Why is my Powerbook G4 getting so hot?

[Greenone]

I don't have a c.d. in or photos up or anything like that...just a few webpages open is all and one word document minimized.

It's sitting on my bed, true, but on the flat sheet and it never used to do this in the same situation. Also, if I leave it open and come back an hour or two later, it's still hot, though slightly cooler (but only slightly).

If there's a pop-up I don't see it. But isn't it possible to get "pop-ups" that aren't really seen (like a bug or whatever; something that bogs down the system)?

Any thoughts? What are the typical reasons besides a heavy duty program running (or whatever the correct terminology would be) or not getting enough space underneath to "breathe?"

Thank you!

 

[eXan]

Are your "few webpages" with Flash?

 

[Greenone]

Are your "few webpages" with Flash?

Uhhh...(embarrassing) I don't know what flash is!

 

[eXan]

Uhhh...(embarrassing) I don't know what flash is!

Flash is the technology wide-used on the internet to animate ads and videos (such as on YouTube).

Flash for Mac OS X is terribly optimized and is causing the CPU to work harder, thus producing more heat and decreasing battery life on laptops.

 

[danedane5]

mine hasnt

Mine hast gotten very hot lately, I'm pretty surprised lol.

 

[iToaster]

Check Activity Monitor and see if anything is using a lot of your CPU.

 

[Greenone]

Check Activity Monitor and see if anything is using a lot of your CPU.

I admit it has cooled significantly since I propped its rear up with a long book. However another thing I forgot to mention is that it takes the address bar forever for a website I've typed in to pop up. Something weird's going on...

Re. your directions, I opened finder and typed in activity monitor which only brought up 3 things with old dates...I don't even know what any of that means. One of them was about bookmarks and when I opened that it just gave a index sort of list, e.g. one of the subject headings in the list was "crock pot recipes" and another was "shopping," etc. If you're able/willing to be more specific about how I go into activity monitor and/or check about the CPU's, please do share!

Meanwhile, I've ordered this from LapWorks (which had excellent reviews all over the internet), which looks much better than the older version I had but lost when out of town:

http://www.laptopdesk.net/laptopdesk_futura.html

Thank you!