Keeping cool

[seekingsolutions]

Hi,
I'm new member looking for advice on how to stop my laptop from hanging after a couple of hours use. I have a Medion MD2837 Notebook for over 2 years which has been working fine till recently. I've been told it is probably overheating and that the fan might be gunked up with dust so isn't doing it's job properly. I have noticed that the laptop does get quite hot after a few hours and when it does hang, I have to pull the battery out and wait a while before switching it back on.

I've recently upgraded my Symantec anti virus software so it is now taking quite a bit of time to switch on and get started. I've also read about some cooling mats that you can stand your laptop on to help keep the temperature constant.

I'm not sure what to do to sort this out. Can somebody advise? Is this a common problem with laptops? Is the heat build up caused by mechanical problems or the way the computer is being used? Is there anything I can do to check what is causing the system to hang and whether a cooling pad is the way to go, or do I just need to take the laptop to a computer repair place to get the fan and associated elements sorted out?

Thanks

 

[Anon_F]

Welcome to PCReview seekingsolutions
Cooling of laptops can be a problem at time's, check that the fan & the hole the heat comes out of are not blocked with dust. As for the laptop being slow on start up this is symantec/norton hogging the system when starting up.

You can buy mats that having cooling fans in them that help the laptop to keep cooler. It may be a case of getting someone to open the laptop up and cleaning it inside. Would you be confidant enough to do it yourself? A good book is Scott Muellers Upgrading & Repairing Laptops, your local library may have it?

You could remove norton and use an anti-virus that does not hog the resources, something like AntiVir or AVG, both are free, as is the firewall Zonealarm.

 

[seekingsolutions]

Thank you,
I'll check out the library and see how straight forward a task this might be.
As for the antivirus software, sounds like I've spent a load of money for software that I could have just downloaded for free.... I do have a back up service with Norton though, so I suspect that's what takes the time. Does AntiVir and AG do back up too?

 

[Anon_F]

Does AntiVir and AG do back up too?

When you say back up, do you mean backing up data?

 

[seekingsolutions]

Yes, my files get backed up so I don't lose them in the event of a crash or program malfunction.

 

[Anon_F]

You should ba able to remove norton and leave the back-up software on your pc.
When i back up once a week i copy all i want onto a dvd or cd disc both ample storage.
Drivers & Critical Data are backed up when neeeded.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Antivir & AVG do not have a backup facility.

All they do is offer virus protection.

They are both good. They are both free.

Nortons AV costs a shed load of money and it's crap

 

[PotGuy]

indeed it is very crap

I use avast antivirus, and it is better than norton ever was

 

[nomis]

Some laptops can cool down quicker if you use mains & take out the battery.

 

[bodhi]

Nortons AV costs a shed load of money and it's crap

Its not crap. Ive been using it for a couple of years now and never had a virus.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Its not crap. Ive been using it for a couple of years now and never had a virus.

Have you actually been online in those two years?

Just kidding.

Oh well, there's always one I guess. It's your money and it's your hard disk/operating system.

About a year ago I done a fresh install on a friend's machine, Pentium 3Ghz; Asus Top Range Board; 2 x 512 Corsair RAM. I gave it back to him with Antivir installed and it was running very well, very lively.

A week or so later he phoned me and complained it was running slow. I visited and noted he'd installed Nortons AV on it. It had indeed slowed to a crawl compared to how it had been running.

I asked him 'Why did you install Nortons, I advised you not to'

He replied 'Because it looks good I figure it must be doing a good job'.

After spending all that time sorting his machine out (for free) I just said 'Tough' and walked out the door.

 

[Adywebb]

Its not crap. Ive been using it for a couple of years now and never had a virus.

As Flops says, Norton is a resource hog and slows down your PC - also in recent tests Norton failed to stop several viruses/trojans and came out below several free ones such as AntiVir/AVG.

The ones that stopped everything 100% were Kaspersky and Steganos (which uses the Kaspersky engine) - Norton was good once, but hasn't kept up - it is only popular because they pay for it to be put on major manufacturers machines and hope it their owners will renew subscriptions later.

Have a look at all those posting problems over in the Security/Spyware and Viruses section - the vast majority have Norton loaded and it didn't do them any good

Maybe in the future it will be good again?

 

[bodhi]

Well, as i said, i have two computers that sit on the internet all day every day both running norton and ive never had a virus. Dont know how else to judge it to be honest, its doing its job!

 

[Adywebb]

Your right, just sitting on the internet is unlikely to get you a virus unless you visit some dodgy sites - where the problems come is via downloads which contain 'hidden' viruses/trojans - thats when a good AV comes into its own - and as the tests proved, Norton wasn't up to the job.

If Norton suits your particular habits, then there is no reason to change, unless you want to save money come renewal time or speed up your PC a bit

 

[darcy]

re: overheating issue:, ~ even after cleaning out your laptop, i would still recommend a notebook cooler.
some years back, i did a review of the Bytecc NC-500 Aluminum Notebook Cooler, and can verify that, in my case, @ least, notebook temp was reduced by a significant amount :

w/o notebook cooler : 106F/41C
with notebook cooler in use : 78F/26C

no doubt are being newer notebook coolers about if you are wishing to purchase one, ~ but i would recommend purchasing one having two 60mm fans for reasonable effectiveness.