Can PCs give harmful radiation?

Max,

I would be VERY surprised if your PC, or it's monitor were the cause, in terms of emissions, anyway.

Far more likely is a posture / ergonomics issue.

For more information on Exposure to Static and Time-varying electromagnetic fields, the National Radiological Protection Board issues guidelines in the UK: -

http://www.nrpb.org/radiation_topics/emf/index.htm

There is no specific legislation limiting exposure to non-ionizing electromagnetic fields in the UK, but there is enabling legislation in the form of Acts of Parliament affecting Health and Safety. Such legislation includes the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

The above safety legislation is general in its scope in that it does not explicitly mention EMF’s, however inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive accept compliance with the NRPB guidelines as evidence that exposure to EMF’s has been adequately controlled, see HSE link below for more information: -

http://www.hse.gov.uk/radiation/index.htm

Unless it was wildly faulty, it would be hard for any item like a monitor to produce field strengths of any significance, in my view. All modern units comply with the necessary regulations. The PC even less so, since it will be effectively shielded.

Andy.

Exposure to this site for six hours at a time could certainly be harmful to your health, and a numb face the least of your problems.

Seriously though, how about the hypothesis of flickering light causing a migrainous reaction? You wouldn't need to have headache, but it would be likely.

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Seriously though, how about the hypothesis of flickering light causing a migrainous reaction? You wouldn't need to have headache, but it would be likely.

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Good point - what is the PC screen refresh rate set to?

In XP, right click the desktop, click properties, the settings tab, then the advanced button.

Click the monitor tab and make sure the Screen refresh rate is set to either 72, 75 or 85Hz, if supported.

DON'T set it higher, there's evidence that a higher refresh rate than this can make things worse.

Andy.

Also get your eyesight checked - if your glasses are not correct it could cause you to look at the screen with the head tilted badly - if you use varifocal lenses you probably do not have a adequate view area for the screen viewing distance which is different from normal reading distance.

Derek

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From experience gained from many years working in I.T. I would suggest....

1. (If not already running at) Increase the screen refresh rate to 85.

2. Decrease the brightness and contrast....do you really need screen images to be "burned" into your eyes and brain ?

3. Relax your face,eyes and body whilst using your pc.

This may sound daft,but out of the amount of time you spend on your pc,how much time do you spend with an intense frown of concentration ? ( I can virtually guarentee that this will amount to FAR more time than you expect).
-People also have a bad habit of tensing up whilst using a pc .....part of bad posture

4. Try and get the environment & ergonomics both comfortable and correct. Besides temperature,lighting and humidity etc,also do what you can to attain correct posture.

I am sure that there are many other variables,but you need to make a start somewhere.

Regards

Chris

Thanks for the ideas so far.

I thought playing with the refresh rate seemed pretty straightforward nice easy to follow instructions so Ihave had a look at that. But having changed the refresh rate (it was set at 60) all the icons at the bottom of the screen have all but disappeared. So, how do I get my icons back?

Also, whilst I am happy to explore all of my personal bad habits, frowning, posture and the like I can't see that these will have changed with the arrival of a new computer.


Cheers

Max

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But having changed the refresh rate (it was set at 60) all the icons at the bottom of the screen have all but disappeared. So, how do I get my icons back

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Eh! Wierd

I suspect the new refresh rate has messed up the screen sizing - use the monitor's on-screen display to re-size the picture to fit.

If not, I haven't a clue, maybe the faster refresh is too quick for the eye

It's frustrating how the simple things with PC's become so hard sometimes!

Andy.

60 Hz!?!?! No blooming wander you're not feeling well... I can see flicker up to 85 Hz on a good day, but 60 is EVIL!

As said, your monitor's probably now overscaning due to the difference in refresh rate; use the centring/size options on the monitor's menu to fix.

My ancient Athlon 750 has sounded like a badly maintained tractor since day 1, so noisy computers are not alien to me. Very annoying though - how much noise does a fan need to make for crying out loud?

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