actually it may very well indeed affect the fan (most likely the cpu heatsink)...if LW is hashing a lot of files or eating a lot of cpu % then that will heat the cpu and thereby speed up the fan if quiet technology is being used on the machine (that being that the fan speed is set to variable dependent upon the cooling required as pertains to the temp of the cpu)...

as ukbobboy01 noted if its noisy then your fan is most likely on the way out...fan bearing can sometimes be lubricated but its probably a better bet just to replace it...if it is a cpu fan then it is probably integral to the heatsink and the whole thing will have to be replaced which will be a challenge if you are not familiar with the routine...

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So Long and Thanks for All the Files
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Many Thanks to ukbobboy01 and peerless...

I would tend to agree with you but as soon as I close LW, it does not happen again. So it makes me think that the fan speed is directly related to LW running or not.

Again, it only happens when LW is running in the background AND when the screensaver is active. Otherwise, under normal circumstances AND even with LW running, if I am actively using the computer, the CPU temperature is fine (I tested it with a program called speedfan) and I hear no fan noise.

Very strange....