Hot Computer Hardware How-Tos
How To: Upgrade the hard drive on your laptop computer
Not enough space on your laptop? No problem! Grab a new hard drive from your local office supply store and follow this tutorial to learn how to install it.
How To: Safely clean an LCD screen
This video answers the question, how do you safely clean an LCD? Remember that LCD’s do not have glass so you have to be careful how much pressure you apply, as well as the kind of cloth you are using, or you can damage or scratch the screen.
How To: Fix a stuck labtop key
You are typing along and you notice one of they keys on your keyboard isn't responding like it should. It is common to get a stuck key and you won't need to take your keyboard to fix this problem. You can do it right at home.
How To: Thoroughly clean your keyboard
A lot of things come into contact with our keyboards throughout the day: dirty fingers, food, beverages, dust..they are full of germs and crumbs of who knows what. In this 4 part tutorial, learn how to take your keyboard apart and clean it completely. This process should bring your keyboard back to its original glory. So, follow along and clean up your workspace.
How To: Properly clean your MacBook screen
To clean your MacBook screen use a micro fiber cloth and some water. Before you use water on your rag use the dry micro fiber cloth to wipe down the screen and get rid of all the dust. Once you have wiped the dust off of the screen take the micro fiber cloth and dip it in some water. Make sure that the cloth is not soaking wet all you want to do is put a fine layer of water on the screen as you wipe it down. Once you have wiped it with the damp cloth take a dry cloth or the dry part of your m...
How To: Identify computer parts
This video tutorial helps you identify the various components within a desktop computer. The CPU, a circular windmill-looking piece, consists of a fan that keeps the CPU cool. The CPU chip is located underneath this fan. There are four RAM slots in this particular motherboard featured in the video. The video card connects toward the middle and clicks into a PCI Express slot, which provides video. On the bottom there are expansion slots, which audio or network cards can be connected into. The ...
How To: Apply thermal compound to a CPU
This is a great video demonstrating how to apply thermal compound to your CPU. This is useful to know in order to build your own operating system and computer.
How To: Clean an LCD screen without harming it
There are a variety of substances that you can use to clean your LCD screen. The one thing you don't want to use is anything that has alcohol in it. Alcohol will damage your LCD. Any LCD cleaning liquid will work to safely clean your LCD. It is also good to use a microfiber cloth also so that they don't put any scratches in the screen. You should never use napkins, paper towels, or Kleenex. The primary ingredient in most LCD cleaners is water. The key is that they remove the impurities and ch...
How To: Completely format a hard drive
In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to completely format a hard drive. Begin by downloading the Knoppix Live Boot CD. Then burn the newly download ISO onto a CD as a bootable disc. Use your BIOS to tell your computer to boot from the CD-ROM instead of the hard drive. With the Knoppix CD still in your CD drive, restart your computer to load up Knoppix. Once loaded, use Knoppix to run the “dd” command and reformat your hard drive. This video will benefit those viewers who want to learn ho...
How To: Make your computer run 30-40% faster with CCleaner
CCleaner is a executable freeware that will help clean up some space in your bogged down Windows machine. This tutorial will demonstrate exactly how to use CCleaner to drastically boost your machine's speed up to 40%.
How To: Clean your PC or laptop screen in 1 minute or less
You can clean your laptop or computer screen in under a minute with no problem. To clean your screen you will need some anti-static cleaning spray to clean the screen. This spray doesn't cost very much. Spray some of the cleaning spray onto the screen. Use a clean soft cloth to wipe the screen dry and get all the dirt and grim off of the computer screen. When you wipe it down make sure that you are very gentle. It doesn't take much pressure to get the screen clean.
How To: Copy a DVD
Justin from Top Ten Reviews demystifies the DVD copying, ripping, and burning process as well as understanding regions, AAC, and other encoding codecs.
How To: Extract an ".exe" file
Looking to open an .exe file? In this video, learn specifically how to extract an exe file onto your desktop, but additionally where to find & download the free 7-zip file archiver.
How To: Right click on a Macbook
This video explains how to right click on a Mac laptop like Macbook Pro or Macbook. First you need to check if your right click is enabled. You can do so by right clicking and seeing if the menu opens up. If the menu does not pop up, it needs to be configured. The video explains how to enable the right click by going to the system preferences and then to the trackpad. Once you are in the trackpad menu, the video explains the options that need to be checked in order for the right click to work...
How To: Right click on any Macbook using the track pad
Start by dragging your mouse down to system preferences on the dock and open it. If system preferences is not on your dock you can get to it alternatively by opening finder and selecting applications. Scroll through this until you find system preferences which should be located near the bottom because it's usually organized alphabetically. Then select the keyboard and mouse icon. After that click on the trackpad tab and check the option in this screen that says "place two fingers on trackpad ...
How To: Install a computer graphics card
You don’t have to be satisfied with the graphics that are on your computer. There are great graphics out there and with a little time and a screwdriver you can install killer graphics on your very own computer.
How To: Install memory in a 17" MacBook Pro laptop
The geniuses at Other Word Computing (OWC) show you how to install new memory cards in your 17" Macbook Pro pre-unibody, only by using a screwdriver and a little elbow grease. The only thing to keep in mind is that your laptop must be an older model, created prior to February 2009. Newer unibody models will not allow you to crack the case. Once you have your screwdriver, it's as easy as flip, unscrew, slide the old cards out, and slide the new modules in. Don't be stuck with an out of date Ma...
How To: Force eject a disk from a Mac
In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to force eject a CD/DVD from a Mac computer. There are two ways to force eject the CD/DVD. The first option is to begin by turning off the computer. Then turn it on again. Right click while you are turning on until the disc ejects and the login screen appears. You can also restart the computer. While restarting, hold down the option button until startup disk shows up on the screen. Then let go op option and hit eject. This video will benefit those vie...
How To: Fix laptop screen scratches
You paid a lot of money for and now your worried your computer screen is ruined with scratches. Just open up your bathroom cabinet and you will find everything you need to get your trusty computer screen shining like new.
How To: Right click on a Mac using the Apple mouse
Jonathan demonstrates how to right click on a Mac using the Apple mouse. There is a short cut: holding down control while left clicking to make the right click menu come up. The Mighty Mouse has a right click function but you have to enable it. To enable this feature, go to system preferences and click on mouse and keyboard. The mouse and keyboard menu will now open up. Locate the right drop down menu. The default is set to "Primary Button" so you will need to change that to the "Secondary Bu...
How To: Fix a laptop fan
You can help keep your laptop cool by fixing a malfunctioning laptop fan. With a screwdriver and some compressed air you can clear away any obstructions. Think about where you are setting down your laptop as soft surfaces can block air intake.
How To: Handle a Mac freeze
One of the most frustrating events in life is a computer freeze. When your Mac freezes don’t freak-out. Stay calm there are things you can do. And, hey, if you can’t do them, there is a professional out the happy to help you out...for a price.
How To: Handle a computer crash
You can learn to deal with the thing we all dread, a computer crash. Hopefully you diligently back up work but even if that's not case, stay calm. There is still hope and even if you're not a wiz at computers there are people out there who can help.
How To: Partition & resize your hard drive with EASEUS
This is a step by step tutorial how to Partition & resize your hard drive with EASEUS. To resize hard drive Open EASEUS Partition Manager. Click on the drive you want to resize. Then click Resize/Move. Go to the end and left-click with your mouse dragging in the direction you want to go. In the display you can see the size that's being created. When you have the size drives you want, just stop and click OK. If you shrunk one drive you can now create a new drive using the unallocated space. Th...
How To: Fix a computer that doesn't power up or has no power
This quick video tutorial will show you how to fix a computer that has no power. If your computer won't power up, follow these steps: Check the back of the computer to make sure the power cord is plugged in, and check the other end of the cable to make sure it's plugged into your power strip, and that the power strip is turned on. Try plugging your computer directly into the wall. Check the switch at the back of your computer to see if it is in the 'off' position. Unplug the power cord. Hold ...
How To: Partition a hard drive on a Mac
This video teaches the secrets of partitioning a hard drive on a MAC in simple steps. First open the disk utility, select the root directory of your hard drive and click partition. Now select the required partitions under the volume scheme, adjust the drive space and name them. Select the format a MAC OS Extended (Journaled) and select GUID Partition table from option if you want to boot it. Click 'Apply' to start the partitioning and when its done start using it.
How To: Clean up your computer keyboard easily
If you want to know how to clean your computer keyboard in 3 simple steps, you should watch this video. To clean your computer keyboard, you will need Hydrogen peroxide, soap dish, spoon, cotton buds, and a small bowl. Just follow these 3 simple steps: Put 1 part soap dish and 1 part Hydrogen peroxide into a small bowl depending on how much you need. Mix it well with a spoon. Dip the tip of the cotton bud into the mixture and scrub it against your dirty computer keyboard. Remember to change t...
How To: Enable momentum scrolling for a Magic Mouse
If you have an older Mac with a Magic Scrolling mouse and you'd like to enable scroll momentum on it, simply follow CompHelp's video tutorial. Now, don't expect a simple, just-click-a-setting solution here: you'll have to copy some code from the video and run it in the terminal in order to enable the scrolling feature. Despite that, the author leads you through the steps steadily and doesn't get you lost. So go ahead, get your older Mac in order and watch the video!
How To: Defrag your computer easily
This video demonstrates to viewers how to easily defrag the hard drive in your computer. To do a disk defrag on your computer: Click on the Start button. Go to All Programs. Click on Accessories. Select System Tools. Choose Disk Defragmenter. Select the drive you want to defrag (if you have more than one hard drive), and then simply click defrag. Wait for the defrag to finish, which could take some time depending on how large your hard drive is and the degree of fragmentation as well.
How To: Manually open a jammed CD or DVD drive on a computer
This video will show you how to manually open a jammed CD or DVD drive on your computer. Follow these instructions to open up a jammed CD or DVD drive on your computer: You will need a fine tipped Allen wrench, very thin screwdriver or even a paper clip. Find the very small hole on the front of the drive, and carefully insert your screwdriver in there. Push it all the way to the back and the tray will slide out, either half way or all the way.
How To: Music to a CD in Windows Media Player
This video demonstrates how to burn music into a CD using Windows Media Player. To burn music from your computer into a blank CD using Windows Media Player: open Windows Media Player by going to Start, All Programs then click on Windows Media Player. once Windows Media Player is open, click on Burn. open the folder where your music is stored, select the files you want to burn then drag them into the Windows Media Player screen. after making sure you have selected the music files you want, ins...
How To: Build a 3Ghz Core 2 Duo PC for under $450
When you buy a computer, you aren't just paying for the machine's constituent parts but the cost of putting all of those parts together. Building your own computer, then, can be a great way to save a little money for the technically savvy. And if you're not savvy, get savvy with this clip.
How To: Burn an img file to dvd on the Mac
In this quick video tutorial Mike will show you how to burn an IMG file to DVD on the Mac. Follow these steps to burn an IMG file to DVD on the Mac: Click on Finder Applications Utilities Disk Utility. Highlight the file, click Burn. You will be asked if you want to burn it to the superdrive. Click Burn. It may take a while, but when you are done you will have a CD or DVD that is ready to use.
How To: Properly burn an ISO file to a CD-R or DVD-R on a Mac
This video teaches the secrets of properly burning an ISO file to a CD-R or DVD-R on a Mac. First download the CD burning software from internet and open it. Now click 'Copy' and browse for the disk image. Find the required file and click 'Open' to open it. To see the data on the file click 'Mount' and check them. Click 'Burn' finally, wait for it to complete and start using your CD.
How To: Control your Mac with a Wiimote
VvCompHelpvV teaches you how to use a Nintendo Wii-mote to control your Mac computer. You need three things: a Mac with bluetooth, a Wii-mote and the program DarwiinRemote. You start the program and configure it so that it recognizes the Wii-mote Go to DarwiinRemote Settings, then Preferences, and configure your buttons. Go to the main window of DarwiinRemote and click the mouse mode and select on. You can use the Nunchuck as well, All you need to do is configure it in DarwiinRemote. Now you'...
How To: Completely erase all the data on your hard drive
In this video the instructor gives tips on how to erase a PC hard drive. An MIT study shows that 74 percent of the discarded hard drives contain private data on them that can be read and recovered by others. So you should learn how to completely erase all the data so that no one can recover or read from it later. Now formatting the drive or deleting a few files wont do it. For this you will need to have a proper software that meets or exceeds that US Department of Defense standards for data r...
How To: Take apart a 1st generation iPod Nano
This video shows the correct procedure to dismantle a first generation iPod Nano. The presenter starts by using a putty knife (aka the iPod take apart tool) and separates the casing. Next, the presenter removes the battery from the internal circuit board by using a soldering iron to melt the soldered battery connections. A small Phillips head screw driver is then used to remove three screws from the logic board. Finally removing two small ribbon cables will free the logic board from the plast...
How To: Set up an Epson printer wirelessly
Learn how to set up an Epson printer wirelessly when you bring your new printer home you will want to start by installing the software that came with the new printer. You can set up your printer to work without wires and it will print from all over the house. There are 3 ways to set up the printer including the Epson way, with cables, and WPS. To determine is you need to use WPS, which is more complex, check your router to see if it has a sticker on it that says Wi-Fi Protected Setup. If that...
How To: Monitor your graphics card temperature
In this video from ReverbDP we learn how to monitor your graphics card temperature. You go to TechPowerUp and scroll down to the download link. Click download and click the name of the file and where you want to download it from. Once it is downloaded you just find it on your computer and launch it. Once inside the program you just have to click on the sensors tap to see the temperature of your graphics card. Watch this video to learn to keep an eye on your graphics card temperature.
How To: Take apart a 3rd generation iPod
This video from Powerbook Medic teaches us how to take apart a 3rd generation iPod. First step is to use a putty knife or a flat head screwdriver to break apart the two pieces. After that remove the headphone cable and set the bottom pan aside. After this, you disconnect the hard drive, and battery cable form the board. Then use a T6 screwdriver to unscrew the T6 screws which are holding the board in place. Then take the last cable away. Now you can take the board out as well as the battery. ...