It’s at this time of the year where laptops tend to start overheating. Most of the time this is caused by the warm conditions, and too many applications running at once. You might also have a virus or some other type of malware running in the background, keeping the machine busy.

If you find that your laptop is making a lot of noise, and it’s running slower than normal, then it’s probably safe to say that the computer may well be overheating, and the fan is running non stop to try and cool itself down.

It’s a good idea to make sure it has plenty of ventilation, and close down anything you don’t need running in the notification area (windows tray – next to the clock). Also run a full virus check.

One mistake people make with laptops is accidentally covering up the ventilation holes on the machine. If you are sitting the laptop down on a surface such as your bed sheet, or the carpet, make sure there are no ventilation holes at the back or the bottom of the laptop which could be getting blocked. If these holes get blocked for too long, then you’ve got yourself a fried computer.

A great application I recommend getting at this time of the year is Core Temp – it allows you to monitor your processors core temperature so you can see if your machine is getting dangerously hot. Make sure your laptop processor runs at around 60 degrees c at rest, and when it’s in demand it shouldn’t run any higher than 75-80. All laptops are different though, so after a while you’ll get to know your laptops normal running temperature. If it’s getting to around 90, I’d start to worry if I were you!

If you get stuck, feel free to book me for a computer check up.