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Dust in the Wind
Feb. 16th, 2025 10:17 pmI got less done on the taxes today that I had hoped, but made some progress. One of the sources of delay was that I had promised Julie to clean the dust out of her computer. She was concerned about the amount of noise that the computer was making and believed that the dust was the problem.
She was quite likely correct. The machine was choked with dust in many places, including the case fans, the fans on the video card, and in the CPU heatsink. I cleaned essentially all of the dust out using damp paper towels for non-sensitive areas, while a tweezer and a needle got some of the trickier dust and hair out. And, of course, there was the occasional puff of breath into the case, sending dust flying everywhere.
My sinuses may forgive me someday.
The computer is still a bit louder than I might like (although not that loud for a gaming machine). If we don't like how it's behaving, I can replace the heatsink (which is probably the most useful thing) and also consider replacing the case fans, as those are cheap. In the meantime, I noticed that it is running Windows 10 and is eligible for the free upgrade to Windows 11, so that is now in process. Julie does not care much for change, so this will be temporarily disturbing, but I should be able to neutralize most of the major Windows 11 annoyances without too much trouble.
Tomorrow, I will get back to the taxes. This will be aided by having to have someone up early and awake at all possible hours so that FedEx will have no excuse for not delivering my delayed package this time. Remembering, of course, that they had no excuse for not delivering it on Friday -- they just decided to lie and say that no one was home...
She was quite likely correct. The machine was choked with dust in many places, including the case fans, the fans on the video card, and in the CPU heatsink. I cleaned essentially all of the dust out using damp paper towels for non-sensitive areas, while a tweezer and a needle got some of the trickier dust and hair out. And, of course, there was the occasional puff of breath into the case, sending dust flying everywhere.
My sinuses may forgive me someday.
The computer is still a bit louder than I might like (although not that loud for a gaming machine). If we don't like how it's behaving, I can replace the heatsink (which is probably the most useful thing) and also consider replacing the case fans, as those are cheap. In the meantime, I noticed that it is running Windows 10 and is eligible for the free upgrade to Windows 11, so that is now in process. Julie does not care much for change, so this will be temporarily disturbing, but I should be able to neutralize most of the major Windows 11 annoyances without too much trouble.
Tomorrow, I will get back to the taxes. This will be aided by having to have someone up early and awake at all possible hours so that FedEx will have no excuse for not delivering my delayed package this time. Remembering, of course, that they had no excuse for not delivering it on Friday -- they just decided to lie and say that no one was home...