You've got, what, one DVD drive on the front of your computer? You have so many empty drive bays—how embarrassing! Here are a few awesome (and absurd) things you can put in those bays to add extra features to your computer.

The Useful Options

Whether you've built your own computer or you've bought one, you should be able to open those 5.25" and 3.5" drive bays right up and stick something in there. If you don't have any need for 3 DVD drives, though, there are a slew of other really useful accessories made to fit in there. Our five favorites include:

A Fan Controller and/or Temperature Monitor

I don't know about you, but my desktop is loud. It sounds like a wind tunnel in my office, all the time. We've talked about how to control your computer's fan speeds before, and if you have more than a few fans, software options won't cut it—you need some knobs you can turn down when you want your PC to stay quiet. Luckily, most external fan controllers are built to fit right into those 5.25" drive bays. You can get something simple like this four-knob controller from Scythe, this slider-based controller if knobs aren't your thing, or even one with a fancy LCD screen. These are especially cool because they can not only monitor and show you the temperature of your computer on the screen, but even adjust your fan speeds accordingly.

A Drawer for All Your Odds and Ends

Your desk may have a lot of drawers, but some of your more important accessories—flash drives, USB cables, and the like—probably get lost in all the chaos. If that sounds like you, consider getting a 5.25" drawer like this one from Cosmos that fits right into your front drive bay. It may not be as flashy as some of the other items on this list, but it's practical as heck, and almost certainly better than leaving the bay unused. You could even rip out the plastic sleeves from a cheap CD case and keep all your installation discs and other CDs in there, if you can't think of what to do with it.

An SD Card Reader and/or Super Fast USB 3.0

Most laptops these days come with SD card readers, but few pre-built desktops—and even fewer custom-built desktops—are lucky enough to have them built-in. And, if you take a lot of photos, you know how annoying this can be. You can add a simple SD card reader like this one to your machine for cheap, or, for a bit more money, grab one with built-in audio jacks, two fan controlling knobs, and extra USB ports for the front of your computer. What's especially cool is that many of these have USB 3.0 on them, which is great if your case doesn't have USB 3.0 ports in the front. As long as your motherboard has a USB 3.0 expansion socket, you can get those blue ports on the front of your machine and enjoy blazing fast USB speeds. Or, if you're still using USB 2.0 devices, at least enjoy a bit of increased reliability.

A Hot Swap Drive Bay for Extra Hard Drives

A hot swap bay, like this one from Silverstone or this one from Thermaltake, puts a tiny door on the front of your case in which you can slide in a bare hard drive and connect it to your computer. Need to clone your drive, but don't want to open up your entire machine to hook up a new hard drive? Throw it in the hot swap bay. Troubleshooting a friend's hard drive for problems, but can't use their computer? Throw it in your hot swap bay. As soon as you slide it in, it'll show up on your computer just like an external drive would, and you can work with it immediately—no need to rummage through your computer's innards or find an external drive enclosure. It's not something everyone needs, but it's easy to figure out whether you do. If you've opened up your computer in the past 3 months for some mundane hard-drive based task...this will change your life.

A Volume Knob and Remote Control Sensor

If you don't have your own dedicated home theater PC, you can still get in on some of the fun with a multimedia station for your desktop computer, like this one from Antec. It adds a volume knob to the front of your computer, as well as lets you control your music or videos from across the room with the included remote control. Whether you're kicking back in your office chair for a bit of TV watching or you're listening to music from across the room, it's the perfect upgrade for media lovers sick of using a keyboard and mouse for everything.

These aren't the only useful options for those drive bays, of course. We stumbled upon some other cool things like hard drive fans (perfect if your case is a little low on cooling) or adapter brackets for mounting more internal hard drives. Heck, one Redditor even silenced a really loud drive by mounting it in a 5.25" bay with rubber bands (which is super clever, but I'm not sure I'd want to risk the rubber bands breaking). If you're still looking for useful ideas, browse around computer stores like Newegg, or check out this handy page at FrozenCPU. There are a lot of inexpensive, useful upgrades you can make with those empty drive bays.

The Ridiculous Options

In my research for the above upgrades, I found a lot of weird, unsafe, and just plain absurd things designed to fill the drive bays on a desktop PC. I couldn't leave without including them, so here they are, for your viewing pleasure. Thankfully, these are all out of stock (or, in one case, a joke product), so even if you think its a good idea, you'll be forced to forego them in favor of something a bit more useful.

A Cup Holder Plus Cigarette Lighter

I don't know who thought this was a good idea, but once upon a time, apparently you could buy a 5.25" bay with not only a cupholder, but a cigarette lighter in tow—and all for the low price of $5.95. Thankfully, it's been discontinued, so you aren't tempted by the convenience of such an absurd (and kind of dangerous product).

I'm sure you could DIY the cupholder portion together, but...why would you? Keep that liquid away from your machine! If you're really keen on the idea, though, you could always grab a USB mini fridge instead. It's safer, and even more ridiculous than a cupholder. Jackpot!

A Tiny, Second Monitor

Okay, so this one isn't quite as ridiculous as the others—I could see it being kind of cool—but it's still hard to look at without laughing. Apparently, Thermaltake used to make a 7-inch LCD screen that would mount right on the front of your computer. I imagine it could be useful for keeping an eye on BitTorrent downloads or having a little terminal window open at all times, but at 7 inches, you're probably not saving a ton of space on your regular monitor—and at $100, you might as well just buy a second, full-size monitor instead.

All that said, if you like the idea, a pretty big modding community has popped up creating DIY versions of this for different computer cases, using the screen from the mobile PSOne. Here's one of the better how-tos if you want to see what it entails. It's pretty intense, but the final result looks pretty good for a DIY project. But again—you're probably better off just buying a second monitor, unless your office is seriously cramped for space.

A Toaster (or an Easy Bake Oven)

The final, and easily most ridiculous thing I came across when researching these accessories, was a toaster that fits in a 5.25" drive bay and pops toast out sideways...that came with software that let you tweak the toasting time and heat levels. After lots of skepticism, I discovered that it was, in fact, just an April Fool's prank from CrazyPC.com. And thank God, because this sounds like the fastest way to destroy your PC's innards I've ever heard of (not to mention get some weird-tasting toast. ThinkGeek had a similar prank with a 5.25" Easy Bake Oven, for the gullible folks that preferred sweets to toast.

So there you have it. If the front of your computer's looking a little bare and boring, you might get a lot of use from these handy accessories. And, if not, at least you got to envision the idea of making toast underneath your optical drive. Have any other great (or absurd) ideas for your computer's external drive bays? Let us know what you're using them for in the comments.

Dear Lifehacker,
My laptop is hotter than the surface of the sun. No, seriously. It's a tad old, but I'm not ready to get rid of it yet. Unfortunately I can't use it without feeling like it's going solar on me. Is this something I should be worried about, and how can I fix it?

Sincerely,
Combusting Computer

Dear Combusting,
Ah, the classic, too-hot-for-your-lap laptop. It's something almost every laptop owner has experienced at one time or another. When you cram that many computer parts into such a small space, without a lot of room for airflow, things are going to get hot. Couple that with a heat-conducting case—like the aluminum one on modern MacBooks—and you've got a computer you could probably cook an egg on. (Well, maybe not.) It doesn't necessarily mean your computer is having problems, but either way, there are a few things you can do about it.

Determine Whether Your Computer Is Overheating or Just Hot

Laptops get hot. It's what they do. However, if your laptop is shutting down, suffering from the blue screen of death, or experiencing serious slowdowns, then you have a much bigger problem on your hands. In this case, you should probably take it in and get it repaired, if possible.

Macs have a built-in failsafe for heat problems; they'll turn off before they reach unsafe temperatures. So it's pretty easy to tell when your computer is actually overheating, because it'll shut down unexpectedly. Windows computers don't always have this, but you can install something like the Core Temp CPU monitor to get it. Check your laptop's manual for safe temperature limits, subtract about 10° C, then plug that value into Core Temp under Options > Overheat Protection. You can set your computer to give you a popup message or go to sleep if it ever reaches unsafe temperatures. If it doesn't ever notify you, it probably isn't overheating, and your problem is merely a matter of comfort.

How to Keep Your Laptop Cool

Even if your computer isn't reaching overheating temperatures, it can be hot to the touch, which isn't always ideal. Here are a few things you can do to keep things running cooler.

Check (and Clean) Your Fans

When you feel your computer getting hot, put your hand next to the computer's fan vents. If you feel hot air blowing out of them, then your fan is working, but if you only feel a little bit of air, it could be your fan is built up with dust or is otherwise not working. If you're comfortable opening up your computer, you can unscrew the case, find the fan, and blow it out with some compressed air (or replace it, if it's just broken completely).

Keep It Out of Hot Weather

As summer approaches, remember that direct sunlight and hot ambient temperatures will help contribute to your laptop's heat. Even if your computer doesn't regularly overheat, summer temperatures above 95° Fahrenheit are likely to cause problems, from damaging your battery to making your hard drive expand and more. When possible, keep it in the shade and out of the sweltering heat.

Use a Lap Desk

Your laptop is designed to sit on a flat surface. Those little rubber feet on the bottom are supposed to lift it off the ground just enough to get a bit of airflow underneath the computer, and when you put your laptop on your lap, you restrict that airflow, transferring all that heat to your legs instead (ouch). sitting Indian style can help, but a much better solution is to get a lap desk. They don't need to be expensive; we've shared a ton of DIY options here before, and they'll not only keep your computer cool, but they'll keep your legs from getting burned, too. And, with all that airflow, it might keep your fans from running at full speed, keeping everything a bit quieter.

Control Your Fan Speeds

While the above should be sufficient, you can take slightly more intense measures to cool your machine off, if desired. A great way to keep everything cool is to install a program like SpeedFan (for Windows) or smcFanControl (for OS X). You can read more about fine-tuning your fan control in this how-to. Just know that it isn't necessary to keep your computer safe, but is good if you'd rather keep your computer loud and cool rather than quiet and hot to the touch.

Keep an Eye on Intense Processes

Lastly, you can keep your computer cool by keeping those CPU-intense processes to a minimum. Whenever you load up a web site with Flash, for instance, your CPU is going to start working harder, getting hotter, and running your fans more. You can mediate this by using previously mentioned FlashBlock in your browser, so you only turn on Flash videos when you actually want them. Computer games and video encoding programs like Handbrake require a lot of juice from your CPU, so it's best to use these on a desktop machine (if you have one) or maybe at night, when you aren't as worried about touching your laptop case.

Also, keep an eye out for runaway processes. If your fans start to spin up loudly and there isn't an obvious reason why, open up the task manager to see if something else might be hogging your CPU. On a Windows machine, you can do this by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc, and if you're on a Mac, open up Activity Monitor under /Applications/Utilities. Check the Processes tab and see if anything is using your CPU—usually, anything in the double digits is probably your culprit.

Hopefully this helps you get your laptop to a more comfortable temperature, but remember: if it isn't shutting down or causing problems, the main problem is probably that you're using your laptop on your lap, which you shouldn't be doing. These tips will help you cool it down when you need to, but the most important thing is to keep it away from your body, even if you have a layer of clothes in between you and the computer. Good luck!

Sincerely,
Lifehacker

P.S. Got any other laptop tips or overheating experiences to share? Let us know in the comments.

Have a question or suggestion for Ask Lifehacker? Send it to tips+asklh@lifehacker.com.

Title image remixed from Kurhan (Shutterstock).

If your computer's running a little loud for your tastes, it's probably because your fans are running at full speed—even if they don't need to be. Here are a few ways to manage your fan's speed so they're keeping your computer cool when they're necessary and silent when they're not.

We've talked about how to quiet an especially noisy fan before, but focused on computers running too hot or not clean enough. If you've built your own computer, chances are your fan speeds aren't being regulated, and they're just running at full speed all the time. This makes for a very cool computer, but it can be annoyingly loud, especially if you don't need those fans running. There are a lot of ways to regulate those fans, many of which are completely free. Here's how to set them up.

Method One: Install Fan-Controlling Software

The most ideal way to control your fans is with something like previously mentioned SpeedFan (or, if you're on a Mac, previously mentioned smcFanControl). These will give you the most control over your fans, letting you choose how fast they're running at any given time. SpeedFan can even monitor your computer's temperatures and adjust the fans accordingly. And, if you head to SpeedFan's configuration, you can even tell it your desired temperature and have it adjust your fans automatically based on that. Just be conservative, since your motherboard's temperature values aren't always accurate to the degree.

The one downside with SpeedFan is that it isn't compatible with every computer out there. You can check out their Support page to see if it'll work with your machine, or just try it out yourself. If it doesn't work, you can skip to the next method and see if there are options in your BIOS instead. SpeedFan also requires that your fans be plugged into the 3- or 4-pin headers on your motherboard, not the large, 4-pin Molex connectors. If you only have Molex connectors available, you'll need to skip to method three. And lastly, it won't control all the fans in your machine—just the ones for which your motherboard supports fan control. If you want to control all your fans, you'll need to resort to method three below.

Method Two: Tweak Your BIOS Settings

Many motherboards have fan control built-in to the BIOS settings these days, though they don't always give you as much control as something like SpeedFan does. But, if your computer isn't supported by SpeedFan, this is a good plan B. Open up your motherboard's BIOS settings (usually by holding a key like Delete when you boot your computer), and search for the fan settings. They're called all sorts of different things (for example, Asus has "Q-Fan Control", while Gigabyte has "Smart Fan Control"), but generally you should be able to find it under one of the BIOS menus. Enable this feature, and tweak any settings it gives you to your liking. Some machines may only let you set it to conservative or liberal mode, while others will let you individually set temperature thresholds like SpeedFan.

It'll also offer you a choice between two regulation methods: voltage and PWM. The voltage mode adjusts the voltage of the fan, while PWM mode sends calculated voltage pulses to the fan to make it run a bit slower. For the most part, this depends on how your fans are plugged into the motherboard. Fans connected with a 4-pin connector should use PWM, while fans connected with a 3-pin connector should use voltage. Voltage is slightly less efficient, and you can't get speeds quite as low as with PWM, but PWM can be finicky sometimes too. If you find PWM is giving you problems, you can always switch to voltage. And, if you can't connect your fans to the headers on your motherboard (that is, if you're using the large, 4-pin Molex connectors), you'll need to use method 3 below. Again, your motherboard will only support this kind of fan control for a few fans, too (usually your CPU fan and a system fan). If you want to control them all, check out method three below.

Method Three: Buy an External Fan Controller

While the above methods are great for automatic fan control, they aren't always available on every motherboard—and they'll usually only control one or two fans in your rig. If you want control over everything, you can install an inexpensive fan controller like one of these from Newegg. It fits in one of your computer's drive bays, and gives you a number of knobs that let you manually control the speed of each of your fans. It won't monitor temperatures for you, so you'll have to keep an eye on them with something like RealTemp or Rainmeter—but it will give you full control over every fan in your machine.

Photo remixed from originals by Gavin Loynes and maxstockphoto/Shutterstock.

None of these solutions is absolutely perfect, but hopefully with a bit of tinkering you can get more control over how fast (and loud) your fans run. Got any of your own tips for fan control in your machine? Let us know in the comments.

Dear Lifehacker,
My laptop fan is super loud, and I can't seem to get it to quiet down. It's all BRRRRRRRRRR the whole day, and I'm like FUUUUUUUUUUUU and slap it BAAAAAM and it won't quit making noise. Help!

Sincerely,
A Deaf-By-Laptop-Fan Reader

Photo by Jon Ross.

Dear Deaf,
First things first: I'd probably stop hitting your laptop because that isn't going to help. Unless you're The Fonz.

There are a number of reasons your computer's fan could be noisy, but most of them boil down to "it's just too hot in there". Here are a few things you can try to get it running a bit cooler and quieter.

Check Your Processes

Your CPU fan will start blowing like mad if you're running CPU-intensive processes, like games or video conversions. If you aren't doing one of these things, you'll definitely want to see if another process is eating up your CPU for no reason.

Hit Ctrl+Shift+Esc to bring up the Task Manager (or, if you're on a Mac, open up Activity Monitor under /Applications/Utilities). Check the processes tab to see if anything's taking up an abnormally large precent of your CPU's power—usually, if something's out of control, it'll be up close to 100. (Note that the System Idle Process is allowed to be that high—most other programs are suspicious, though). If everything's relatively low (single-digits or maybe the tens), then it isn't your CPU going out of control, it's the fan itself.

There's also a chance it's your video card's fan that's going out of control, in which case you might want to update your drivers. It's usually a long shot, but it's worth a try.

Cool Down Your Computer

There's a good chance that your computer's just too darn hot, for one reason or another. Perhaps your computer tower is stashed inside a small cupboard with little airflow, or you're using your laptop on your lap and not letting enough heat escape. This will cause your computer to overheat, even if it isn't taxing itself, and it'll spin your fans like crazy.

If you're on a desktop, make sure you have adequate airflow in and around your computer tower. If it's in a little cupboard, move it outside the desk for awhile and see if that helps. If you're on a laptop, try using one of the many DIY laptop stands we've featured (or even a DIY laptop cooler) to cool it down—that may quiet those noisy fans.

Also, as summer approaches, make sure you aren't keeping your laptop out in the sun for too long. Your laptop has heat limits, and the closer you get to them, the more likely it is to malfunction and go crazy with its fans.

Clean Your Fans

If none of that is helping, you're going to have to open up your computer and dig around. You'll definitely want to clear all the dust out of your machine, since this can cause overheating which could make your fans blow loudly. And, if your fans are really dusty, they could get especially noisy too. We've talked about how to do some of this before (and even shown you in video form)—all you need is some compressed air and some oil.

You'll also want to try lubricating your fans. TechRepublic has a great, picture-filled guide for doing this. This should help get your fan running faster and quieter. Simple Help also has a good guide for lubing up GPU fans, which can sometimes be a bit more difficult.

If all else fails, you may need to replace the fan entirely. You can usually buy fans at electronics stores like Micro Center, Fry's or even Best Buy (though you might need to get laptop fans through the laptop manufacturer, depending).

It's worth noting that, while there are a lot of tools out there like Speedfan and smcFanControl that you can use to manually slow your fans down, I wouldn't recommend using them. They're generally for advanced users only, and if your fan is running loud, there's probably a reason—usually that it's too hot in there. If you slow it down without cooling off your computer, it could overheat. That said, these tools could be useful for figuring out which fan is making all the noise, but other than that, I wouldn't recommend using them until you've actually fixed the problem.

Hopefully this gives you a bit of direction into fixing your problem. If you guys have any other suggestions, be sure to share them with us in the comments!

Sincerely,

Lifehacker