Dating Advice

If youre going to open up your personal computer case to check some computer hardware components or clean up the hardware you must take the precautions listed. Computer motherboards and components, such as the sound card, video card, and memory, contain very delicate Integrated Circuit (IC) chips. It is necessary to protect computers against damage from static electricity. A brief explanation of static is its a major contributing factor in the breakdown of computers. Eliminating the damage from ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) can save a lot of money. Here are some things you must remember and precautions to follow whenever you work on your computer.1. Unplug your computer when working on the inside or well known inside of central processing unit (CPU). You must unplug the power cord to ensure that there is no power to the motherboard.2. Capacitors inside the computer can store an electric charge for a short period of time after turning off and unplugging the computer so it is wise to wait a few minutes after disconnecting the power plug before actually opening the PC case.3. Use a grounded wrist strap before handling computer components such as the video card, memory, hard disk, and etc. if you do not have one, touch both of your hands to a safely grounded object or to a metal object, such as the power supply case to prevent a discharge from your body to the component.4. Hold components by both edges and try not to touch the IC chips, leads, capacitors, or circuitry as these are miniature electronic components and may be damaged.5. If you are going to remove components from the system, connect up an anti-static mat or use the bag the component came in to place them on and prevent static discharge. Also be aware the hard drive is heavy and can easily slip out of your hand and if dropped may very well not work again.6. Some parts are labeled as "No Serviceable Components Inside" which is not a challenge but a warning because they contain high voltage components which could cause you to hurt yourself if touched. Not all parts of a computer are meant to be repaired such as the power supply. If you determine that a part labeled "No Serviceable Components Inside", then be smart and just replace it.Keep in mind that failure to protect yourself can cause injuries and it can also damage your computer and the most common accident is erasing stored data (due to hard drive crash). These are simple things to remember to protect yourself, software, hardware, and most important to protect our precious stored data on our computer.