Neutron2K's Computing Tutorials

Guide to Computer Cleaning

Keeping your computer clean, especially from dust is an absolute must in order to keep it running at is maximum efficiency. Dust in a computer can cause major problems ranging from bearings on your fans becoming worn out (and emitting a loud moaning noise!), to static discharge corrupting your computers memory, (and not just the RAM either!). This small guide is here to provide you with some pointers for cleaning your computers interior and exterior to keep it running well!

First things First: Safety

Cleaning the inside of your computer can be a daunting task and very worrying even for the most experienced of computer users. The potential to damage somthing is very high, especially with static discharge as a potentially fatal factor for your computers memory. However, it need not be as scary as many people think it is.

The first thing to do when opening your computer, is make sure that the power supply unit on the base unit is switched OFF and that the power lead is still connected to the wall in order to earth the unit.

Second of all, you should earth yourself by touching a bare metal part of the computer for at least 30 seconds to discharge any static you are carrying, and you should remain in contact with this metal surface the entire time you are working inside the computer. An alternative to this comes in the form of an anti-static wrist strap that connects at one end to a bare metal surface of your computer to discharge you when you come into contact with any static.

Do not use these wrist straps for any other purpose except for working inside your computer when the power is OFF. These devices can lead to death by electrocution if the item you have it connected to comes into contact with an electricity source as the current will be directed directly into you.

With the computer though you should be safe providing the power is switched off and the power lead is still connected to the computer and the wall to earth any electricial discharge.

Air Dusters

One of the greatest weapons you can have in your fight against dust in a computer - a can of compressed air. These air canisters are cheap and do a great job of blowing dust off of delicate items such as your computers memory chips. They can be used inside and outside of your computer, or anything else you need to clean for that matter!

One really great use of these air cans is that of cleaning dust off of your computers various fan blades. Fan blades tend to hold a lot of dust due to their shape and the fact that they suck dust into themselves from both outside and inside your computers chassis, and getting your fans spotless is a time consuming job. With one of these though, you can get rid of 80% of the dust on your fans from just a small blast of air!

Keeping your fans clean is one of the most vital things to do with a computer if it is based in a dust generative room. Dust will weight down and unbalance the fans blades and this will cause additional ware on the fans bearings. Eventually the fan will start to emit a very loud and irritating moaning noise and by that time, its too late to do anything about it except buy a replacement fan (their only cheap though!).

Air dusters are also great for getting dust and other small bits of lint out of your keyboards keys! careful though because keyboards collect a lot more dust than is visible on the outside and spraying one of these in between the keys will usually raise a cloud of junk from under them.

Dust Covers

Obviously the best way to keep your computer dust free is to purchase a set of dust covers for your computer. These covers are design to fit most computers and monitors of various sizes and will keep you computers exterior clean from most dust. However they are admittedly quite unsightly and are also a pain to keep putting on and off if you use your computer a lot. They are handy though for when you go away on holiday or somthing as thats when dust tends to settle the most on electrical equipment due to the electrical char held in the computer and the static on a computer screen etc.

Vacum Cleaners

You should NEVER use a standard vaccum cleaner to clean the inside of your PC. A hoover nozzle can hold a vast amount of static electricity and this can quite easily kill your computers equipment, especially static sensitive hardware such as memory. You can buy a small hand held pc hoover from your local computer reailers and these are quite cheap and are powered usually by AA batteries. Very handy!

More Cleaning Information Coming Soon!