Messages

1

General Software Discussion / Re: Merge or combine worksheets from the same excel workbook

« on: February 09, 2020, 04:33 PM »

Interesting...

2

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Clipboard Help+Spell Extended Clipboard Format Data Discussion Thread

« on: February 01, 2020, 02:52 AM »

Brilliant plan!   

3

Living Room / Re: Google - News + Hate + Lurve: Brexit is your friend, UK.

« on: January 31, 2020, 09:56 PM »

Following the MAFIAA FIRE projects (do a search "mafiaafire dhs" and see their projects Redirector, and Gee! No Evil!), we knew that Goggle was probably NOT your friend (censorship).
So I was rather amused by this Samizdata post:

Name me one good thing about Brexit…
tags: European Union, Internet, Media & Journalism, Science & Technology, UK affairs
January 26th, 2020   Natalie Solent (Essex)
Start with this:
Article 13: UK will not implement EU copyright law

Universities and Science Minister Chris Skidmore has said that the UK will not implement the EU Copyright Directive after the country leaves the EU.

Several companies have criticised the law, which would hold them accountable for not removing copyrighted content uploaded by users, if it is passed.

EU member states have until 7 June 2021 to implement the new reforms, but the UK will have left the EU by then.

The UK was among 19 nations that initially supported the law.

That was in its final European Council vote in April 2019.

This Samizdata post from March 2019 contains a list of links to other posts that give the background.

I see that the Brits have celebrated this event with a choreographed triumphal little dance given by a traditional Morris dancing group from Sunderland – famously the first place on the 23rd June to vote leave:

4

General Software Discussion / Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?

« on: January 24, 2020, 02:50 PM »

Could someone give me a link(s) to information sources about Zaine? I don't think I've heard of that proggy before.
I'd add Lotus Agenda to the list anyway.

5

Living Room / Re: Boeing 737 exposee

« on: January 11, 2020, 10:37 PM »

My take on this is that Ukraine International Airlines and its passengers may not have got the memo regarding potential risks around flying Boeing 737-800s. "Flying coffins"(?) as someone remarked in one of the videos - even Boeing employees involved in the aircraft assembly were apparently recorded as saying they wouldn't fly in these aircraft after seeing "what sh*t went into them" (or WTTE).

-IainB (January 08, 2020, 07:17 PM)

Well, what a stunning about face admission from the Iranians - after previously making a blanket and absolute denial of responsibility for causing the crash with a missile hit - that they did indeed accidentally shoot it down and they're very sorry about it, but it was a result of heightened alertness and "US adventurism", or something, that led to the disaster (so it's not really their fault??).

So the Boeing 737-800 was presumably airworthy, so it's not another of Boeing's failures at any rate, which is why that particular airplane had not been included in the worldwide grounding of the fleet.
I guess Ukraine International Airlines needs to review the advisability of flying its civilian passenger airlines around actual/potential war zones where there could be a risk that "air defence systems" may be controlled by nervous or trigger-happy incompetents. Oddly enough, I would have thought that taking that risk was already an absolute "no-no" for most civilian airlines, but I could be wrong, of course. That rather seems to take it back to caveat emptor - so the passengers would presumably not have understood the flight risks they were about to be exposed to by their flight captain.

6

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: ShutUp10 - Mini-Review

« on: January 10, 2020, 11:27 AM »

EDIT: 2020-01-11 0624hrs:
Minor corrections, including the deletion of some irrelevant text in the original post and which related to redundant content from the template that had been used to make the post.

7

Living Room / Re: Boeing 737 exposé - Ukranian Boeing 737-800 air crash in Iran 2020-01-08

« on: January 08, 2020, 07:17 PM »

As it is about a Boeing 737-800 "accident", this BBC news item of 2020-01-09 0941hrs (NZT) about the recent airplane crash in Iran may be relevant to this discussion thread:
I don't usually trust BBC (aka British Biased Corporation) when it is reporting on what could be religio-political ideological issues, but its factual reporting on world events and that do not require investigative journalism seems otherwise quite competent.
Iran plane crash: Tributes to three British nationals killed.

... They were among the 176 people from seven countries who died in the crash.
Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 crashed just after taking off from Imam Khomeini airport at 06:12 local time (02:42 GMT).
The airline said the plane underwent scheduled maintenance on Monday. ...
________________________
... As well as the three Britons, the victims in the crash included 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians - including all of the crew, 10 Swedes, four Afghans and three Germans, Ukraine foreign affairs minister Vadym Prystaiko said. ///
________________________
'''Ukraine's state aviation service has forbidden its national airlines from using Iranian airspace from Thursday, with the restrictions in place until an investigation into the cause of the crash has concluded.

Ukraine's embassy in Tehran and Iranian state television both initially said technical issues caused the crash.

But the embassy later removed this statement and said any comment regarding the cause of the accident prior to a commission's inquiry was not official.

Ukraine said its entire civilian aviation fleet would be checked for airworthiness and criminal proceedings would be opened into the disaster. ...
________________________

"The airline expresses its deepest condolences to the families of the victims of the air crash and will do everything possible to support the relatives of the victims," a statement said.

The airline, which is investigating the crash, said the aircraft - a Boeing 737-800 - was built in 2016 and had its last scheduled maintenance on Monday.

There was no sign of any problems with the plane before take-off and the airline's president said it had an "excellent, reliable crew".

A statement from Boeing said its "heartfelt thoughts" were with all those affected following the "tragic event".

There are several thousand Boeing 737-800s in operation around the world which have completed tens of millions of flights. They have been involved in 10 incidents, including this crash, where at least one passenger was killed, aviation safety analyst Todd Curtis told the BBC.

This is the first time a Ukraine International Airlines plane has been involved in a fatal crash. ...
________________________

My take on this is that Ukraine International Airlines and its passengers may not have got the memo regarding potential risks around flying Boeing 737-800s. "Flying coffins"(?) as someone remarked in one of the videos - even Boeing employees involved in the aircraft assembly were apparently recorded as saying they wouldn't fly in these aircraft after seeing "what sh*t went into them" (or WTTE).

8

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: ShutUp10 - Mini-Review

« on: January 07, 2020, 06:07 AM »

@Tuxman: Well, to be fair, O&O (whose software always seemed to be pretty honest work to me) have apparently designed SH10 (ShutUp10) to only enable the user to control their Win10 client's broadcasting, or otherwise opening its doors, on privacy/security details. SH10 doesn't stop servers opportunistically listening/fishing for that client's data/metadata in the first place, whilst that client is online.
Not many organisations that I know of seem to actually eschew the latter approach (listening/fishing) to some degree - only two come to my mind: Duckduckgo (search engine) and Brave (browser), though there are probably several more that I don't know of.
One of the things I really like about the Chrome BadAd Johnny extension (which I still use, despite Google seemingly trying to kill it off) was that it went rather savagely on the attack against such fishing exploits. JunkBuster did much the same, but rather more cleverly, so it had to be defeated by the invention of new technology/protocols and which it could not use - all in the interests of "security", no doubt (ha-ha).

9

Mini-Reviews by Members / ShutUp10 - Mini-Review

« on: January 06, 2020, 07:11 PM »

Original post date:	2020-01-07
Updated:	2020-01-11

Basic Info

Application name:	O&O ShutUp10 Antispy/privacy tool for Windows 10.
Thumbs-Up Rating:
Support:	https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 (This software has been mentioned in several past discussions on DC Forum.) Download the software from: the support link above.
Application Version Reviewed:	ShutUp10 v1.7.1405
Test System Specs:	Have used an earlier version successfully on Win7-64 HP, but this latest version seems to be specifically oriented towards Windows 10 32-64bit
Upgrade Policy:	$FREE for Private use.
Pricing Scheme	$FREE for Private use.

1.0 Intro and Overview:
(From the support page)

O&O ShutUp10 means you have full control over which comfort functions under Windows 10 you wish to use, and you decide when the passing on of your data goes too far. Using a very simple interface, you decide how Windows 10 should respect your privacy by deciding which unwanted functions should be deactivated.

O&O ShutUp10 is entirely free and does not have to be installed – it can be simply run directly and immediately on your PC. And it will not install or download retrospectively unwanted or unnecessary software, like so many other programs do these days!

2.0 Using O&O ShutUp10:
The user is presented with a panel listing the toggles (On/Off) switches.
Select those toggles you want, per the example below.



3.0 Who this software is designed for:
Home or business users wanting to manage their Windows 10 hidden/intrusive security/privacy settings.

4.0 The Good:
It's simple and effective.
It works just like it should.
Warns you about starting/enabling Restore Point and Shadow Copy functionality before making any changes.

5.0 The needs improvement section:
Nothing to report here.

6.0 Why I think you should use this product:
For home or business users wanting to better manage their Windows 10 hidden/intrusive security/privacy settings, this software could be of enormous help and provide peace-of-mind.

7.0 How it compares to similar software
Its simple approach and interface is one of the easiest to use that I have come across (so I have used it for years).

8.0 Conclusions:
Worth using in Windows 10 especially, as it addresses all the telemetry concerns.
Will need to be re-run periodically after Windows updates as they will tend to have restored the old default Registry settings (for the hidden/intrusive security/privacy settings ). Microsoft seems to never give up.

10

Find And Run Robot / Re: Can't change the configuration files location - W10 OneDrive

« on: January 06, 2020, 06:03 PM »

katykaty:

...I tried that (even though I used the regular installer not the portable version) and it didn't appear to work - although FARR didn't create a new folder in my OneDrive. A filename search revealed the config files had now appeared in the Program Files (x86) folder. ...

-katykaty (January 06, 2020, 04:54 PM)

Oh right. Sorry, I forgot about that prob. as it was a while back. That problem probably occurs because you have residual entries/pointers in the Registry. It will otherwise keep proliferating and expecting FARR folders/files in odd places.
You may need to uninstall and expunge all traces to FARR (use RevoUninstaller on severe scrub setting) and reinstall it from a .ZIP file as Portable only - so the only instance of FARR will be a portable version.

By the way, I also looked inside and tinkered with the DCUpdater metadata files to point to the latest FARR version and where the app lives, as opposed to where the DCUpdater metadata file(s) assume that it would live. That way, you can use DCUpdater to tell you when there's a new version of FARR - or other @mouser app. It's a bit fiddly to get right, but DCUpdater is very handy after doing that.

11

Find And Run Robot / Re: Can't change the configuration files location - W10 OneDrive

« on: January 06, 2020, 04:30 PM »

@katykaty:
I had similar probs. This works for me:

In the file: C:\UTIL\Windows utilities\FindAndRunRobot\ConfigDir.ini
______________________________
/ NOTE: you have to *remove* the // in front of one line below to activate it
//CONFIGDIR=C:\UTIL\Windows utilities\FindAndRunRobot\Keys
// CONFIGDIR = .
// CONFIGDIR=%MYDOCUMENTS%
PORTABLE=TRUE
CONFIGDIR = .

// This file (ConfigDir.ini) defines the directory where all configuration
//  files for the program will be stored.
// There should be only 1 actual line in this file that has any meaning,
//  the CONFIGDIR assignmane above.  Everything else here is just comments.
//
// By default it is normally set to the program directory itself, meaning
//  that all configuration/ini/settings/preferences will be store here
//  with this ConfigDir.ini file.  This is also best for when you want to
//  put the program on a usb drive.
// Sometimes it is preferable to store the configuration files in a
//  different directory, like a "C:\Documents and Settings" subdirectory
//  which is designed to store program configuration data, or a custom
//  directory specified by a user on a separate drive.
//
// TIPS:
// 1. You can comment out lines by prefacing them with //
// 2. You can use the following replacements:
//     . (actual program directory -- use this for portable usb, etc.)
//     %MYDOCUMENTS% (like C:\My Documents)
//     %APPDATA% (like C:\Documents and Settings\{username}\Application Data)
//     %PROFILE% (like C:\Documents and Settings\{username})
//     %COMMONAPPDATA% (like C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data)
// 3. The specified directory will be created if it doesn't exist.
// 4. If configuration files are not found in the specified directory,
//     any existing configuration files in the app dir will be copied
//     from the app dir to the specified directory.
// 5. If you edit this file while the program is running you need to
//     exit and restart the program before it will take effect.
//
// EXAMPLES:
//    CONFIGDIR=.
//    CONFIGDIR=%MYDOCUMENTS%
//    CONFIGDIR=E:\MyCleverSettings\
//    CONFIGDIR=%APPDATA%
//
// NOTE: the company and application subdirectory name will automatically be
//  added to the path specified (except for %APPDIR% which includes the name
//  already, i.e.:
//    "E:\MyCleverSettings" -> "E:\MyCleverSettings\DonationCoder\AppName\"
//
// NEW:
//  You can now signify that an app should run in portable mode (no files saved to anything but app dir)
//  by specifying the uncommented line:
//   PORTABLE=TRUE
//
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

12

N.A.N.Y. 2020 / Re: NANY 2020: quick generator peek

« on: December 26, 2019, 09:37 AM »

@smaragdus:
Well, it's a bit of a digression, but I don't think I would disagree with much of what you say there. I mean, look at The Royal Society's motto "Nullius in verba" - which is taken to mean "take nobody's word for it" - yet it doesn't stop them from issuing edicts of "scientific" hypothetical dogma, signed apparently by lots of their members.
That would seem to be 3 (three!) logical fallacies right there:

• argumentum ad ignorantiam (forwarding a proposition without any certain proof).
• argumentum ad populum (appeal to the people/consensus, popular sentiment - appeal to the majority; appeal to loyalty).
• argumentum ad verecundiam (appeal to authority; conventional propriety).

Fascism loves an appeal to the consensus. The German Population in 1939 was estimated as approx. 80,600,000 people (i.e., before they started killing off their Jewish citizens wholesale). Apparently the Germans were right behind their Führer to a man. One wonders: They couldn't possibly all have been mistaken, could they?

Regarding science, a bloke called Eisenhower nailed it in 1961:

In those notes, Haapala also writes (my emphasis):

In his farewell address to the Nation in 1961, President Eisenhower cautioned against the power of money from the government in influencing scientific research, and the “danger that public policy could itself become captive of a scientific-technological elite.” Andrew Montford has articulated how this danger comes about. Please see links under “Politicizing Scientific Organizations” and Article # 1.

.

-IainB (May 03, 2012, 09:43 PM)

But I'm still curious as to what @Tuxman might have been getting at re the 2 potentially "contrary truths" he seemed to be referring to.

13

N.A.N.Y. 2020 / Re: NANY 2020: quick generator peek

« on: December 26, 2019, 03:11 AM »

@Tuxman:

There cannot be two contrary truths.

-Tuxman (December 26, 2019, 02:03 AM)

That would seem to be axiomatic, no?
What 2 potentially "contrary truths" are you referring to though?

14

N.A.N.Y. 2020 / Re: NANY 2020: quick Tuxman peek

« on: December 26, 2019, 01:36 AM »

@Tuxman:

Every time someone talks about an omnipresence, I wonder where we scientists have lost the fight.

-Tuxman (December 25, 2019, 12:06 PM)

Hahaha, good one! Amusing.
But - and more seriously - I had not realised that anyone was "fighting" over it (or "something"). Are people fighting over that mythical hypothetical and (presumably) mis-named "dark matter" as well? I wonder.
I mean, if there is a fight here, what exactly is the fight about?
Aren't we simply seeking truth and understanding?

15

Living Room / Re: Merry Christmas to All

« on: December 25, 2019, 10:54 AM »

We were going to have turkey... and then I thought stuff that!

-cranioscopical (December 25, 2019, 09:33 AM)

Same here. We gobbled it down!

16

Living Room / Re: Merry Christmas to All

« on: December 25, 2019, 06:32 AM »

Merry Christmas and "God bless us, every one!" - the blessing offered by Tiny Tim at Christmas dinner, in Charles Dicken's story, "A Christmas Carol".

17

N.A.N.Y. 2020 / Re: NANY 2020: quick generator peek

« on: December 25, 2019, 06:15 AM »

@anandcoral:

The one NANY 2020 I am working is not getting full times as desired, due to my work pressure. I still have hope that Almighty will give me free time from all these "must-do" works.

-anandcoral (December 25, 2019, 03:27 AM)

Hello,
Your hopeful prayer has been answered. As it is Christmas and the Season of Giving, I hereby allow you the necessary free time from all those "must-do" works, so that you can attend to Paste Text and your other children, like a good father should. They're looking rather neglected as it is - don't make it worse by subjecting them to further neglect. Use your new free time wisely though - e.g., stop browsing the DC Forum or "social notworking" forums generally...remember, I'll be watching you.
Don't listen to any of those annoying pointy-headed jerks on the DC Forum who may try to tell you to ignore this message and that the Almighty doesn't have an account on the Forum - there is such a thing as omnipresence, you know.

Happy Christmas!   

18

Living Room / Re: laptop temperature fluctuations

« on: December 21, 2019, 10:19 AM »

@holt:

What about a few shots of Duster in intake or exhaust; 'canned air'?

-holt (December 18, 2019, 03:42 PM)

Clean dust/dirt off the motherboard and other parts as you proceed inwards, using the paintbrush and vacuum cleaner on low suction. Using CO2 pressure cans to blow the dust off is arguably a waste of time as it tends to redistribute a lot of the dust (along with your money).

-IainB (December 14, 2019, 09:05 AM)

You need to remove the dust with a suction device.

Cleanliness is important. Dust and dirt are generally enemies of electronic or electromechanical devices, typically leading directly or indirectly to shorts or tracking in the former and shorts and/or friction problems in the latter.

19

Find And Run Robot / Re: Launching Win10 "Apps" from FARR.

« on: December 18, 2019, 06:04 AM »

Hi,
Sorry to bring such an old topic back to life.
Has anybody found a solution to access Windows 10 "Apps" from FARR?
I have tried addind "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" to search folders without success.
Thanks.
Fran

-fjorge (December 18, 2019, 04:36 AM)

Try: Re: Launching Windows Apps in FARR - EXAMPLE: Microsoft Edge.

20

Living Room / Re: laptop temperature fluctuations

« on: December 18, 2019, 05:57 AM »

@Holt:

I take your meaning to be that spinning the fan blades the wrong way can ruin the fan.

-holt (December 17, 2019, 11:43 AM)

That might be what he means, but the pragmatic approach I took was:
1. If the fan runs on a frictionless (magnetic field) bearing (as seems to be the case)
2. Then running it backwards for short periods is not going to hurt it.
3. - but only IF the laptop battery has been removed, so there is no possibility that you will be forcing the fan to run backwards (by reverse suction) when it could already be running in the correct operational direction under battery power.

I haven't broken anything so far...

21

Living Room / Re: Boeing 737 exposee

« on: December 14, 2019, 09:37 AM »

@holt:
Where you wrote:

"You can fool all of the passengers some of the time, and some of the passengers all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the passengers all of the time." -Abraham William Boeing

-holt (December 14, 2019, 07:49 AM)

This is my "updated" version:

"You can kill all of the passengers some of the time and some of the passengers all of the time, but you cannot kill all of the passengers all of the time without FAA approval." - Boeing MacChainsaw

22

Living Room / Re: laptop temperature fluctuations

« on: December 14, 2019, 09:08 AM »

@holt:

Did you also consider cleaning your laptop internally? Cruft and dust accumulates very quick in laptops in my experience. Especially when they are mostly used in carpeted areas or way worse, in bed. Such cruft prevents heat to escape out of your laptop and shortens it life span.

-Shades (December 13, 2019, 10:52 AM)

@Shades gives good advice.

Thought these notes might be of some use: Laptop overheating or noisy fan - Cleaning the cooling system.

23

Living Room / Laptop overheating or noisy fan - Cleaning the cooling system.

« on: December 14, 2019, 09:05 AM »

Thought this might be of general hep/use. Let me know where it may need correcting/improving please.

First off: Install Speedfan http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php.
Use it to study your laptop and make a note of the current typical CPU and GPU temps in normal operation and under different load types  - e.g. (say), when playing games, or browsing the web or building a spreadsheet.
This will provide you with a starting-point as a basis for comparison - a factual AS-IS picture.

Causes of overheating:

• As a long-time laptop user, I have learned that the single most common cause of overheating and fan noise in my laptops tends to be that the heat exchanger becomes clogged. The heat exchanger looks like a small radiator matrix (grill), usually located on the left or right side of the laptop, but sometimes on the rear side.
  
  
• A small fan sucks the unfiltered cold air (usually from the base) into the laptop, and pushes it as exhaust hot air through the matrix of the heat exchanger.
  
  
• The heat exchanger gets heat transferred to it via thermal conduction along a solid copper bar that picks up the heat and carries it away from the CPU (and GPU if fitted). The bar is screwed/clamped to the CPU/GPU, with a heat-conducting thermal grease smeared between the faces of the components before they are assembled. The grease can break down over some years and its conductive efficiency reduced as a result, leading to overheating and automatic thermal cut-out.
  
  
• Over time, the heat exchanger matrix tends to become blocked with the accumulated dust and fluff that unavoidably accumulates (sucked/blown in by the fan). In addition, the blades of the fan can become loaded with accumulations of particles of dust, such that the fan aerodynamics can change and its weight can be increased appreciably and thus its operational and aerodynamic efficiency is impaired. These things can lead to overheating, fast/noisy fans and automatic thermal cut-out.

To see what you may need to clean:
NB: If you don't like the idea of using a vacuum cleaner to suck back through the fan, then go to the thorough clean section, below.

• Step 1: Have on standby:
   - a horsehair paintbrush.
   - a variable-speed vacuum cleaner.
   - a bright LED torch.
   - a few plastic bag ties (with the wire center).
  
  
• Step 2: Turn the laptop off and remove the battery.
  
  
• Step 3: Shine a torch into the fan's cold air-intake (assuming there is one). Observe whether the intake is blocked with fluff/dust and the condition of the fanblades - if the latter are black, then they are probably not too dirty, but if a grey colour then they are probably loaded with dust/dirt. Wipe/dust off the intake surface with the paintbrush. Don't clean it otherwise, just make a mental note of the visible status.
  
  
• Step 4: Next, whilst In a darkened room, shine a torch into the fan intake whilst looking through the heat exchanger matrix on the side of the laptop. The light should be visible The matrix should appear to consist of clear, rectangular little tubes, but they will be unable to let light through to varying degrees if they are blocked at all. Make a mental note of the status.
  
  
• Step 5: Press the round end of the vacuum cleaner pipe against/over the air intake vent, sealing the edges with your fingers so that most of the suck is through the fan intake. Then SUCK: Turn on the vacuum cleaner and hold it in that position for around 2-5 seconds (experiment). The airflow will be sucked backwards through the fan (which you will hear whizzing backwards) and the air intake, along with most of the crud blocking the heat exchanger matrix. After switching off the vacuum cleaner, on inspection, you may need to slowly ease out larger chunks of fluff with a fine screwdriver, from the air intake vent. Repeat the suck until the air intake seems clear.
  
  Then repeat Step 4. Check - If the matrix seems clear/unblocked and if the fanblades are relatively black and shiny and the air intake is clear, then you probably don't need to do anything further.
  If the fanblades seem clean enough (black and shiny), but the heat exchanger matrix still seems a bit blocked, then you can clear the matrix further by using one of those plastic bag ties with a wire centre. Poke it through each hole in the matrix from the outside, then, when you have done that  thoroughly to them all, reverse-suck as before to clean the dislodged crud out.
  Inspect per Step 4 again.
  
  Step 6: Restart the laptop and check performance compared with the  AS-IS Speedfan performance metrics. If there's no change, then you probably need to do a more thorough clean, as below.
  

___________________________

DIY steps to do a thorough clean: (i.e., laptop is still overheating, cutting out, or has a noisy fan.)

• If possible, download a manufacturer's service manual for that laptop. Read up on removal of the necessary parts to get access to those I have mentioned.
  
  
• Prepare a clean work surface with a white cotton or microfibre towel to cover it.
  
  
• Have on standby:
      - a good strong magnet (to hold metal screws on disassembly).
      - a horsehair paintbrush.
      - isopropyl alcohol.
      - a variable-speed vacuum cleaner.
      - cotton ear-buds (to clean in confined spaces - also use with isopropyl alcohol).
      - toilet paper (for cleaning surfaces - also use with isopropyl alcohol).
      - a bright LED torch.
      - heat-conductive thermal grease (if required).
  
  
• Disassemble the laptop CAREFULLY as necessary to get the access required to clean its innards. Place the screws on the magnet so as not to lose them. Keep the magnet in a small tray or bowl to catch any screws or metallic bits that may fall off or are non-magnetic. You may find some screw anchors have already broken (or break on reassembly - so take care!) due to over-tightening or (typically) the plastic having become brittle (their design being unfit for long life).
  
  
• Clean dust/dirt off the motherboard and other parts as you proceed inwards, using the paintbrush and vacuum cleaner on low suction. Using CO2 pressure cans to blow the dust off is arguably a waste of time as it tends to redistribute a lot of the dust (along with your money).
  
  
• Clean the heat exchanger in situ. You may need to use a small flat-bladed screwdriver to scrape off accumulated fluff/dust/dirt or corrosion. Use a torch shone through it to check whether all the holes in the heat exchanger are cleared and clean.
  Carefully remove and disassemble the delicate fan, and separate the fan blade unit. The fan operates upside down and when operational hangs in the air utilising a magnetic field as a bearing (frictionless bearing). In operation, the upside-down rotating fanblade unit over time can become gradually more weighed-down with accumulated deposits of airborne grease and dust onto the fanblades. It can cease to be in its optimum aerodynamic blade profile or position, so becomes less efficient and can become noisy. The noise may be due to friction between surfaces where there should be no contact (or friction) in the optimal case.
  
  
• Carefully clean the fanblade and housing using the paintbrush/earbuds/isopropyl alcohol, as necessary. After cleaning the fan and its housing, clean the bearing "faces" and smear them lightly with a fine coat or drop of CRC - or similar lubricant that can be used with electronics. Don't drown it with CRC as the excess oil will be thrown out along the fanblades when in operation, attracting and adhering to dust particles that pass through.
  
  
• Heat-conductive thermal grease: You probably only really need to tackle the task of cleaning off and replacing the heatsink thermal grease if the CPU/GPU has been overheating and shutting down the system. I read somewhere that the grease has a 10-year life expectancy. I have tended to replace it only when I have opened up a laptop for the usual full cleaning (as above) and as a just-in-case measure on older laptops. Speedfan metrics will generally be a good guide as to whether this overheating is a problem. Those greases seem quite expensive, but maybe you get what you pay for. I'm not sure.
  
  
• Reassembly: This is the reverse of disassembly, so, if you don't have a service manual, then make notes as you disassemble the thing.

24

Living Room / Re: Arizona sunsets

« on: December 08, 2019, 08:27 PM »

@Arizona Hot: Thanks. Another fine piece of ephemeral beauty.

25

General Software Discussion / Re: Brave: A new browser with built-in adblock and payment solutions

« on: December 08, 2019, 08:10 PM »

@holt:

Sometimes on Youtube I can't find any date for when the video was made. Is there actually none posted, or how or where do I find it?

-holt (December 08, 2019, 06:26 PM)

Do you mean when the video was actually made, or simply when that particular YouTube item (file) was posted onto YouTube?
I don't think the actual "made" date would necessarily be known/given and would not form part of the file metadata if you downloaded it.
Otherwise, the date that video file was posted onto YouTube usually/always(?) seems to be given. You could also presumably see the same metadata on the channel of the person who posted that video, where all their videos will be listed.
I usually make a note in CHS (Clipboard Help & Spell) of the video title, the YouTube source link and the date it was posted when I download a YouTube video.