HWinfopresentsahugeamountof
diagnosticinformationaboutyourPC
If your neighbour’s Wi-Finetwork is r unningon thesame
channel asyours, it mayslowone or both ofyoudown50 11 -26December 2019
IsyourPCtoo hot
inside?
Computercomponentsare
designedtoworkwithinspecific
tolerances,withlimitsonhumidity,
altitude,pressureandtemperature.
IfyourPCgetstoohot,itwillsometimes
throttlethespeedoftheprocessor.
Adequatecoolingisthereforevital
tothesmoothfunctioningofanyPC
and,ideally,youwanttokeepyour
processorataround80°Corlower.
Youcancheckhowhotyoursisrunning
withHWinfo,whichisfreetodownload
fromwww.hwinfo.com.
ClickSensorsonthetoolbarand,in
thewindowthatopens,scrolldownto
theprocessortemperatures,which
showtheheatlevelwithineachcore.
Iftheyarerunninghot,powerdown
yourcomputerand,ifyou’reusinga
PCwitharemovablecase,carefully
unlatchthecoverandusethenozzleof
avacuumcleanerrunningon lowpower
to suckaway dust fromthecasevents,
fansand accessible partsofthe
motherboard. Avoidplacingthe nozzle
directly onto anycomponents andresist
theurgetoblowstubbornfluff balls or
dislodgethemusingapen,pencil or
finger –asoft brushisacceptable.
If you’re usingalaptop, accessing
internal componentsismoredifficult,
butyou canstill vacuumexternal vents
to improveairflow. Also consider
vacuumingyour laptop’s keyboardto
unclog anydebris, because thegaps
betweenthekeyscan help heat escape.
Once you’ve reassembledand
rebootedyourPC(don’t runit withthe
coveroff because this canimpact
directionalairflow), checkinwith
HWinfoagain.Iftheprocessor
temperatureisstillhigh,consider
replacingthethermalpastebetween
yourprocessoranditsdedicated
heatsink.Theprocessinvolves
unclippingtheprocessor’sdedicated
fanfromthemotherboardorheatsink
(afinnedmetalradiator),thenremoving
theheatsinkfromtheprocessoritself.
Thisshouldbedoneverycarefully
becausetheheatsinkandprocessor
willbeattachedtooneanotherby
theexistingthermalpaste.Keepthe
processorinitssocketifpossibleand,
ifitdoescomefree,takecarenotto
damageanyofitspins.
Onceyou’veseparatedtheheatsink
andprocessor,userubbingalcoholto
removetheexistingthermalpastefrom
bothcomponents,thenapplyafresh
layerofpaste.Thereareseveraltypes
available–ArcticSilverandThermal
Grizzlyfrequentlygetfavourable
reportsinonlinereviews.It’simportant
touseneithertoolittlenortoomuch
pastetoavoideitherburnoutor
leakagewhenthetwocomponents
aresandwiched backtogether.Doesyournetwork
notwork?
Isyournetworkrunningslow
ordroppingout?Itmightnotbeyour
PCthat’satfault–orevenyourrouter.
Itcouldbeinterferencefromyour
neighbours.
DownloadandlaunchWi-FiAnalyzer
(freefromtheMicrosoftStoreat bit.ly/
wifi49 0 ).Thisfreeappplotseachofthe
networkswithinyourPC’sreachand
showswhichchannelsthey’reusing.
ThinkofWi-Fichannelsassimilarto
FMradiofrequencies–whentwo
stationsbroadcastonfrequenciesthat
aretooclosetogether,theyinterfere
witheachother.Thesamehappens
whentwowirelessnetworksuse
neighbouringchannels.
IfWi-FiAnalyzershowsthatyour
networkisoverlappingwitha
neighbour’s,logintoyourrouter’s
settingsandswitchittoaless
populatedchannel.Theprocessfor
doingthisvariesfromroutertorouter,
butbeginbyclickingStartandtyping
CMD.Click CommandPrompt,type
ipconfigandpressEnter.Checkthe
results this deliversfor
‘Default gateway’ andtype
thefoursetsofnumbers
beside this into abrowser
to access your router’s
settings.
You’ll needto usean
adminpassword to login,
whichyoushouldfindon a
labelattachedto theback
or bottomof your router.
Navigatetoits wireless,
LANorWi-Fi settingsand
usethe optionsthereto
setyourpreferred channel
to theone that WiFi
Analyzer indicatesisthe
leastpopulated.Diagnose your PC’sproblems
CleaningthedustfrominsideyourPChelpsreduceitstemperaturebutbecarefulnot
todamageany components