hardware maintenance

The Terminator was defeated not by guerrilla resistance or a heroic last stand, but by something far more mundane: a tired motherboard battery that refused to hold the BIOS settings long enough for the apocalypse to boot. An image of a vintage Terminator Salvation arcade cabinet stuck on a...

Controlling noisy or overly aggressive PC fans is rarely magic — it’s a sequence of small, measurable changes that reduce heat generation, improve airflow, or give you direct control over fan curves so your system runs quieter without compromising safety. This guide consolidates the practical...

Computeractive’s “Problems solved” column from the 10 September 2025 issue distils a familiar mix of household tech triage and hard-bitten workshop experience: practical fixes for everyday Windows upgrades, a clear-eyed primer on Microsoft’s new cloud-assisted recovery tool, and an...

When you first notice an option in Windows 11 to “eject” your GPU in the system tray—similar to how you would safely remove a USB flash drive—it’s understandably alarming. After all, a graphics processing unit is one of the most critical, expensive, and physically embedded components in your PC...

For many gamers, the allure of switching from a console to a PC is rooted in promises of higher frame rates, sharper graphics, and an entire universe of customizability. Marketing, peer discussion, and glossy social media posts tout the undeniable advantages of PC gaming: access to a wider game...

Modern laptops are indispensable tools, seamlessly integrating into our work, learning, and leisure activities. Yet, despite their central role in daily life, many users inadvertently contribute to performance issues and data loss by neglecting basic maintenance routines. The collective...

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Hi1n The questioner asks Hi everyone, does anyone have any knowledge or solution to the problem where win 8.1 reports insufficient disk space even though 121 GB / 450 GB? The computer performs very poorly and all the steps recommended by Windows in the Insufficient state have been completed...

Hi Yesterday my computer just shut down, instant black screen. It would not restart (no power) so I opened it up and cleaned out the radiators and fan vents etc., it wasn't very dirty since I do this regularly but the radiators were partially blocked. My monitoring software didn't show really...

I have aToshiba Satellite laptop. It's used mainly plugged in. For those times I'd like to use it unplugged, I want to extend the battery's life as much as possible since this model laptop has a battery that is very hard to replace by the average user. Is it good policy to run it only on...