I have formatted my Dell laptop many times. Does frequent formatting hamper a laptop’s performance? I am also facing some battery problems. Originally my laptop had a four cell battery. I have been using a 9-cell battery in 3543 Dell laptop and there seems to be some problem with it. What can I do to increase the length of the battery back up? — Subash Pandey

Hi Subash,

Formatting your computer multiple times should not hamper your computer’s performance negatively. Software, like your OS, does not hamper your hardware that much and having a fresh version of Windows always yields better performance. Over time, your operating system collects a lot of junk and a lot of malicious software; to counteract this, regular formatting and reinstallation of Windows should work in your favour. The only downside to frequent formatting would be that you lose all of your applications and settings along with the files inside your personal profile folder but with recent Windows versions; Microsoft seems to have addressed this

problem quite well.

In regards to battery, many laptops do come with support for higher celled batteries. Your Dell Inspiron 15 also seems to have a lot of options when it comes to higher-celled batteries. But keep in mind that your ability to upgrade your battery comes from your manufacturer, and it basically comes down to whether your model supports it or not. The most effective way to look for a higher capacity battery would be to look for your battery model and perform a quick Google search accompanied by your battery model. This will filter your search to the ones that your laptop can equip. There are other ways to conserve your battery life too. Primarily, you want to install the Power Management tool that your manufacturer provides, this helps to properly manage your power usage and also controls your battery better. Select the highest battery life option on your power options and that’s about it. Windows PCs offer little control over how your computer behaves automatically so there is little you can manually do to lengthen your battery life. One other option would be to set your Wi-Fi card to a lower power-usage—this can be done from your Wi-Fi card’s properties menu.

Whenever I turn my desktop PC on, the monitor gives me a No Signal message. I have tried to solve the problem by cleaning the RAM and the VGA Slot and the cable as well, but I still can’t manage to operate my PC. —Kshitij

Hi Kshitij,

Computers that don’t provide a visual output can be one of the most frustrating problems to face because it severely limits your ability to troubleshoot the problem. No visual output is, most often, hardware related and if you’re facing this problem, you might have to replace certain components of your computer. If your computer boots up to your Windows boot animation and then stops giving you a visual output after boot, then it’s a problem relating to the software side of your computer. But if you get no signal on your monitor from the beginning, then it most definitely is a hardware problem.

This problem is also very difficult to pin-point because many hardware failure problems result in no visual output. It could be a faulty hard disk, it could be a blown out VGA port or it could be a problem with your RAM. One way to figure this out would be to listen to the beeps your motherboard makes when it tries to boot up. Almost all motherboards provide an audio notification when it’s not working properly and these notifications come in the form of sequential beeps. Listen to the number of beeps your motherboard makes when it tries to boot up and perform a quick Google search with your motherboard model number to figure out what part of your system has suffered a failure. But the bad news is, you will have to take your computer to a hardware professional to get it fixed or you might have to replace certain parts to get it to work again. If you have additional system components lying around from older computers, try replacing certain parts of your system and conduct a hit-and-trial method to identify the faulty component.

I recently saw a portable solar smartphone charger while roaming around the market. I use my smartphone extensively and I run out of battery when I need it the most. I need something like that but when I inquired about the product, I came to know that it was made in China. Is it any good to buy it? —rijan6825

Hi Rijan,

My first advice to you would be to not judge a product based on the fact that they’re made in China. China has come a long way since the time of shoddy iPhone rip-offs and shoddy build and product design. Many Chinese manufacturers like OnePlus, Huawei and Xiaomi have become quite the competitors in the smartphone market. While it is true that a lot of Chinese gadgets still suffer from poor build quality, they are many good ones out there too. So if you’re looking forward to buying the solar smartphone charger, my advice would be to make a judgment call. You might be surprised by how well it works or might be disappointed by that fact that it fell apart just after a few weeks of usage.

Also, if you’re suffering from battery life issues, my advice would be to go for a simple battery backup device instead. There are really good battery backup devices like the one for the Mi devices which is quite affordable as well.

If you have problems with any of your technological devices or just want to ask a question in general that you’re curious about, feel free to send your questions along with your full names at [email protected]