Showing posts with label 3 Ways to Choose the Best Broadband Internet Connection ISP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 3 Ways to Choose the Best Broadband Internet Connection ISP. Show all posts
Thursday, 23 April 2015
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Hostgator was founded in 2002 by Brent Oxley. The company originally began in Oxley’s Florida Atlantic University dorm room. The company now resides in Texas with offices in Houston and Austin. HostGator specializes in providing shared, reseller, VPS and dedicated servers. In the ten year life span of the company, HostGator has managed to grow to over five million domains, providing nearly 1% of the Internet’s traffic. Currently HostGator has clients in over 200 countries with a 90% satisfaction rate.
Companies know it is difficult to keep a business running with high overhead costs. It is just as difficult to find a web host that provides the user the ability to build their own website at a cost that is within the businesses budget. That is why HostGator coupon codes are being provided via the Internet to reduce the overall cost of web site hosting, and in some cases website design.
Site builder is the tool HostGator provides to companies to build their own website. The tool provides a multitude of features and is included with most of their web hosting options. Using this tool, the designer may chose from over 4500 website templates and customize the pages with content and their logo. There is also the option for the more daring to create your website from scratch. The ease of using these site building tools allow companies that need to change their website on a monthly, quarterly or seasonal basis an efficient method of “re-designing” their website in merely minutes rather than hours.
HostGator also provides free web hosting transferring for all of their hosting services. This means that all files, domains, e-mails, databases and scripts can be transferred at no additional cost to the customer. This takes the hassle out of trying a new web host.
One of the many reasons to choose HostGator for web hosting services includes its spectacular customer service. Customer support is available through live chat, phone, e-mail (or a ticket), fax and mail. Customer service is available 24/7/365 to answer questions and provide technical help.
HostGator offers web hosting as one of their four main services. Web hosting comes in three different levels of service. The plans are inexpensive and efficient. Each plan comes with unlimited disk space, sub-domains, FTP accounts, e-mail accounts, and bandwidth. The site building tools and templates are provided at no additional cost. All users can use the cPanel control panel for developing their website.
HostGator offers web hosting as one of their four main services. Web hosting comes in three different levels of service. The plans are inexpensive and efficient. Each plan comes with unlimited disk space, sub-domains, FTP accounts, e-mail accounts, and bandwidth. The site building tools and templates are provided at no additional cost. All users can use the cPanel control panel for developing their website.
The three levels of web hosting are hatchling, baby and business. Each plan offers SSL certification. The baby plan also includes unlimited domains. The business plan provides unlimited domains, a toll free number and private SSL certification and IP address.
Using the site builder you can create any type of website you desire. The site can be designed using one of the 4500 templates available or design one from scratch. The site builder provides many different designs and provides functional presets to easily “drag and drop” build a website. Some of the presets include pages, design templates, page sets, and functional modules. The blogs and image galleries are included in the functional modules.
The site builder tools uses BaseKit because it an easy to use tool that provides an easy way for their clients to build websites. BaseKit allows the user to use multiple languages. In addition BaseKit allows for adding and editing HTML and CSS coding. PSD designs are able to be imported into the program to allow for even more customization to a website. The easy to use styling tools allow even the most inexperienced person to move quickly through the required steps to build a constructive and interesting website that is an asset to their company.
All hosting plans include the addition of free shopping carts, portals, blogs, forums, password protected directories, custom error pages, blogs, hotlink protection, redirect URL, IP deny manager, and web based file managers. These additions provide additional options to add to your website and fulfill your website needs based on the type of business you are.
The three levels of web hosting are hatchling, baby and business. Each plan offers SSL certification. The baby plan also includes unlimited domains. The business plan provides unlimited domains, a toll free number and private SSL certification and IP address.
To help save money on the web hosting plans, HostGator coupon codes are available. The codes are available on many websites across the Internet. Some of the hosting coupon codes provide a discount at $9.95. For the hatchling or baby hosting plans, this means you could have the first month of web hosting service at these two levels for one penny. Other coupons provide up to 25% off. In some cases this could be up to a $599.70 savings depending on the plan and billing cycle.
There is other percentage off coupons available. The percentage off coupons means the number received when multiplying the package by the percentage discount is the discount on the package price. Dollar off coupons hold a monetary value and regardless of the price of the plan you receive that amount off the package price. For example, a $10 off coupon would result in a $24.95 plan to be reduced to $14.95.
Hostgator coupon codes are provided to every user and new client to help reduce the cost of running their website and hosting costs. HostGator makes having a website easier by providing services to clients at an inexpensive rate to begin with, but then add an additional coupon code discount to the packages. This helps the client keep their costs down and remain satisfied with the services and products of HostGator.
The coupon codes are provided as a retention strategy. By providing coupon codes to clients, HostGator knows they are more likely to retain current clients and attract new ones. With the economy today it is good to know that a company understands the tough times your small business is going through. For a web hosting company to remain competitive, the company needs to understand and know their customer’s needs. The coupon codes provide an additional reason for clients to continue using and coming back to HostGator for their entire web hosting needs. It is a known fact that not all companies that provide discounts and coupons can still be successful. Just providing the HostGator coupon does not guarantee HostGator will be a success.
Reseller hosting provides plans to a client to provide web hosting to other clients. This hosting plan issues free client management software. To ease the stress of billing, HostGator also provides billing software for resellers to use. Reseller coupons are also available. A current coupon for this plan includes the $24.95 off coupon reducing the price of any reseller package.
With a reseller hosting plan you can create an unlimited number of websites under your brand name. You can provide scaled pricing or specialized pricing for different companies based on wants and needs. You may provide a variety of services, features and packages.
Another type of hosting plan provided by HostGator is the VPS hosting plans. These plans give the dedicated server functionality but do not require the additional expense. CentOS Linux with full root access, optional cPanel or web hosting manager panels are all provided in the VPS hosting plans.
One of the benefits of having the VPS hosting plan is that it provides a direct connection between dedicated servers and shared servers. VPS hosting plans come in nine levels. Each level provides a different amount of CPU’s, disk space, and bandwidth provided with that package. Since these packages can be customized, the hosting needs of a client may be upgraded at any given time. This reduces the initial expenses for a company pursuing VPS hosting. This means you are only paying for services you need. There is no need to pay for extra download speeds or space that your company does not need. The nine plans include:
- Level 1 – .56 GHZ CPU, 384 MB RAM, 10 GB disk space, and 250 GB bandwidth
- Level 2 – .84 GHZ CPU, 573 MB RAM, 22 GB disk space, and 375 GB bandwidth
- Level 3 – 1.13 GHZ CPU, 768 MB RAM, 30 GB disk space, and 500 GB bandwidth
- Level 4 – 1.98 GHZ CPU, 1344 MB RAM, 59 GB disk space, and 1050 GB bandwidth
- Level 5 – 2.68 GHZ CPU, 1824 MB RAM, 80 GB disk space, and 1425 GB bandwidth
- Level 6 – 3.39 GHZ CPU, 2304 MB RAM, 102 GB disk space, and 1800 GB bandwidth
- Level 7 – 4.24 GHZ CPU, 3168 MB RAM, 165 GB disk space, and 2250 GB bandwidth
- Level 8 – 5.09 GHZ CPU, 3801 MB RAM, 198 GB disk space, and 2700 GB bandwidth
- Level 9 – 5.94 GHZ CPU, 4435 MB RAM, 231 GB disk space, and 3150 GB bandwidth
Another benefit to having a VPS hosting plan is you do not need to worry about running the server or maintaining the server. HostGator retains all responsibility of making sure your website and server is constantly up and running. HostGator provides weekly automated updates and backups off site to help provide extra security to clients. By having HostGator complete all the maintenance on the server the time and costs associated with running a server are reduced. HostGator also uses data centers that have backup power generators. These generators make it possible for HostGator to have less than 45 minutes of downtime in any given month. This extra measure of functionality will help your business remain running even when other areas of your business may not be running.
Another main service HostGator provides is issuing dedicated servers. The dedicated servers provide a high quality level of power and flexibility. The servers are managed with root access and complete control. There are no resource restrictions. The packages available for the dedicated servers include basic, standard, elite and pro. HostGator provides Linux based dedication servers. More recently HostGator decided to begin offering Windows based dedication servers. This opens HostGator up to another span of clients.
Dedication servers are provided with provisions, secured and delivered in less than 24 hours of buying the server. The dedicated servers from HostGator ensure a high level of security, uptime and speed compared to other hosting companies.
The billing system is a useful tool featured in dedication servers. There is autopilot billing and automatic billing to ease the stress of billing. Another feature of the dedicated server packages include free Enom domain name. This gives the functionality of having a large company website and having web hosting capabilities of your own at the same time.
Each of HostGator’s web hosting plans may have individualized coupons. There may be coupon codes available for just the VPS plans or just the reseller hosting. Currently every plan, no matter the hosting plan, is 20% off for the first month. This provides the opportunity to try HostGator out at a reduced cost. To help ensure your experience is a pleasurable one, there is also a 45 day money back guarantee.
Other available HostGator coupon codes include 25% off on any order. To receive these discounts simply place your order on the HostGator website. Find the coupon code from one of the many websites available issuing the codes. When you complete the checkout process a spot is available to insert the discount coupon code. Enter the code and the discount is automatically calculated at the bottom of the page. This discount is then used to determine the final price of your products and services at the completion of your checkout.
The 99.9% uptime rating of HostGator ensures that every user is efficiently accommodated. Every business, large or small, will be happy with how little time their hosting is down. Besides providing customer satisfaction from little down time, HostGator also recognizes the importance of providing services that are useful and possible for every budget. This is one reason why many of HostGator’s plans provide different billing cycle options. Some plans are available to be billed monthly, semi-monthly, yearly or bi-yearly. The longer the period of billing cycle the less the price of the package over the long term.
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All About The HostGator Hatchling Plan
Wednesday, 19. November 2014 2:54 | Author:admin
HostGator is one of the most popular options available for website hosting. So if you’re in need of a domain, it definitely makes sense to consider this company’s offerings. One option many customers begin with is the aptly named, “Hatchling Plan.” With this product, you get a number of features meant to help those who are either getting their feet wet in the world of websites or have a business with modest needs, as far as websites go. That being said, the Hatchling Plan still brings plenty to the table.
About HostGator
The company’s history goes all the way back to 2002 when it was founded by Brent Oxley. This public company’s specialty is web hosting, though it offers a number of auxiliary web services as separate products. Though the company was sold in 2012 to Endurance International Group, it’s fair to say that HostGator hasn’t lost a step. Plus, having the support of a billion dollar company probably helps a lot too.
So if you need hosting, it should go without saying that HostGator is a great option. Let’s now take a look at what their Hatching Plan has to offer people like you.
Domains
With the Hatchling Plan, you only get one domain from HostGator. However, this is fairly standard throughout the industry. Many hosting companies actually only provide a single domain, no matter what kind of plan you decide to buy. That being said, if you do need more domains and you have the money to spend, HostGator’s Baby and Business account types will be able to provide you with unlimited domains for your website.
In any case, even with just the one domain, you’ll have plenty of disk space to work with because HostGator gives you an unlimited cache to pull from. So no matter what you have in mind for that website of yours, there’s no way you’ll be able to tap your resources.
Bandwidth
Plus, HostGator gives you unlimited bandwidth to play with too. This is all but essential these days. It doesn’t make a difference what kind of website you’re running, if you’re doing it without enough bandwidth, you’re just not going to see traffic—it’s really as simple as that.
No one wants to sit around and wait for your website to load. In fact, studies have even shown these days that if your site takes too long to load—we’re talking a matter of seconds—your audience won’t stick around. Do you really want to lose clientele and/or visitors simply because didn’t have the right amount of bandwidth?
The nice thing about an unlimited amount, too, is that you don’t have to worry about updating it as your site grows. Expand as you see fit and relax knowing you already have all the bandwidth you need to accommodate this expansion.
Support
You’ve probably heard the saying about the best laid plans of mice and men. No matter how much time you take to make your site or how great HostGator’s Hatchling account is, something is going wrong at some point. It just will. There are too many variables at play and malicious parties out there for everything to go smoothly. Sometimes, the major issue will simply be that you’ve had so much success that your site became overcrowded and crashed (not a bad problem, so long as it gets addressed).
At that point, you’re going to need help. If you have to wait till morning or whenever it’s convenient for your hosting company to respond, you’ll be in trouble. Think about all the revenue you could be missing out on while you wait in the meantime. Fortunately, HostGator gives you 24/7 support for your Hatchling Account.
Furthermore, you get instant backups if anything goes wrong, ensuring nothing too bad ever happens. With a 99.9% uptime guarantee, you shouldn’t have too much to worry about anyway.
There are a number of other reasons to go with HostGator’s Hatchling Plan, but this cover the major ones. You also get the benefit of signing with no contract and with a 45 day money back guarantee. So you can sign up with this company confidently knowing that you don’t have a lot to lose, but plenty to gain by going with the Hatchling Plan.
Monday, 29 December 2014
batteries or you simply want to have an alternative way to the cursor, you can use the arrow keys on the numeric keypad.Before proceeding, make sure the Num Lock feature is toggled on by pressing the key until you see an indicator light, or can type numbers with the keypad.
Shortcut in all versions of Windows
- Press Left Alt + Left Shift + Num Lock on your keyboard at the same time.
- When the window appears, press Spacebar or Enter.
- Repeat this process to turn Mouse Keys off.
Windows XP, Vista and 7
If the shortcut key combination listed above did not work, you may enable or disableMouse Keys, using the following steps. If your mouse isn't working, use the Tab keyand Spacebar to navigate through menus.
- While viewing the Desktop, press the Windows Key or Click Start in the lower left-hand corner.
- Select Control Panel from the list on the right-hand side.
- Within the Control Panel, open Ease of Access.
- Under Ease of Access Center, select Change how your mouse works.
- Check the box next to Turn on Mouse Keys.
- Select Apply then OK.
Tip: If you want to change the cursor's movement speed or other settings, selectSet up Mouse Keys.
Windows 8
If the shortcut key combination listed above did not work, you may enable or disableMouse Keys, using the following steps. If your mouse isn't working, use the Tab keyand Spacebar to navigate through menus.
- With nothing selected, type the word "Mouse" anywhere on the Start Screen.
- Arrow down to Ease of Access mouse settings and press Enter.
- Toggle the switch under Mouse Keys to On.
- Press Alt + F4 to exit this menu.
How to use Mouse Keys
The following table shows each of the keys on the Numeric Keypad and how they interact with the mouse cursor. Make sure you're only using the Keypad to execute these actions.
| Desired Action | Key Combination |
|---|---|
| Move up and to the left | Press 7 |
| Move up | Press 8 |
| Move up and to the right | Press 9 |
| Move left | Press 4 |
| Move right | Press 6 |
| Move down and to the left | Press 1 |
| Move down | Press 2 |
| Move down and to the right | Press 3 |
| Select the left mouse button | Press / |
| Select both of the mouse buttons | Press * |
| Select the right mouse button | Press - |
| Click | With the left button selected, press 5 |
| Right-click | With the right button selected, press 5 |
| Double-click | With the left button selected, press + |
| Drag an item | Point to the item, and then press 0 |
| Drop the item you are dragging | Press . |
Cleaning your computer, components, and peripherals helps keep everything in good working condition and helps prevent germs from spreading. The picture shows a good example of just how dirty the inside of your computer case can get. In this example, it is obvious that all the dust and dirt is going to prevent proper air flow and may even prevent the fan from working.
How often should I clean my computer?
General cleaning tips
Cleaning tools
Case cleaning
CD-ROM, DVD, and other disc drives
CD and DVD disc cleaning
Fan cleaning
Hard drive cleaning
Headphones cleaning
Keyboard cleaning
Laptop cleaning
LCD cleaning
Monitor cleaning
Motherboard cleaning
Mouse cleaning
Printer cleaning
Scanner cleaning
Miscellaneous cleaning steps
General cleaning tips
Cleaning tools
Case cleaning
CD-ROM, DVD, and other disc drives
CD and DVD disc cleaning
Fan cleaning
Hard drive cleaning
Headphones cleaning
Keyboard cleaning
Laptop cleaning
LCD cleaning
Monitor cleaning
Motherboard cleaning
Mouse cleaning
Printer cleaning
Scanner cleaning
Miscellaneous cleaning steps
How often should I clean my computer?
The frequency of how often you should clean your computer varies on different factors. To help you determine how often you need to clean your computer we created the checklist below. Check each of the boxes below that apply to your computers conditions to help determine how often you should clean the computer.
General cleaning Tips
Below is a listing of suggestions to follow when cleaning any computer components or peripherals as well as tips to help keep a computer clean.
- Never spray or squirt any liquid onto any computer component. If a spray is needed, spray the liquid onto a cloth.
- You can use a vacuum to suck up dirt, dust, or hair around the computer. However, do not use a vacuum inside your computer as it generates static electricity that can damage your computer. If you need to use a vacuum inside your computer, use a portable battery powered vacuum or try compressed air.
- When cleaning a component or the computer, turn it off before cleaning.
- Be cautious when using any cleaning solvents; some people have allergic reactions to chemicals in cleaning solvents and some solvents can even damage the case. Try always to use water or a highly diluted solvent.
- When cleaning, be careful to not accidentally adjust any knobs or controls. Also, when cleaning the back of the computer, if anything is connected make sure not to disconnect the plugs.
- When cleaning fans, especially smaller fans, hold the fan or place something in-between the fan blades to prevent it from spinning. Spraying compressed air into a fan or cleaning a fan with a vacuum may cause damage or generate back voltage.
- Never eat or drink around the computer.
- Limit smoking around the computer.
Cleaning tools
Although computer cleaning products are available you can also use household items to clean your computers and peripherals. Below is a listing of items you may need or want to use while cleaning your computer.
- Cloth - A cotton cloth is the best tool used when rubbing down computer components. Paper towels can be used with most hardware, but we always recommend using a cloth whenever possible. However, only use a cloth when cleaning components such as the case, a drive, mouse, and keyboard. You should not use a cloth to clean any circuitry such as the RAM or motherboard.
- Water or rubbing alcohol - When moistening a cloth, it is best to use water or rubbing alcohol. Other solvents may be bad for the plastics used with your computer.
- Portable Vacuum - Sucking the dust, dirt, hair, cigarette particles, and other particles out of a computer can be one of the best methods of cleaning a computer. However, do not use a vacuum that plugs into the wall since it creates lots of static electricity that can damage your computer.
- Cotton swabs - Cotton swaps moistened with rubbing alcohol or water are excellent tools for wiping hard to reach areas in your keyboard, mouse, and other locations.
- Foam swabs - Whenever possible, it is better to use lint-free swabs such as foam swabs.
Case cleaning
Why? Keeps the appearance of the computer looking new. While cleaning, if you see ventilation slots, these can be cleaned or cleared to help keep a steady airflow into the computer and keep all components cool.
Procedure: The plastic case that houses the PC components can be cleaned with a slightly damp lint-free cloth. For stubborn stains, add a little household detergent to the cloth. You should not use a solvent cleaner on plastics.
Make sure all vents and air holes are hair and lint free by rubbing a cloth over the holes and vents. It is also helpful to take a vacuum around each of the hole, vents, and crevices on the computer. It is safe to use a standard vacuum when cleaning the outside vents of a computer.
If you are looking for steps on cleaning the inside of the computer, see themotherboard cleaning section.
CD-ROM, DVD, and other disc drive cleaning
Why? A dirty CD-ROM drive or other disc drives can cause read errors when reading discs. These read errors could cause software installation issues or issues while running the program.
Procedure: To clean the CD-ROM drive we recommend purchasing a CD-ROM cleaner from your local retailer such as a local Radio Shack or other computer retailer. Using a CD-ROM cleaner should sufficiently clean the CD-ROM laser from dust, dirt, and hair.
In addition to cleaning the drive with a special disc designed to clean drives, you can also use a cloth dampened with water to clean the tray that ejects from the drive. However, make sure that after the tray is cleaned that it completely dry before putting the tray back into the drive.
See the CD disc cleaning recommendation for further steps on cleaning each of your CDs.
CD and DVD disc cleaning
Why? Dirty CDs can cause read errors or cause CDs to not work at all.
Procedure: Use a cleaning kit or damp clean cotton cloth to clean CDs, DVDs, and other discs When cleaning a disc wipe against the tracks, starting from the middle of the CD or DVD and wiping towards the outer side as shown in the picture below. Never wipe with the tracks; doing so may put more scratches on the disc.
Tip: If the substance on a CD cannot be removed using water, pure alcohol can also be used.
Hard drive cleaning
Why? Hard drives cannot be physically cleaned, however, they can be cleaned with software utilities to help it run fast and efficiently. Utilizing these utilities prevent the hard drive from slowing down.
Procedure: Refer to our basic troubleshooting section for your operating system for steps that can be done to help improve the performance of your computer.
Headphones cleaning
Why? Headphones used by many different people may need to be frequently cleaned to help prevent the spreading of germs and head lice.
Procedure: If the headphones being used are plastic or vinyl, moisten a cloth with warm water and rub the head and earpieces of the headphones. If the headphones are being used for a library or school do not use any disinfectant or cleaning solvent since some people can have allergic reactions to the chemicals they contain.
Headphones that have cushions also have the availability of having the cushions replaced. Replacing these cushions can also help keep the headphones clean.
Finally, in regards to headphones spreading head lice. If many different students use the same headphones, consider having the students using their own headphones, placing bags over the headphones, or using headphones that can be wiped with warm water after each use.
Keyboard cleaning
These steps are for cleaning a desktop keyboard. See the cleaning a laptop keyboard page for laptop steps.
Dust, dirt, and bacteria
The computer keyboard is usually the most germ infected items in your home or office, it may even contain more bacteria than your toilet seat. Cleaning it helps remove any dangerous bacteria and keeps the keyboard working properly.
Procedure: Before cleaning the keyboard first turn off the computer or if you are using a USB keyboard unplug it. Not unplugging the keyboard can cause other computer problems as you may press keys that cause the computer to perform a task you do not want it to do.
Many people clean the keyboard by turning it upside down and shaking. A more efficient method is to use compressed air. Compressed air is pressurized air contained in a can with a very long nozzle. aim the air between the keys and blow away all of the dust and debris that has gathered there. A vacuum cleaner can also be used, but make sure the keyboard does not have loose "pop off" keys can be sucked up by the vacuum.
If you want to clean the keyboard more extensively remove the keys from the keyboard.
After the dust, dirt, and hair has been removed. Spray a disinfectant onto a cloth or use disinfectant cloths and rub each of the keys on the keyboard. As mentioned in our general cleaning tips, never spray any liquid onto the keyboard.
Substance spilt into the keyboard
If the keyboard has anything spilt into it (e.g. pop, cola, Pepsi, Coke, beer, wine, coffee, and milk), not taking the proper steps can destroy the keyboard.
Procedure: Below are a few recommendations that can help prevent a keyboard from becoming bad after something has spilt into the keys.
If anything is spilt onto the keyboard turn the computer off immediately or at the very least disconnect the keyboard from the computer. Once done flip the keyboard over to prevent the substance from penetrating circuits. While the keyboard is upside down, shake the keyboard over a surface that can be cleaned later. While still upside down, use a cloth to start cleaning the keys. After cleaned leave the keyboard upside down for at least one night allowing it to dry. Once dry, continue cleaning the keyboard with any remaining substance.
If after cleaning the keyboard you have keys that stick remove the keys and clean below the keys and the bottom portion of the key.
Finally, if the keyboard still works but remains dirty or sticky before discarding the keyboard as a last resort try washing the keyboard in the dishwasher.
If after doing all the above steps the keyboard still does not work we recommendbuying a new keyboard.
LCD cleaning
Why? Dirt, dust, and fingerprints can cause the computer screen to be difficult to read.
Procedure: Unlike a computer monitor, the LCD or flat-panel display is not glass and requires special cleaning procedures.
When cleaning the LCD screen it is important to remember to not spray any liquids onto the LCD directly, press gently while cleaning, and do not use a paper towel since it scratches the LCD.
To clean the LCD screen use a non-rugged microfiber cloth, soft cotton cloth, or Swiffer duster. If a dry cloth does not completely clean the screen, you can apply rubbing alcohol to the cloth and wipe the screen with a damp cloth. Rubbing alcohol is used to clean the LCD before it leaves the factory.
Monitor cleaning
Tip: This section is for computer monitors if you have an LCD or flat-panel see the LCD cleaning section.
Why? Dirt, dust, and fingerprints can cause the computer screen to be difficult to read.
Procedure: A glass monitor screen can be cleaned with ordinary household glass cleaner. Be sure to remove power from the monitor and spray the cleaner onto a lint free-cloth so the fluid does not leak into the electrical components inside the monitor. Vacuum off any dust that has settled on top of the monitor, and make sure no books or papers are covering the air vents. Obstructed monitor vents can cause the monitor to overheat or even catch on fire.
Caution: We suggest only using a cloth dampened with water when cleaning non-glass monitors or any anti-glare screens. Using ordinary household glass cleaner on special screens, especially cleaners with ammonia can remove anti-glare protection or other special surfaces.
Other good cleaning solutions
- Microfiber Towels
- Swiffer Dusters
Related pages
Motherboard cleaning
Why? Dust and especially particles of cigarette smoke can build up and corrode circuitry causing various problems such as computer lockups
Caution: When inside the computer take the necessary ESD precautions and try to avoid unplugging any cables or other connections.
Procedure: Our recommendation when cleaning the motherboard from dust, dirt, or hair is to use compressed air. When using compressed air, hold it in the up-right position to prevent any of the chemicals from coming out of the container, which may damage or corrode the Motherboard or other components. Also, ensure when using compressed air that you always blow the dust or dirt away from the motherboard, or out of the case.
Another good alternative to compressed air is to use a portable battery powered vacuum that can effectively remove the dust, dirt, and hair from the motherboard completely and prevent it from getting trapped within the case. However, do not use a standard electricity powered vacuum as it can cause lots of static electricity that can damage the computer. When using a vacuum keep it a couple inches away from the motherboard and all other components to prevent damage and anything from being sucked into the vacuum (e.g. jumpers or small cables).
Tip: When cleaning the inside of the case also look at any fans or heat sinks. Dust, dirt, and hair collects around these components the most.
Mouse cleaning
Why? A dirty optical-mechanical mouse (mouse with a ball) can cause the mouse to be difficult to move as well as cause strange mouse movement.
Procedure: To clean the rollers of an optical-mechanical mouse, you must first remove the bottom cover of the mouse. To do this, examine the bottom of the mouse to see what direction to rotate the cover. As you can see in the below illustration, the mouse cover must be moved counter clockwise. Place two fingers on the mouse cover and push the direction of the arrows.
Once the cover has rotated about an inch, rotate the mouse into its normal position, covering the bottom of the mouse with one hand and the bottom should fall off including the mouse ball. If the cover does not fall off try shaking the mouse gently.
Once the bottom cover and the ball is removed, you should be able to see three rollers located within the mouse. Use a cotton swab, finger, or fingernail to remove any substance. Usually, there is a small line of hair and dirt in the middle of the roller, remove as much as this substance as possible.
Once you have removed as much dirt and hair as possible, set the ball back within the mouse and place the cover back on.
If the mouse still has the same problems repeat the above process. If after several attempts the mouse is still having the same problems your mouse has other hardware issues and should be replaced.
Note: Cleaning your mouse pad with a damp cloth can also help improve a computer's mouse movement.
Why? To help keep the mouse clean and germ free it can be helpful to clean the mouse.
Procedure: Use a cloth moistened with rubbing alcohol or warm water and rub the surface of the mouse and each of its buttons.
Printer cleaning
Why? Cleaning the outside of a printer can help keep the printer's appearance looking good and if used by many different people keep the printer clean of germs.
Procedure: First, make sure to turn off the printer before cleaning it. Dampen a cloth with water or rubbing alcohol and wipe the case and each of the buttons or knobs on the printer. As mentioned earlier, never spray any liquid directly onto the printer.
Why? Some printers require the inside to be cleaned to help keep the printer running smoothly.
Scanner cleaning
Why? Flatbed scanners commonly become dirty with dust, fingerprints, and hair. When the scanner is dirty, the images may have distortions.
Procedure: Clean a flatbed scanner's surface by spraying a window cleaner onto a paper towel or cotton cloth and wipe the glass until clean. As mentioned earlier, never spray a liquid directly onto the component.
The same towel or cotton cloth can also be used to clean the outside of the scanner.
Miscellaneous cleaning steps
Below are a listing of miscellaneous computer hardware that is rarely used today, but kept on this page people working on older computers and need to clean these devices.
Floppy drive cleaning
Why? Dirty read/write heads on the floppy drive can cause errors during the reading or writing process.
Procedures: The floppy drive can be cleaned two different ways. The first method of cleaning a floppy drive is to purchase a kit at your local retail store designed to clean the read/write heads on your floppy drive.
The second method of cleaning the floppy drive is only recommended for experienced computer users. Open the floppy drive casing and physically swab the read/write heads with a lint-free foam swab soaked in pure alcohol, free-on, or trichloroethane. When performing these steps, be extremely careful when cleaning the heads to ensure that you do not lock them out of alignment causing the floppy drive to not work. To help prevent the heads from becoming out of alignment, use a dabbing motion lightly putting the swab on the head and removing it, do not perform a side-to-side motion with the swab.
Palm pilot cleaning
Why? Dirty touch screens can cause difficult navigation.
Procedure: To clean the Palm Pilot Screen, use a soft cloth moistened with rubbing alcohol and rub the screen and the casing of the palm pilot. It is not recommended to use glass cleaner as it could damage plastics over time.
SuperDisk and LS120 cleaning
Why? Cleaning the SuperDisk and LS120 prevents the drive heads from becoming dirty.
Procedure: Purchase the SuperDisk cleaning kit available through Imation. Using any other method voids the warranty on your drive.
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