Being the kid I am, I believe every little thing said and so awhile ago, I opened my computer and cleaned it. Its usually helped performance or at least made me think that it helped. But one curious day I decided to remove the heat sink, check the CPU, wiped off the grease etc. etc. For a month or so its been working fine until recently. My computer now barely gets past the BIOS boot screen and sometimes it makes it all the way into the internet and hangs. I scower the internet and read hundreds of articles about Thermal Grease/Paste/Compound etc. etc. etc. My CPU is a Pentium 4 LGA 775 2.66GHZ and any other info is lost to me. But last I checked on PC wiz my CPU was running at 38C before it crashed and the BIOS said 46C and my Fan was running as 2638. So, what exactly is the causes of all of this? Would the lack of Thermal 'whatevers' cause my boot crashes? If I were to reapply this Thermal stuff, would I use a think full cover layer or a 'rice-grain method'? Is it all a hype? Does my problem root from something else I might've screw up? (Surely, its not a virus, I've used others' harddrives which were clean) How do I fix this before my parents kill me?

Did you think the thermal grease you cleaned off got there by accident? Of course you need thermal grease. It bridges the small gaps that are present between the surfaces and transfers the heat to the HSink. You can buy thermal paste at most any computer shop or Radio Shack. Below is one link on how to apply. http://reviews.ebay.com/Thermal-Pas...

So... Its mostly to do with the thermal grease?

Your temps will definatly be higher without paste properly applied.

You need the thermal grease, but just a smidgen. The rice grain is about right but I probably use about a half a grain or less. Too much is worse then too little.

Due to variations in Thermal Paste ie.. Different Products, I would follow the Manufacturers reccomendations. Be sure to take notice that the instructions fit your CPU type. Manufacturer's instructions vary from Processor to Processor. Includes removing old Paste. Since this is new to you, I would look around the CPU area for any Stray clupms of the Paste you previously removed. Use a strong light for this. In my opinion, a single method for any/all processors, stands a good 50/50 chance of being the wrong method. There is nothing to learn from someone who already agrees with you.

I posted a link above that covers all the various processors.