Since about February, it was nearly impossible for me to play games on my computer. I'd load up a game and then within five minutes my computer would then spontaneously reboot. In the subsequent months I tried almost everything to solve the problem. I updated the drivers for nearly every component in my computer. I tried turning off my sound card. I took out various memory modules and then put them back in. Nothing. It still crashed after just minutes of starting a game.

For months, I did no gaming whatsoever, leaving my computer to just run e-mail, TV watching, and web surfing. It was like being a teenage girl. Then just last week, a co-worker of mine was trying to get me to start playing WoW. I told I couldn't and I wouldn't anyways, since playing WoW is like taking crack. I explained to him why I couldn't do any gaming at all with my random re-boots. He asked me if I had cleaned my computer case recently. I then realized I hadn't done that in quite a while.

The next day, I bought a can of compressed air from a computer parts store. The best way to clean dust from inside a computer case is to use compressed air to blow it all out. Last weekend, I finally had time to do a thorough cleaning. I took my computer outside into my apartment courtyard and placed it on one of the picnic tables. When I opened the thing up, the dust was heavily caked on in several places. It was all over the various fans inside. Dust was basically everywhere.

Using the high pressure air, I blasted away all the dust I could find, paying special attention to the fans. It took over ten minutes of cleaning before it was anywhere near dust free. It was good that I was outside since several grey clouds wafted over my head from all the dust.

After I was done, I took everything back inside and fired up a game. I proceeded to play Call of Duty : United Offensive for nearly three hours that night. It was a good feeling. I finished it tonight. I may go to Future Shop on my lunch hour to pick up another game tomorrow.

Well, for reading what must have been a boring post, here's a link to a somewhat comprehensive list of fatal accidents at Disneyland. Thanks PK!

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