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Questions tagged [maintenance]

140 questions
114
votes
19 answers

How do I physically prevent people from unplugging an Ethernet cable?

We have a crowded computer laboratory. We render free Ethernet ports for laptop users. But they don't carry their Ethernet cables with them, they unplug cable of a fixed desktop PC and plug it to their laptop. When their work is finished, they don't…
hkBattousai
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71
votes
10 answers

Restoring performance and estimating life of a used SSD drive?

My old 128 GB SSD drive is about a year and a half old now, and I've since upgraded to another drive. I'd like to clean up my the old SSD to ... restore its performance to near-new levels rehabilitate it and generally give it a health check How do…
Jeff Atwood
  • 24,402
71
votes
11 answers

Suck or blow? What's better for dust?

The guy at the local PC hardware store told me it's better to use a small hand-held leaf blower to blow dust out of your PC case than a hand-held vacuum cleaner. Why is this? I understand that fans might be damaged if they "spin too fast", but…
gillespieza
  • 310
59
votes
9 answers

Disable "automatic maintenance" in Windows 8

I'm running a few VMs, and suddenly I noticed my CPU fan was spinning louder than usual. I tracked it down to Windows 8 doing some "automatic maintenance": How can I turn this completely off? I found a way to set the time, but not a way to turn it…
houbysoft
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51
votes
10 answers

Which malfunctions cause old computers to slow down and crash?

I've had a few computers of my own break after a few years of use, and I've seen computers owned by friends and family do the same thing. They either slow down (even running the original software they shipped with) or crash more often (kernel…
Mr. Jefferson
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40
votes
13 answers

What lubricants can be safely added to a laptop fan?

I've got a fan in a laptop that occasionally makes some loud airplane-like noises. It mostly happens about 10 seconds after booting up and lasts for 10-20 seconds. It also occasionally happens when the computer is running, but very rarely. …
Amazon Dies In Darkness
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31
votes
5 answers

SMART-Test never finishes. What can be done to let them complete?

When running SMART-Tests using smartmontools, they never finish. I always get "Interrupted (host reset.)" on various different systems and disks, including Debian in x86 and ARM, OS X on x64, with external and internal drives. Even when run in…
bot47
  • 1,922
24
votes
1 answer

Run htop over ssh via single command

I want to run htop over ssh - but launch it automatically on a keyboard-less system with a shell script. My first idea was ssh user@test.home 'htop' but: Error opening terminal: unknown. Is there any way to start htop remote without typing the…
wb7
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18
votes
12 answers

What kind of periodic maintenance should I carry out on HDD backup?

I have a bunch of directories backed up on an external HDD - not an SSD, a magnetic disk. The backup is just onto a single disk (yes, I know, an extra HDD with a copy would be a good idea; but that's not the case right now). Also, there are no dual…
einpoklum
  • 10,666
17
votes
5 answers

use rm to remove files and directories recursively

is it possible to use rm to remove files and directories matching a pattern recursively without using other commands?
user15586
  • 657
14
votes
3 answers

How do I preserve an unused computer?

I have a netbook that I am not using but would like to preserve for posterity. What precautions do I need to take to ensure that the machine does not undergo any deterioration? The machine will remain switched off most of the time.
Agnel Kurian
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14
votes
1 answer

How should I clean these faint yellow spots on my display?

It happened two days ago. I thought I had unknowingly used my laptop without sanitizing my hands, so I had sprayed the sanitizer on the keyboard. After that, I closed the left my laptop unused for hours. When I opened up my laptop, I noticed these…
Utkarsh Verma
  • 312
12
votes
2 answers

How do I safely remove keys from a keyboard?

I have a custom key I want to use on my new Deck keyboard, but I'm unclear how to safely remove existing keys from the keyboard without damaging them in the process. Should I use a special tool? A regular tool? Or just pull on the key until it comes…
Jeff Atwood
  • 24,402
11
votes
4 answers

How does dust affect a computer?

It is generally known that dust makes computers slower, and that cleaning out the dust regularly can make your computer run better. What I have not seen, is why this happens. From what I know dust doesn't stop electrons from getting from one side…
Eric Koslow
  • 493
10
votes
7 answers

How often should I dust the inside of my computer?

I would like to avoid frying my computer. I understand dust collects inside on the boards and the CPU cooling unit. How often should I open up the chassis and what process should I use to safely remove the dust?
Axxmasterr
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