This recording can be saved directly as a wav. file and then easily burned to CD.

If your source is an older L.P. that has scratches, there is software available to clean it up.

If, by chance, you don’t have a sound card, you may wish to purchase one. Go down to your local computer store and pick one up for a surprisingly low price.

I have recorded entire L.P.s to CD including some rare 45s of luminaries like Mario Lanza

Brian Beshore is a graduate of the Peabody School of music. He has played in many groups, in well known venues such as the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, where he was part of the opening act for Hunter S. Thompson. You can hear his music at http://www.dizzyobrian.com

Confused about VOIP? Join the crowd. It’s not as difficult as it sounds and we are going to make VOIP simple for the average person.

VOIP simply means Voice Over Internet Protocol. Now you don’t need to know anything about the protocol so basically it is using the Internet to make phone calls.

All you need is a high speed internet connection to make a VOIP call. There are many companies that offer VOIP service and offer the telephone with it. Many will even set it up for you. Even local cable companies are offering to set you up. Once it is set up, you don’t need to worry about anything. You can simply make telephone calls just like normal. Now you will be making calls through an internet company and not your phone company.

Why should I use VOIP and are there any disadvantages?

Advantages

The main reason most will want to use it is to lower their phone bills. You will normally pay a flat fee and you will get long distance to the US and Canada with it at no extra charge.

You can keep you phone number that you have now.

No matter where you move you can take your phone number with you even if you move to a different area code. My daughter moved to Bermuda and she kept her home phone number.

When you move and your phone moves with you there are no extra setup charges as there is with your local phone

If you are travelling you can set it up to use your laptop or wireless connection, as long as it is high speed. Most hotels these days accomodate this.

No longer will you have to pay for extra features. With VOIP service providers these usually come as standard. Features such as:

1. Caller ID

2. Call Waiting

3. Call Transfer

4. Repeat Dialling

5. Return Call

6. Three-Way Dialling

Advanced call filtering features. These features allow you to decide how calls to a specific number are handled by using caller ID information. They allow you to:

1. Forward the call to a particular number

2. Send the call directly to voicemail

3. Give the caller a busy signal

4. Play a “not-in-service” message

Disadvantages

Sometimes the quality is not as good as phone lines. It’s close and will continue to get better. I suspect that within a year you will not be able to tell the difference.

Set up can be very challenging. If you are not a techie, there is always someone you can hire to do it for you. With the financial savings you will get from it, it’s worth it to pay someone if you are at all squimish about it.

It does not work well with fax machines and alarm systems. It works and in short time this will also improve.

If your internet access goes down then your phone will also go down. For most with high speed access this rarely happens.

If the power goes off the phone will not work. For most of us, this is also a rare occurrance. You can get backup batteries to resolve this issue if you are in a rural area and it happens often.

Currently the government does not apply taxes to the service. If that changes VOIP may not be price effective anymore.

VOIP is the future and more and more people are coming online with it every day. This may also effect a lowering of the cost in time.

That is it in a nutshell. It’s not nearly as scary as you thought.

Jean Sutherland is a technical writer for the popular website http://www.voip-place.com/ where everything VOIP is discussed. She is also the owner of the successful website The Company Newsletter at http://www.thecompanynewsletter.com where you will find loads of free software, articles on marketing and common computer questions.

This is the step takes the most time and consideration. Which parts do I buy? Which are best?

There are many good places to buy computer parts. You can go to a computer retail store in your area. Although they often provide good warranties, you will pay a little more than you would in other places. Sometimes, a lot more.

Case - There are two types of cases, Desktop and Tower. Desktop cases are short and fat (Which can fit under your monitor nicely.) And towers are tall and slim which are usually placed under the desk. Decided which one will fit in to your environment best.

There are two different forms of computer cases. AT and ATX. you need to find out which one you need. AT form cases are used for older computers, Pentium 1 and before. And ATX form cases are used for newer systems such as Pentium 2, 3, 4 and AMD Athlon etc.

Motherboard - The motherboard is the central component in the system. If you want to upgrade your processor / Memory / Video card, you can only upgrade if your motherboard supports it. It is always worth planning a head, So buy the best motherboard you can afford.

Before you select a motherboard consider the following. What processor you want to use with it. What memory does it support. Has it got an AGP slot?? An AGP slot is used for special 3DFX graphic cards. What other expansion slots does it have?? You will need a minimum of 3 PCI slots.

Hard drives run at special speeds. 33mhz, 66mhz, 100mhz and 133mhz, Check if the motherboard supports the speed of your hard disk. If your hard drive runs at 100mhz and your motherboard only goes up to 66mhz, then your hard disk will still run but not at its fastest speed.

Motherboards come in two different forms. AT and ATX, Make sure this form matches the form of your case. Make sure you get a manual with your motherboard, This manual will tell you how to configure your motherboard.

Processor - There are many different processors out but these are the main ones.

Pentium 4 / AMD-Athlon- This processor is the most expensive but the fastest around. This processor is used in systems which need performance such as performance gaming / servers / Web designing. Current fastest processor speed is 3200mhz 3.2ghz

Celeron / AMD-Duron - These processors are a lot cheaper than the Pentium 4 and AMD Athlon. Usually used in mid user systems, such as word processing / surfing the net / e-mail / gaming.

Cirix - Cheapest processors on the market. But are miles behind in performance of Pentiums and AMDs.

You will need to decide on what processor you need, Also make sure your motherboard supports it. Always make sure you buy a heatsink and fan to keep the processor cool. Warning, If your fan is not good enough for your processor, then your processor is very likely to overheat and crash your computer. And in the long run damage your processor.

Memory - Memory is a big part of your machine, Check what your motherboard can take. Buy the fastest memory your motherboard will take. Buy at least 128mb, this is the bear minimum for these days. I would recommend 256mb.

CD-ROM/DVD : Every computer needs a CD-ROM to load software. There are a few different types of CD-ROM. You can buy one that can write data to a CD-ROM. You can also buy a CD-ROM which supports DVD. Check what speed the CD-ROM is. Usual speed is 52x.

Hard Drive- When selecting a hard drive there are two things to consider, how big is the capacity of the disk and how fast does it run. A 20gig drive will be more than enough for most users. Make sure the speed of the hard drive is supported on your motherboard, If it is not supported then the hard drive will not run at its fastest speed, Consider a motherboard upgrade.

Video Card - There are loads of different video cards on the market, when selecting consider these points. Does it fix into an AGP or a PCI slot in your motherboard?? AGP is a special video slot, so buy a video card with an AGP form, Also check your motherboard has an AGP slot. How much memory does the card have? And how fast does it run?? I would recommend getting a video card with at least 32mb of memory.

Sound Card - Just about every computer has sound, I would not recommend spending a lot of money on a sound unless you want your computer to support sur-round sound. Check what slot the card plugs into and if your motherboard has one free.

Keyboard & Mouse - There is no need for much info here. But beware there are two types of connections for a keyboard and mice they are PS/2 and USB, Make sure your motherboard has available connections.

Article http://www.computing-forums.com/computer/buying-the-components-21.htm

Jason Barrett www.computing-forums.com

How a business presents itself to its customers has to be the single most important factor in its potential success. In days gone by usually your first contact with new customers would have been through your storefront or through word of mouth, passed on by other satisfied customers. In today’s modern world, telecommunication plays an ever increasing role in reaching potential new customers.

In the last few years the rate at which computing and telecommunication technology has advanced is simply astounding. With this increased rate of technological development comes falling prices for products that were once extremely expensive. This allows smaller companies to take advantage of features and services that were once only available to much larger and richer organisations.

Once upon a time the telephone was the primary mode of communication, whereas now existing and new customers are able to reach you I a variety of different ways. This article will give a brief overview of what is available and how you can use it.

The Telephone
When the internet was first becoming popular, many experts predicted it would kill off the telephone. Little did they know that in fact the exact opposite would happen. The massive growth in online shopping has generated massive amounts of customer phone enquiries, making the telephone still the most important communication tool throughout the world.

The internet is undoubtedly an impressive medium for publishing information, but it is not a person. Some customers would rather deal with a real life human being rather than with a machine. There are many situations where a person is much better suited to talk to customers than a machine is. The internet is not so good at dealing with higher priced items. Customers enquiring about these higher priced goods would in most cases prefer to deal with a person, and that is where the telephone comes in handy.

Phone Systems
The selection and installation of an appropriate phone system is probably one of the most important purchases a business will ever make. A bad phone system will repel potential customers; a good phone system will help them, guide them through a process, make it appear as though they have a direct line and most importantly make them feel like their business is both wanted and appreciated.

Phone systems with advanced features like voice mail, ACD (call queuing) and auto attendant, used to be extremely overpriced. Because of the integration between computing and telecom technology, prices have come down dramatically, although system performance and features have actually increased. Now a market that was once largely ignored by the telecoms industry and vendors alike is a thriving sector with manufacturers constantly improving and upgrading systems in a bid to attract your business.

The new phone systems developed for this small office/home office market sector can be split into three basic categories: key systems, mini-PBX’s (including PC-based phone systems), and LAN based phone systems.

Key Systems
In the past few years some of the best developments have been in low cost intercom style systems for small businesses of typically 12 or fewer users. The biggest market sector in the telecoms industry is undoubtedly that of small businesses who have 10 or fewer users. It now seems almost comical that this market was largely ignored in the past. New KSU-Less systems allow even the smallest offices to enjoy more advanced features that used to be only normally associated with larger more expensive systems. These systems are extremely cost effective and designed to make use of existing telecoms wiring.

The systems in this category that have benefited most from development investment are hybrid corded and cordless phone systems. These systems allow users to integrate cordless as well as corded phones within intercom systems. Office based employees would have corded phones whereas mobile employees such as warehouse operatives could have cordless phones.

Mini-PBX’s
Mini PBX systems are ideally suited to companies who have more than 10 employees, but fewer than 100. Mini PBX’s can give access to features like voice mail, automated attendant, intercom, computer integration and call distribution.

There are 2 categories of mini-PBX phone systems, self contained devices and computer based phone systems. There are a few companies who make self contained systems. These systems are easy to install and require very minimal computer and networking knowledge. These systems provide basic features like voice mail, auto attendant, intercom and a few others. It must be stressed though that although these systems will suffice for most small business applications, they cannot always provide all the specialist features each individual business may require. Mini-PBX’s that are computer based are generally speaking for the more technically advanced users, and can offer a wider range of features that can be customised to meet a businesses requirements. A good example of advanced features is advanced IVR (auto-attendant) scripts. This allows computerised phone systems to route calls to specific groups based on how the caller has responded to prompts. These computerised systems allow even small companies to handle their calls in a way normally associated with large call centres.

LAN (IP)-based phone systems
Companies that have installed a high speed local area network (LAN) for connecting their computers can use this same network as the backbone for their office phone system. Many phone system suppliers are edging towards this approach, and there are already several LAN-based phone systems which use a company’s Ethernet data network to transport phone calls and data.

LAN-based phone systems were a very experimental idea. They had unpredictable audio quality; neither did they offer features that users of conventional phone systems take for granted. This has all changed as phone system vendors have retooled the business phone systems to use data networks as their backbone.

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Jason Morris is co-author, search engine optimization and marketing consultant of Business Phone Systems Direct. Specialists in the supply and installation of business phone systems and accessories.
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The registry is where the computer stores information about the configuration of the system and the programs installed so that the operating system can use them.

Regularly maintaining the registry is a basic requirement. Fixing problems after they occur is harder than preventing them in the first place. Windows registry problems can cause crashes, slow performance and error messages.

If you:

- Install or uninstall software on a regular basis

- have not removed software correctly

- have embedded Spyware or any third party programs that start up again with each boot [whether you installed them or not]

- have installed or uninstalled hardware

- you have drivers on your system that are no longer needed.

Then you absolutely need to be cleaning your windows registry regularly! All the above leave trace elements of themselves behind that build up over time and choke the registry. Think of it as like dusting. Don’t dust and you end up with dust bunnies, allergies and sneezing; you don’t feel well and you slow down… Get the picture?

Back up your registry. Basic rule of thumb in the computing world - Back Up, Back Up, Back Up. System meltdowns and viruses can require the complete reinstalling of windows on your computer, which means you run the risk of losing all your files. Keep them safe. Back them up.

1. Don’t try and edit anything in the registry yourself unless you are completely familiar with it and with the system

2. Programs are available that can be installed and set to fix and reguarly maintain your registry. Search online or drop in to your local computer store.

3. Call in a professional. Ask your friends for a reliable technician or look one up in the Yellow Pages

To learn more about programs that clean your windows registry, please visit http://www.1buyit.com/

My mother always told me to dust, but I never did, mostly because I was lazy, but also because I couldn’t find any tangible benefit to dusting. I just didn’t see how I’d benefit from my room or my things being less dusty. Well now I’ve gotten a bit older, and I finally found a reason to dust - a cooler running computer. I’m going to give some background on my own system and circumstances first, then run tests before and after dusting, as well as explain how and what I used to dust. Be sure to take a look at this article - with pictures and graphs - plus a whole lot more, at aworldofhelp.com.

I’ve had the computer in question for a little over two years, a dual AMD Athlon MP workstation that while no longer the top of the line, is still plenty fast enough for what I do. The computer is running at standard speeds and specifications, and has always been very stable - but not 100%. When the system was about a year old I had been getting by with the occasional, roughly once weekly lock up. At that point, I finally spent the time to try and diagnose the problem.

To be perfectly clear, I’m talking about a lock up, where everything stops responding, the screen freezes and I have to reboot, not simply an application crash, which I can usually just blame on Microsoft. My initial thought was that the computer was overheating, specifically the CPUs. I was a little hesitant though because I was running AMD retail processors at standard specifications with AMD retail heatsinks and fans, and I figured that should have been a fine setup. But I’ve had CPUs overheat before when I was sure that was the problem and this just felt like it now. I did some research online and it looked like the AMD cooling solutions were somewhat underwhelming performers, so I broke down and bought new heatsinks and fans. These still weren’t top of the line, but they reduced my CPU temperatures immediately by about 20%.

In unscientific testing I’d say my computer was absolutely more stable after the reduction in temperature. I estimate the weekly lockup became a monthly or even every other monthly lockup. This clearly isn’t perfect for a system that really should be 99.99% stable, but it was a big improvement, and I let the problem go for a while. I will note that as many of you many assume, this computer is always on, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Anyway now it’s another year later and my computer is increasingly unstable again. I’m not going to go out and get better heatsinks and fans again, as I’m sure the improvement would be less than before. My next though was about how dusty the whole system is. I know I should have dusted it once in the last two years, but I never got around to it. I’d say I live in an average environment in terms of dustiness, not especially better or worse, and I just never thought it would make a very significant difference in my CPU temperature. As you’ll see, I was completely wrong - which incidentally might make my mother right.

Almost all users should really consider the results of both tests, possibly giving more weight to the one which most closely matches your typical computing. Even if you run predominantly business applications, you’ll almost certainly occasionally do something that falls under this content creation test, editing pictures or an occasional home movie, for example. So consider all the tests, don’t just focus on one graph.

Should you dust your computer? Yes, why not, it can’t hurt. But really, there are tangible benefits of cleaning your computer, even if it seems stable right now.

Computers and electronics in general don’t like heat. Dust blocks fans in your case, which generally cool you CPU, video card and motherboard components. Dust also blocks fans and their airflow into and out of your case. Cool air needs to be brought into a case, and then the host air dispelled. If the airways are blocked, system temperature can rise quickly. If your computer is stable but the CPU is running too hot, you cut down on its lifespan, potentially quickly.

More important to many people though, may be the result of that first heat related computer lock up. Even if it’s never been a problem before, if your computer crashes at the wrong time it can be catastrophic. Usually mine just locks up when I’m away from it, or overnight, and I just turn it back on and restart Firefox and haven’t lost anything important. But last week it locked up with unsaved graphs for my last article and Excel chose no to auto save. I spent the hour it took to redo them considering ways to eliminate these lock ups.

Of course, reducing heat is also always a priority for people who overclock their CPU. For those that don’t know, overclocking is running a CPU at a higher frequency than it was sold to run at. For example, you could take your Intel Pentium 4 that is running at a “clock” rate of 2 GHz, and try to run it at 2.1 GHz, 2.5 GHz, faster speeds, or anywhere in between. I have an old dual CPU system that was supposed to run at 366 MHz. Instead I ran the chips at 500 MHz each, which was a huge performance gain. Overclocking is actually a great way to get more “free” performance out of a system, as long as you can maintain stability. Usually the single biggest factor for success is reducing heat as much as possible.

Another thing to note is that while it is very important to keep CPU heat to a minimum, hard drives, video cards, and other components all need to be kept cool as well. In fact, I don’t really know for sure that my CPUs are the current problem. I think they are, but my next guess (if I’m correct that it’s a heat problem) would be my video card, since I’ve checked, and it runs really hot.

Consider this as well, if my CPU were to actually stop working because it was too hot, it would probably be a gradual process, and I could fix the situation by purchasing a replacement. If my hard drive crashes and ultimately loses data, that could be a much more problematic situation. I could replace the drive, but recovering the data could be far more difficult than just replacing a CPU.

I opened up the system and saw more dust than computer. All the fans were covered in dust, and their airflow was totally blocked. I put the case back on and took temperature readings of my computer both idle and when working. The tests are all run are on the following system:

CPU - Dual AMD Athlon MP 2000+ (1.67 GHz) Motherboard - AMD K7-D RAM - 1024 MB RAM (2 x 512 MB registered DDR 2100) Video Card - Matrox Parhelia AGP 128 MB HD - Segate 5400 rpm- st320410a Windows XP SP2

I picked that unexciting hard drive because it was the only one I had that reports temperature.

For the idle readings the computer was freshly booted into Windows. To get the computer running at full load I ran two instances of Prime95, a math application that will max out a CPU (2 copies running, one each for 2 CPUs), and copied 2 GB of Music on the hard drive to another folder on the same drive. The entire process took about half an hour.

Without anything to compare them to, those numbers for the most part aren’t terribly interesting. My only reaction was that 63 degrees Celsius seems pretty hot, and the idle CPU temperatures aren’t too wonderful either. Remember, each CPU type has a different recommended temperature range. 63 degrees may be too hot for mine, but could be either acceptable, or perhaps way too hot for your own. Regardless, you hopefully will notice a relative reduction in temperature after dusting.

Dusting the computer

As I said, I’ve never dusted a computer before, but I came up with what ended up being a reasonable plan. I bought compressed air and a small brush from staples for $7 total and used a rag I have here. I made sure to unplug my computer, grounded myself to discharge static electricity by touching something metal other than my computer, opened up the case and was ready to go.

As long as you make sure your computer is unplugged, don’t get anything wet, and are gentle while you have it opened, you really shouldn’t damage anything. For the most part, the inside of your computer is delicate, but it isn’t brittle. The most notable exception is your CPU. If you were to disconnect it and pull it out of the motherboard you would expose pins on the bottom that are in fact extremely delicate.

You could do a really thorough job by taking everything apart and getting all the dust out, but I didn’t want to spend that much time doing it and I figured if I left everything connected their was less chance I’d mess something up. So I used the air, brush and rag and got the dust off the computer, taking the most time to clean the fans and the holes they blow out of.

I ran the same tests again, and the results were dramatic.

Idle, CPU 1 saw an 18% reduction in temperature, while CPU 2 is 10% cooler. That’s very important, as all those hours my computer is sitting doing very little it’s going to be considerably cooler.

At full load, CPU 1 is 21% cooler and CPU 2 is 12% cooler. These are again very impressive results, and very important as well. I have had lock ups when video encoding and doing other CPU intensive tasks, and now the chips should be running cooler while doing those.

It’s interesting that originally CPU 1 was hotter than CPU 2, and after the cleaning they switched. An important fact is that the temperature reporting on this type of dual AMD Athlon system is generally uneven. That said, CPU 1 was easier to dust around because the DVD drives were in the way of CPU 2, so I probably did a better job cleaning the former and there is still likely room for improvement in cooling the latter.

One other note, I kept track of the fan speeds before and after cleaning, and I saw about a 2% increase in the CPU fan speeds after I dusted. I wasn’t expecting this at all, and certainly can’t be certain that this will always result from dusting, but it could be very interesting for overclockers trying to eak out every last bit of fan performance.

The hard drive temperature saw a 9% improvement while idle after dusting, and again a 9% improvement at full load. It’s a nice temperature reduction for a mechanical component that will be grinding away for thousands of hours over the life of your computer.

The case temperature stayed the same throughout all the tests.

Conclusion

All in all I was surprised the results were so dramatic. I expected few degrees for the CPUs and maybe one for the hard drive, but to see a 20% reduction in temperature is just great. There is defiantly room for improvement as well. The CPU fans have covers that I could have taken off and gotten more dust out, and as I mentioned reaching one of the CPUs was harder than the other. Further, I’d say I got most of the dust inside my computer, well over 90%, but I still saw some that proved more challenging to clean that I was willing to bother with. Taking all the cards out and thoroughly cleaning the whole system would have no doubt led to even better results.

My system has maintained the cooler temperatures so far, a week after the cleaning, and I haven’t had a lock up since. I can’t be certain I’ve solved the lock up problem, but it does appear I have for now. At the very least, I can be sure CPU heat is not the problem, as now they are running at very acceptable temperatures. Your own results will vary, and may not be as dramatic if your computer wasn’t as dusty as mine. Regardless, you should see some reduction in component temperature after cleaning your system.

All in all I recommend you take a look around and inside your computer to see how it looks. If it’s dusty, $7 and an hour of your time seems like a good investment to increase the life of your computer and prevent system lock ups. I suspect many people suffer the occasional heat caused lock up, it just isn’t obvious what the problem is, and they don’t occur often enough to be a serious concern. But remember, even if you only have one heat caused lock up in the entire life of your computer, it could come at the worst time, or cause permanent damage.

Steve Perlow is the founder of aworldofhelp.com, where you can find the aworldofhelp Top Picks in desktop and notebook systems. Visit aworldofhelp.com to get answers from real people to your questions about technology, travel and more.

DECT stands for Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications. Unlike analogue cordless phones that used to be frequent in many homes and businesses around the world, DECT is a digital wireless communication technology that is through its advanced reliable infrastructure bound to make cordless phones even more common in businesses and homes around the globe.

DECT formerly stood for Digital European Cordless Telecommunications standard. This is because the technology involved was primarily developed by European companies. It was changed to reflect the global acceptance of this cordless telecommunications technology.

DECT uses TDMA which stands for Time Division Multiple Access, to transmit radio signals, much the same as Global System for Mobile communication (GSM). GSM is designed for mobile communications over longer distances, where as DECT has been designed especially with short distances and large user numbers in mind. Many of today’s modern cordless phones can operate in dual mode, giving the user seamless DECT and GSM integration.

Below are five major applications of DECT cordless technology;

1. Cordless Private Branch Exchange (PBX)

This allows companies to connect to a wired telephone company and then re-distribute their calls over a DECT cordless phone system through a radio antenna. Users could each have their own number and make use of all the features of a fully functional PBX phone system. A DECT cordless PBX phone system would be especially useful to companies or organisations that have a large number of mobile employees, such as warehouses, hospitals and building sites etc. It is even possible to convert a wired PBX into a fully functional DECT cordless system with the addition of specialist DECT equipment to your existing wired phone system.

2. Wireless Loop (WLL)

Users in a neighbourhood typically served by a telephone company wired local loop can be connected instead by a cordless phone that exchanges signals with a neighbourhood antenna. A standard telephone (or any device containing a telephone such as a computer modem or fax machine) is simply plugged into a fixed access unit (FAU), which contains a transceiver. The wireless Local Loop can be installed in an urban area where many users share the same antenna.

3. Home Cordless Phones

With the huge range of multiple handset, one cell DECT systems on the market these days, people can install a single cell antenna anywhere in their home and have a DECT cordless handset in each room.

4. Cordless Terminal Mobility

The arrangement that is used by a lot of businesses for their cordless PBX phone systems, could also be used by a service wanting to provide cordless phone numbers for individual subscribers. This system in general will provide less mobility than that of a GSM based system, which would give it’s users a greater range.

5. GSM/DECT Internetworking

The DECT standard is able to interact with the GSM standard, allowing users to move freely with a telephone from the outdoors (GSM signals) into indoor environments (DECT signals). In the future many GSM service providers will want to extend their services to support DECT signals inside buildings. A dual-mode phone would automatically first search for a DECT signal and then a GSM signal if DECT is not available.

Thank you for reading my article,

Jason

Jason Morris is co-author, search engine optimization and marketing consultant of Business Phone Systems Direct. Specialists in the supply and installation of business phone systems and accessories.