Friday, December 16, 2011

How to clean CPU heatsinks

After several months, CPU heatsink often accumulates dust. This may jam heatsink fan or block air circulation. If CPU overheats, we may have to replace it with a new one.

It is important to clean heatsinks in CPU or graphic card regularly. I had a broken graphic card because of accumulating dust in heatsink fins - blocking air circulation. My CPU once had dust accumulated in its heatsink. BIOS showed CPU temperature reached 71° C. But after I cleaned it, CPU temperature was always constant in 60° C.

Brush is OK, but we must remove CPU fan first. It is easier to use vacuum cleaner and plastic pipe. We just need to fasten this pipe to vacuum cleaner suction using adhesive tape. This pipe should be small enough to go between CPU fan blades. Vacuum cleaner suction is strong enough to suck and clean dust from a heatsink.

It is important to prevent dust accumulation in heatsinks (like in CPU and graphic card) and power supply vents, as disturbed cooling system may lead to damages to these components.

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Thursday, December 15, 2011

How to open docx in MS Word 2003

Docx is a new format in MS Word 2007 and later, so by default MS Word 2003 is unable to open and edit documents in docx format. Personally, I am reluctant to use MS Word 2007 and later, because its design is far different compared to previous version of MS Word. Users should familiarize themselves to new design in MS Word 2007; this is my main reason not to use it as replacement.
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There are two methods to open docx in MS Word 2003:
  1. I installed MS Word 2007 side by side with MS Word 2003. Afterwards, MS Word 2003 is able to open docx without problem. I still prefer MS Word 2003, but installing MS Word 2007 can make us more familiar with MS 2007. 
  2. Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint File Formats. This plugin enable MS Word 2003 to open docx (and MS Excel 2003 and MS PowerPoint 2003 to open xlsx and pptx respectively). Some windows updates are required to install this program. 
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