I have had my Dell Latitude for about 5 years now. I remember a few years ago a buddy of mine that knew computers well took a look at mine when it was over heating and he said my fan was all clogged up with dust. I attempted to take off the back panel of my laptop to spray out all the dust and I stripped a couple of screws. What is the easiest cheapest most effective way to get those screws out without damaging the laptop? Also I am looking into getting one of those things the laptop sits on and its a fan to help keep it cool. I heard they work well. Is there any particular kind anyone suggests for a good price? Should I stay away from the cheap ones on ebay? Also I got rid of most of the programs I don't use on my laptop, and I started using CCleaner to get rid of unnecessary junk. Ins't there another kind of system clean out thing I can do to speed things up? I was thinking about saving my documents and stuff on a external and wiping out the whole thing. I kinda need to do that anyways because I have vista and I want windows 7. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks
Plenty of methods. A couple that might work well is: Get a flathead screwdriver that is slightly larger than the (I'm assuming) phillips-head grooved screws you've stripped. Then get a hammer. Now jam the flathead into the screw as far it goes, and with the hammer gently tap it further in. If the screw is so soft you've stripped it, it should also be soft enough for the flathead to get a good grip with the pressure added by the hammer-tapping. Another method is using electrical tape (or for a bigger srew, a wide rubber band). Place the tape on the top of the screw, sticky side down. Now use a phillips-head screw driver that fits snuggly into the groove *before* the tape is placed on top. If you got a Dremel or similar, simply just cut a new groove into the screw, and then use a flathead to get it out.
lol Zylark you pretty much beat my method. I was going to suggest a drill bit. LMAO Anywho, you can always defrag you use a program i also like called Clean Up. You can also scan your system for any viruses that may need to be removed etc. There are a bunch of online virus scanners that you can use I'll list a couple below: ESET Online Virus Scanner | ESET avast! Online Scanner Free Online Virus Scan - Antivirus Software - Trend Micro USA
If it will be awhile before you wipe the drive, you could use Control Panel Program and features or Add and remove programs - forgot which on Vista) and uninstall any programs you are no longer using.
Thanks guys. I will give those methods a shot and see what happens. I also got avast and uninstalled everything I'm not using. Yay for me!