Posted by evie15422 on
URL: https://www.es-forum.com/Who-can-shield-a-laptop-really-really-well-tp1548943p1548973.html

Hi again, Rticle,
 
When I first called in, I talked with a techie who sent me to a hardware specialist who he said specialized in this type of problem.  When I got thenew guy I asked if he was at all familiar with my es problem and to my surprise he said that he helped a number of people in the past with it and that he was seeing the problem come up more frequently.  (He said at the time he was getting about one person/month with es from their computer.)  I did take it that he was THE ONLY tech specializing in this, as I could not call anyone else within Dell but him.  But still, I was ecstatic!  (1es person/month, 3 years ago, world-wide for Dell was still probably a fairly small occurrence, but I was impressed!)
 
Well, the very first changes made were hardware changes.  First we went into "My Computer" and opened the device manager and shut off devices and then removed the battery, a wifi card, and a broadband card. (The summarized version)  The long version: we disabled the card devices--modems,network adaptors (except for broadcom 440x10/100), the battery devices, and then I removed the battery because I was having problems with it--I use my computer plugged to a/c but that is probably not something which you need to do--I have battery draining powers.  ;)  Long story, but mainly what you need to know is when the battery is charging, it caused me great problems es-wise.  The tech said he knew that sometimes the cards reverberate off of the battery.  Understand this was something we did before removing the cards because I was reacting so badly.  I could have introduced the battery afterwards but just didn't because the battery didn't stay charged
long enough for me personally and I reacted to it charging worse than having the computer plugged in itself.)  
 
The tech also walked me thru a checklist of changes in the hardware profiles (which I couldn't remember today--this was nearly 3 years ago and the likelihood of the changes being the same today as then is probably not good either).  We went into the bios and made changes there--again, I wouldn't want to tell you what we did there, as it could mess up your computer if I was wrong.  You would want a techie to help you with that.
 
After this, I called back to the software department and the techs helped me figure out which programs I needed or could do without.  We went systematically over every program--including component parts of programs.  We striped as much as possible from the start up menu (down and uploading causes the hard-drive to work harder and that affects my es; loading programs isthe same).  We put as many programs as possible into the "programs list", put items I used more often as "desktop icons" which I could access easily if needed, and set settings so that I was as much in control of everything as possible....  When I received the computer it had automatic download of everything!  Google kept popping up and downloading crap I didn'teven want to know, etc....  I hated the new format for Explorer 7 and sothey fixed it so it would not automatically download when I shut down my computer. (We had to remove it about 6 times before it worked.  There was
also a glitch in Explorer 7 at the time I got my computer.  The Dell techs hated Explorer 7 as much as I did and so they were glad to help me keep Explorer 6!)  They looked at utilities that were not 100% necessary and removed some of them.  They set up updates so that I manually had to download them, but there are some Windows updates that could not be totally manually controlled--they auto load if you do not load them manually within a month.  (But even then, I can postpone loading them by checking a box thatpops up, if I am busy on the computer.)  Most of these were individual preference type of changes made mostly in the "control panel".  There was a Dell systems checker they disabled and put in my "programs file"--I can run it if I want but I never have.  I went into display and played with the resolution to see which setting worked best for me. 
 
Also, afterwards, they told me to play with the outlets I had things plugged into--it did make a difference.  The phone, computer, and dsl box were all on the same outlet initially--bad, apparently.  When I was able to move the computer to a room where I could set up the phone, puter, and dsl box all on separate outlets, I got less emfs.  They told me it works best to have these all 6 to 8 feet apart and not near other electronics like the tv.  That is how I have my computer now.  Also, someone here at this forum--Stewart, I think--told me to try the plug in different directions to see if that made any difference, and that did!  It made a huge difference and I was plugging the plug in upside-down almost every time (laptops are polarized but not with a polarized plug, so I put a paint dot on the top of the plug so I could tell which direction to put it more easily). 
 
There was not much outgassing at all with my Dell.  (The most outgassing was actually with the battery I removed and the cds, etc, that came with the computer; not the laptop itself.) 
 
And as for what I told the Dell techs....  I just told them I got ill from certain emfs.  They asked what my symptoms were and what types of things I reacted to and I told them.  I also told them that I get (got) very confused after having the computer on awhile.  They began to recognise this symptom in me themselves and would ask if I could go on or needed to quitfor awhile.  They told me how to call back later and get the person I was talking to and I'd hang up till I felt I could go on--somedays at firstI needed a couple days to recover.  I sometimes just left the room andlet them take over remotely--they couldn't always do this, however, as they needed to ask me questions. 
 
Oh, something else--they had to test periodically to see whether the systems were still ok with the changes made--they ran scans of various sorts.  At one point, I thought we were almost done and a test showed my computer was ready to crash!  The tech said that if it had, it was the kind of crash that would have likely ruined the hard-drive.  So at that point, everything had to be put back to square one and done over.  He literally deleted the entire operating system and I had to re-download it.  We lost about2 weeks due to that.  
 
After this, I still had some problems, but I tried an optical (infra-red) mouse for several days.  I reacted terribly to it at the time, but oddly, after I returned the mouse to the store, I never reacted as bad to my computer again, until I detoxed too quickly in January of this year.  (I am now better again, tho.)
 
Sorry I cannot give you more in depth info--the program info depends on what is loaded on your computer, too.  You access the start menu from the "control panel"and go to "task menu/start menu".  You can there control what starts up when you turn on your computer.
 
Hope this helps,
Diane 

--- On Tue, 4/7/09, rticleone <[hidden email]> wrote:

From: rticleone <[hidden email]>
Subject: [eSens] Re: Who can shield a laptop, really, really well?
To: [hidden email]
Date: Tuesday, April 7, 2009, 7:58 PM








Hey Diane,

Anything at all you can bring up would be great. As far as the techs helping you, what sorts of questions did you phrase to them which helped them decide how your laptop should be configured? Like, "I want this laptop to use the processor less, or emit less magnetic field..."?

Cheers,

R.

--- In eSens@yahoogroups. com, Evie <evie15422@. ..> wrote:
















     

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