Tag: PC

Laptop cleaning day

Twice a year, my boys and I sit down, open up our laptops and clear out all the dust from the fans. Today was that day.

Dust in laptop fans at best reduces their effectiveness and at worst makes thing much hotter. We know this from bitter experience because we once cooked a CPU and graphics card because of laptop fan fluff. It killed a £1,000 laptop.

Make-up brushes and compressed air are great for clearing out the dust. Isopropyl alcohol and kitchen roll is great for cleaning the laptop case, keyboard and screen.

“You take care of your tools, your tools take care of you.” — James S.A. Corey

Fliqlo flip-clock screensaver

Fliqlo screensaver in 24-hour mode, low brightness about 50% scale

I may be a bit late to the party when it comes to minimalist-style PC clock screensavers but I’m here now.

Loved by photographers of beautiful desktops and minimalist office setups the world over, Fliqlo is a free screensaver that displays a clean, simple flip-style clock on your screen.

Currently, it is offers three options: 12-hour/24-hour, brightness and size. Future releases promise multiple monitor support and the ability to exit from the screensaver by mouse-movement rather than keyboard press.

Fliqlo is available for free for both Windows and Mac. A paid version (currently USD $0.99) is available for iOS,

Update

Monday 26 January 2026

The latest version for Windows (v1.5.1) now offers multi-monitor support and using the mouse to exit the screensaver.

Firewatch (redux)

Firewatch wallpaper

Five years ago today, Campo Santo released what quickly became my all-time favourite computer game, Firewatch.

If you haven’t already played it and you’re tired of running, jumping, shooting-at-people games, this is a very welcome change.

In a world that has been locked down for almost a year, this game has been a perfect virtual escape for this introvert who loves to explore the world alone.

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Installing Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on an old Asus X551CA laptop from 2013

Welcome to Ubuntu screen

One of the items that I inherited after Mum died was her old laptop, an Asus X551CA that I bought her for Christmas 2013. This month I replaced the battery, upgraded the hard drive and installed Linux.

Continue reading Installing Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on an old Asus X551CA laptop from 2013

Helping my sleep pattern with F.lux

It’s now late October, the clocks have gone back an hour to GMT. In Scotland the nights are fair drawin’ in—it is getting dark earlier. All the more important then to make sure I look after my sleep hygiene.

For the last 14 years I have been working mostly sitting in front of a PC. I’m also a bit of a geek so I find myself sitting in front of a PC even when I’m not being paid to do so.

For years I found it hard to get to sleep at night. It turns out that staring at computer monitor for hours is not great for your sleep. The blue light emitted by a screen affects our attention, reaction times and mood (Source) and, crucially, our sleep.

In 2009, I discovered an application called F.lux that detects where you are in the world and automatically adjusts the screen colour temperature to gradually remove the blue as the sun is setting.

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