Depending on where your live, you may have already experience hot days and I am sure there will be more to come as summer heats up. But before you crank up your computer in hot weather, take a few minutes to inspect your box to make sure it is ready to keep itself cool.

Computer parts run toasty, even when the weather is cool. So when things start to get hot, and you will know when you start to feel uncomfortable, your computer needs all of the cooling it can get. So where do you start?

Desktop systems: Pull the side cover off and see how many dust bunnies are inside. I have seen systems that have dust bunnies the size of quarters! Removing the dust and gunk will help to keep your system running cooler. You can use a can of compressed air to blow the gunk out. I use a small air compressor and set the power gauge to 25 or under to gently blow out the dust.

With the case cover off, fire up the system and check your fans. Make sure all of the fans are turning smoothly. I recall one unit I inspected where the cpu fan fins were broken off and sitting on the bottom of the case. The person who owned the system wondered why it was freezing up. Make sure you also check the fan in the power supply as well. If any fans are not working properly, replace them immediately.

Laptop systems: Check the bottom of your unit and confirm the fan is also working properly. Also clean out any dust that has collected on the fan and housing as well. Fred Langa wrote a great article on how to clean a laptop system that was over heating. Read Fred’s article here. Some laptop fans are temperature controlled and will only come on when the unit reaches a certain temperature. So run the unit for awhile to see if the fan comes on.

I also recommend using a laptop cooler. I have Antec laptop coolers for all of my laptop systems. There are a host of different brands available on the market. However, some units I have tried sound like 747’s coming though the house. I would try a cooler first, if possible, before buying it. OR check with a friend who has a cooler and find out if they would recommend the brand or not. Also check the reviews of different coolers before you buy. Also some coolers run off of the USB port of the laptop for power. This could eat up juice when you are running on battery power, so take this into consideration as well.

Do you have any cooling tips? If so please share them with us.

Comments welcome.