Here in Bali we are blessed with perfect weather all the
time. Perfect unless you are a computer, then the weather
is considered HELL! Heat AND humidity are a computers
worst enemies (besides current surges & viruses).
What can we do to protect our valuable computers? Well
other than moving somewhere else and who wants to do that,
there are two major things you can do:
1. Have an air conditioned room for your computer
and its equipment. But, not JUST an air conditioned
room, you’ll need one where the AC is on all the time.
This is because if the AC goes off, then moisture can condense
in the computer and make things worse than if you had NO AC
at all.
2. Keep your computer ON at all times. This
is a very good alternative. You see by keeping your
computer on at all times you are using the heat that the computer
generates to keep the moisture out! Good huh?
Who thought your computer’s heat would be a ‘good
thing’?!? However, IF the temperature of the room
goes beyond 90F or 30C, best to turn the computer off, because
now the external heat becomes a problem. Luckily, it
does not often get to 30C in Bali.
So that’s the basics, either leave your computer on
all the time or have AC that is on all the time.
If you can’t do either then what can happen? Well
a few bad things can happen.
1. Your computer won’t last as long.
Neither will it’s components like the printer, external
hard drives, etc. The reason is the heat and humidity
take their toll on the rubber parts and corrodes the electronics.
2. Your computer will start acting funny.
I don’t mean ‘ha-ha’ funny, I mean will
start ‘freezing’ causing you to reboot more often.
The disks will crash and you may start losing data.
If you live on a boat or very near the ocean then it can even
be worse! Humid SALTY air is even worse for computers.
Here it is VERY important to keep moisture away. Consider
a de-humidifier of some sort. But remember, you must
keep it on all the time! I have read the heat and humidity
can shorten the average life of a computer by HALF.
For a laptop on a boat that is on the water (salt water),
the life span can be less that one year!
So remember: BACK UP YOUR DATA. By a CD-RW or
one of the new DVD-RWs and back up your precious data often!
LAST MINUTE UPDATE:
In last August’s column I wrote:
1. Satellite-based Internet Access. Best for business
customers due to its high cost, broadband internet access
via satellite is considered to be one of the faster connections
available. Costs vary from US$1,000 to US$5,000 for
handheld/portable transmitters for the equipment. Contact
your ISP to see if they offer satellite access, or call PT
Telkom, or Inmarsat for further information.
Now comes iSatAsia (http://www.isatasia.com/country/indonesia/)
for Broadband coverage in Bali. Rates are as low as
US$45/mo for internet connection bandwidth up to 1 Mbps and
500MB of data. Or for US$350 you can have a download
speed of 128 Kbps. However, the equipment may be more
than US$1,000. So check this out if you need faster
access in Bali.
