Good way to keep laptop cool??

[chipper]

Hello, I'd like to know a way to make my laptop run cool. It got really hot a couple times and shut off (this could mess up my hard drive) I'm no computer tech but I'd like to know a way to help it run cooler?? If anyone has any brilliant ideas please post them.

[poynton]

Don't use it on your knees.
Don't use it in a dusty area.
Clean it regularly.
Use a cooler (fan) plate.
Adjust the setting in the bios to power save.

.

[Rodeodave]

I'll second that.
Have a tech clean the fan(s) and heatsinks inside the laptop (or do it yourself iff you know how to), they can accumulate incredible amounts of dust in a short time, which of course restricts airflow and heat transfer from the heatsinks.
Disable services that cause a lot of HDD activity, and set the lowest possible (useful) CPU speed.
Make sure the laptop still has the little rubber feet it originally came with, they keep it's body elevated thus allowing for some radiation and convectional cooling.
Don't run a power-hog like Vista.

[Mooly]

A lot depends on what processes are running... on a web page such as this it should remain cool with the fan hardly cutting in. Does the laptop have a lot of preinstalled "bloatware" supplied by the manufacturer that is running ? Operating system ?

Many security packages cause a lot of CPU activity. Intense graphics applications another.

This screenshot was taken just now with this webpage open. This is the supposedly slow running resource hogging Vista on a balanced power plan. Microsoft Security Essentials as the AV

[Mooly]

Originally Posted by Rodeodave

Don't run a power-hog like Vista.

Why is it a power hog ? So many say this and it's not my experience at all.

I use Vista on a 4 year old Acer laptop with AMD Turion 64 mobile CPU.

It cold boots to desktop with sidebar, running aero in around 80 seconds.

[DF96]

I had this problem. My laptop kept overheating and crashing during the summer I was typing up my thesis. Dell support talked me through disabling some of the background junk. That helped. In addition, in hot weather I balance the back on a pencil (or something similar) to get some air flow underneath. I also now run it at low speed (battery mode) even when running on mains power.

[madtecchy]

Vista is a proccessor HOG Period.
Microsoft has dropped it like a stone.
Mad mark. Ps booting in 80 seconds does not prove much at all

[madtecchy]

If the heat exchangers are clean and the fan seems to operate ok.
It also could be worth removing the cpu heatsink and renewing the heatsink compound. I have seen this problem lots of time in the past and this cured it.
Mad Mark

[chipper]

WOW!! thanks for the replys, sorry i haven't posted back. But i found out i had alot of other useless programs running that kept making it run hot. Plus i like making my own beats so i like to use my laptop alot. I also have windows vista. Thanks again fellas!

[wwenze]

Reread the first post and noticed...

If it gets hot enough to shut off, and the vents are not blocked, it is faulty and you should check the cooling system.

Because regardless of operating system, background processes, room temperature, a computer isn't supposed to shut down during CPU-intensive stuff like prime95 or Linpack. You may be able to circumvent the problem by not running the CPU at full speed/voltage or not loading the CPU but still the CPU isn't capable of doing what it is spec-ed to do.