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Cell Phone Battery Hazards

You may not think of cell phones as dangerous but as their use rises, so does the risk of fires and other unexpected mishaps. There’ve been scattered reports of cell phones exploding and catching fire and even of cell phones emitting sparks that ignite gasoline fires. In response, the industry and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in USA have issued some safety tips.

Lithium-ion (Li-Ion) batteries, which are commonly found in today�s cellular phones, have a lot of energy in a small package, the commission notes. Li-Ion batteries are more sensitive to physical stress than alkaline batteries found in toys and flashlights and need to be treated with more care.

Neither CPSC nor the cell phone lobbyists made any mention of British researchers’ warnings that children should avoid using cell phones because of the risk of brain tumors from long-term exposure to radio frequency emissions.

Here are the safety tips from the CPSC and the cell phone industry’s lobbying arm:

1. Do not use incompatible cell phone batteries and chargers. Some Web sites and second-hand dealers, not associated with reputable manufacturers and carriers, might be selling incompatible or even counterfeit batteries and chargers. Consumers should purchase manufacturer or carrier recommended products and accessories. If unsure about whether a replacement battery or charger is compatible, contact the manufacturer of the battery or charger.

2. Do not permit a battery out of the phone to come in contact with metal objects, such as coins, keys or jewelry.

3. Do not crush, puncture or put a high degree of pressure on the battery as this can cause an internal short-circuit, resulting in overheating.

4. Avoid dropping the cell phone. Dropping it, especially on a hard surface, can potentially cause damage to the phone and battery. If you suspect damage to the phone or battery, take it to a service center for inspection.

5. Do not place the phone in areas that may get very hot, such as on or near a cooking surface, cooking appliance, iron, or radiator.

6. Do not get your phone or battery wet. Even though they will dry and appear to operate normally, the circuitry could slowly corrode and pose a safety hazard.

7. Follow battery usage, storage and charging guidelines found in the user�s guide.

CPSC handled three recalls last year — the Kyocera Smartphone, Kyocera Slider, K400 and 3200 Series and Verizon Wireless LG-brand cell phones.

“CPSC has received reports of incidents and injuries involving cell phones batteries and chargers in a variety of environments,” said CPSC Chairman Hal Stratton. “CPSC will continue to do its part by investigating and recalling batteries that present a safety hazard, and we ask that consumers do their part by following some basic safety steps in their day-to-day use of cell phone batteries.”

Credit: Consumer Affairs
First published: May 13, 2005 on Consumeraffairs.com

Speed Up Windows Boot Process

Your Windows box might be running slow for many reasons. Viruses, malwares and other user activities may affect the slowness of your computer

Your computer may be slow because you have inadequate RAM; perhaps your computer’s processor is not fast enough. All things being equal, your computer should not take too long to start-up.

I have done a lot of things in the past to boost the performance of my computer, it works out well, performance is improved but then you realize that, it takes a very long time for windows to start after all you have done.

When you experience this frustration, then this can really work for you. You can also try this out to satisfy your curiosity as well.

The Prefetch Directory

There is a windows directory by name prefetch. This directory stores files that are used to start Windows and other applications. Windows read into the prefetch to cache data that is expected to be requested. As programmes are installed and deleted, some data in prefetch directory become redundant. Some data in the prefetch directory may as well be useless and as data keep piled up, windows keep reading them into cache in the anticipation that they will be used. When it windows keep caching the prefetch directory, it takes longer time for the windows to load, the boot process becomes so slow

When the prefetch directory is empty, you will experience a faster Windows start-up, windows will boot faster with ease. You need to have an administrative privilege to empty the directory.

Method 1

Click on run from the start command and type prefetch. Now the prefetch window displays, delete the entire content of the folder.

Method 2

If you are very comfortable in working in the registry, you can also edit the registry keys.

Within the registry, you can set prefetch to function in several different ways. Prefetch can cache applications, boot up files, both, or you can disable it completely.

Click start, then click run

Type regedit

In the registry editor console, follow these steps

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters\EnablePrefetcher

To improve boot speed, set the following value in the registry to a value of 2.

Now, restart the computer and see access the boot performance