Glad to see someone bring sense and logic to this discussion! If you turn the PC surge supressor strip off, you have the PC grounded and now power applied to the PC. EVERY real electronics or PC tech ALWAYS grounds both him or herself and the device on which he or she works on. You can damage a device and not see the results for months which is why many people skip the grounding since they see no immediate result. In 30 years of work on sensitive devices, I've never had one failure, and I always follow the ESD rules.
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General discussion
1/06/06 How to evict those dust bunnies living in your PC
I've had the same desktop for a few years now, and I'm worried about the machine overheating due to dust blocking the fan and getting in the case. I'd like to clean up the inside of my machine, but I afraid I'll damage it. What's the best, safest way to clean up all my PC components? (I've never touched or seen the inside of my machine.) Also, are there any additional precautions I can take to keep my PC from getting so grimy in the future?
Submitted by: Joaquin L.
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Answer:
Joaquin, you have a valid concern, and I commend you for bringing up an often overlooked problem. Too much dust can block the airflow inside a case, and the excessive heat can cause problems with your hard drive or other components. Just as excessive dust poses a risk to your system, attempting to clean the inside of your computer can be equally risky. If you have never opened the case of your computer, you may want to consider taking your computer to your local PC store and ask them to clean it for you. After they clean the inside, you can take some preventive steps at home to help keep the inside clean.
Let's start with the basics. Dust gets into a computer through the vents in the front, side, and back of the case. Often, these vents are carefully placed to maximize air flow through the case. Most cases are designed to pull air in from the front of the case and push air out the back of the case, or perhaps through a side vent. That means some vents
(holes) will be pulling air and dust into the computer, and some vents will be pushing air and dust out.
Therefore, the best preventive step is to keep the room with the computer as clean as possible. The less dust that is in the room, the less dust that will get into the computer. Additionally, dusting and cleaning the room stirs dust up into the air, which then can get sucked into the computer. Try turning the computer off while you dust and clean, which will help prevent it from sucking in stirred up dust.
Furthermore, while the computer is turned off, you can go ahead and clean the vents on the outside of the case. Any standard vacuum with a hose can be used to vacuum the dust away from the vents. However, avoid using a strong suction around the drive bays.
For those people who are comfortable opening up their case, here are some tips for cleaning the inside. First, make sure the power is turned off and unplug your computer. Next, make sure you are properly grounded to avoid static electricity. You should wear a grounding wrist strap, unless you are familiar with other techniques to properly ground yourself. The safest way to clean the inside of a computer is with compressed air. Most electronic stores sell compressed air in a spray can, which is approved to use with electronic devices. Some of the "air in a can" products contain moisture, which should not be used inside a computer. Make sure the compressed air is free of moisture, approved for electronics, and then follow the directions carefully.
When spraying compressed air, avoid spraying too close to the motherboard or directly on it. Instead, focus the air on the fans, case vents, and the cables that are collecting dust in the middle of the case. I like to use short bursts of air. In most cases, a little dust on the motherboard is not going to hurt it. Never try to wipe a motherboard clean with a cloth (avoid touching it with anything)! Likewise, I would not use a vacuum or suction device inside a computer, it is too dangerous. Compressed air is the safest method to clean inside a computer, and even that has some risk.
If you notice a lot of dust on your cables, you may want to consider bundling the cables together. Use an electrical safe twist tie or plastic strap to group the cables in a manner that will allow air to flow through the case more effectively. If you have the large flat (IDE) ribbon cables, consider buying the air flow (round) version. The following CNET link has some good information on the round IDE cables:
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-11319_7-6240575-7.html Even better, upgrade to a SATA hard drive and you can use the much smaller SATA cables.
Last, let's talk about how often you should clean your computer. While this will vary depending on your environment and the level of dust in your area, here are some general principles that will apply to most people. Clean the outside of your computer, specifically the vents as often as you clean the room the computer is in (perhaps weekly or twice a month). If you notice dust accumulating on the vents, clean them.
Unless you live in an area that is prone to a lot of dust, I would only clean the inside of a computer about once or twice a year. Every time you open the case and start cleaning inside, there is some risk of damage. Most computers can operate with a fair amount of dust, so don't get overly concerned about cleaning the inside. The primary reason to clean the inside of a computer is to promote good air flow. So if you have good air flow through your case, don't worry as much about how clean the inside looks.
Submitted by: George H. of St. Louis, Missouri
Discussion is locked
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I mean think about it, why all of a sudden write an article about something people have dealt with by intuition? BTW, the only problem with cleaning a computer inside is touching components with static-y fingers and
cleaning brushes, etc. Static can destroy a motherboard,
but does static travel on air? no.. Anyhow, there are multitudes of companies that make money on anything that eats and breathes fear. Pressurized air cans like those used with photo equipment also blow the checmical propellent that propels the gas that cleans the stuff, that leaves a residue and can hurt electronics, possibly corode. Be sure if you do use compressed air, that it is compressed air and not an aerosol.
Remember companies and journalists are not going to suggest you use equipment and techniques that don't involve the purchase of extra equipment, equipment they either have investments in, their advertisers represent , or it costs something. Consider the low/no cost alternatives first, before wasting money on crap that
does the job no better..
Don't trust journalists that make money on the products they push.
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First I suck air from outside the PC air vents every year or so. Then I open the PC cabinet and carefully blow from the canister vacuum hose hooked to the canister exhaust vent. Works for me.
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You leave the drives in?? I have a Rainbow vac I use to blow OUT the insides, but I ALWAYS first remove all the internal drives (especially any floppy, Zip, CD & DVD drives) Blowing around dust at such high force around slot or tray drives is asking for trouble ... IMHO 
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To try and keep dust down is really a non starter as its virtually impossible to do.
l cleared my laptop of accumulated dust by blocking various vents with tape and taped vacuaum cleaner nozzle to main fan inlet then to outlet vents, it sucked out and cleared all dust from radiator and internal areas no problem. l now never get noisy/racing/overheating fan etc and pc works like a dream, like when it was new.
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It's OK to vacuum the laptop as described with one exception. Block the fan itself from spinning up as you vacuum or it may exceed the rpm limits of the bearings.
I used this method once and destroyed the fan - just five bucks to replace but could have caused more overheating. After that, I block all fans as I am cleaning out computers of any kind.
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I don't recommend using a vacuum cleaner on a laptop or any keyboard. I did this once on my Dell laptop and lost several key caps to the vacuum cleaner. They were destroyed to say the least when I tried to find them in the vacuum cleaner bag. Gone ! I wouldn't use it on the motherbaord either, what about all the little option caps on the pins? Suck a few of those off and your in trouble! Compressed air is the only way to do it.
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Following the advice of another website, I tried to clean out my desktop's keyboard, which needed it badly (short version of that story: my little sister + half a pint of chocolate pudding) Duly levered off all the keycaps with a screwdriver, having made a little map of where they went back on. Put them in a safe place, and switched on the vacuum cleaner, which promptly removed three of the switches from under the keycaps INSIDE of my keyboard. So I had no B key, no P key and no tab. Now I have a new keyboard. Moral: keep your keyboard and your vacuum away from each other.
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My computer vacuum is an attachment for my regular vacuum. It has enough power to pick up dust only?
Were you folks using your regular vacuum???? I mean if you did this with your computer vac...holy cow!
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Thanks George Now I see our Mistakes! Hope We Caught
It In Time! Rene'
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Everybody talks about computers as if they are fragile and one touch to the motherboard could fry the whole thing. Well maybe if its on but when properly off (i.e power cable out)then they are reasonably resilliant. All I do is once turned off touch one hand against a metal area of the case (the power unit at the back) and the other hand against a radiator or a pipe, or anything connected to earth. In fact if you have the power cable in then you can earth yourself by touching the case then and then remove it when you need to open up. That is all what i usually do, i forget half the time or cant be bothered and in fact as long as you brush against the metal inside every so often then no problems as your charge will equal with the computers.
You will be suprised what a decently made computer can survive (and that is the problem many are made to an awfull standard), my computer has survived short circuting (bare wire was touching case) numerous things falling onto the motherboard (screws, screwdrivers). Then onto a friends computer which had the processor put back in the wrong way, (forced in by the heatsink clamps), it was turned on and didnt work, so i checked the processor had been put back corretly. I had to streighten a few pins and it worked as good as new. I have seen hard drives tossed across rooms and still work. Also for some cooling systems you must fill the processor socket with thermal paste to stop condensation and the computer still works. I have seen heatsinks on so tightly that the motherboard was permanately warped, and it still worked. I have seen heatsinks on so tight that the computer wouldn't work but after loosening it worked perfectly. I have seen hundreds of cables forced in the wrong way (I even come to a computer where someone couldn't get the cable in so they champhered the plug so it would go in, suprisingly it didn't work, but after I corrected them it worked)
I have even seen the ultimate, water inside a computer and after being left to dry away it still worked.
All of this is just an attempt to show you that computers are pretty resilliant. Even if there is something on your motherboard that can conduct the chances are is that it will not as the electricity will find it much easier to pass through the copper and gold tracks of the motherboard than through your finger.
So in conclusion, as long as you are relatively sensible do what you need to do, if you do something wrong chances are you can correct it.
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I agree with u konwiddak!
I purchased a brand new computer with 2-loose screws stuck between the motherboard & the side panel ? the board was physically shorted! Can anyone believe that? But people who own brand new cars will certainly agree that they?ve also found loose screws falling off from under the dash or other places and tools left under the hood.
In my case of shorted motherboard, the power light only flashed when I turned it on but refused to start the computer. I tried it for a couple of times and got frustrated. I decided oh well, take it to computer shop to see why brand new machine won?t start before pay expensive shipping fee to send it back.
The next thing I did out of sheer ignorance was insane! I tied the damn computer to the back of my bike and sent it to the shop. By coincidence, the road bumps also dislodged one of the screws which started flopping around inside the case! Two wrongs saved the technician?s eventful wrong diagnosis and the cost of returning the computer.
Before the technician could put the computer on his workbench, he heard the screw rattling inside the case! Voila! He opened and found loose motherboard before he searched for the 2nd screw still wedged between the board and the case. He put them back and everything worked fine!
What about the hard drive which took hard bumps back and forth to the shop? It?s a Seagate drive works like a charm right now. So I a fully agree with you that people should tone down how fragile computers are. They have resilience to some extent but poorly built ones will always crap out no matter how delicate you handle them. I don?t know about the fuss with vacuum cleaners and the static damage they cause but I?ve been using it for years without problem.
I have inadvertently plugged power connector of my floppy drive backwards as you mention in some of your examples. I saw a cloud of smoke and smelly rubber before I shut the damn thing off. It cooked the floppy drive and ribbon cable but that was it. Everything else worked fine after i replaced those 2-items.
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By pure accident I discovered the best way to get the dust out of my tower--!!!!!
I was feeling rather flushed one day as I typed away---so I plugged in my tall tower fan--as the cable was not long enough to come around my workstation --I aimed it through from the back--what a success!
But the best thing was that after some time, on the carpet immediately infront of my PC tower was a thick dust pile --so now when I want to check it I just switch the fan on behind the PC Tower--
easy peasy!
regards Baabee
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I work in a very dusty environment, it continually causes me concern on how to clean out my laptop. Can you tell me how to do it?
Sincerely,
Sneezing Steve 
AKA William
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Laptop computers are put together by the same gremlins that packaged that present you got a few weeks ago. You probably noticed over the years that things that come out of boxes never seem to fit back into those boxes. It is an amazing phenomenon!
Taking a laptop apart is "frought with hazard" and should not be undertaken at all.
Exception: IBM Thinkpad computers of some years back had keyboards which hinged above the function keys and exposed some removable items. But, I wouldn't recommend going beyond unlatching and swinging the keyboard up.
Newer laptops have cooling fans. You might examine the intake and outlet ports and make sure they are clean -- cotton swabs and compressed air with computer turned off.
Laptops typically:
1) are designed to conduct heat to the case and radiate the heat to the room (or to your lap, as the case may be!);
2) don't use cooling fans the same way other computers do -- a) by not having a fan at all, or b) by using a fan to move air across a heat-sink which has conducted heat away from components (rather than forcing air directly across electronic components);
3) are designed to create less heat in the first place by implementing advanced features such as "Speed-Step" and by having somewhat lower performance to begin with.
Luckily, laptops don't get as much debris in them as other computers. The typical "tower" computer sits on the floor with all the dust and with its fan sucking lots of air and dust through the whole time it is on. Office computers get bombarded daily by the poorly maintained vacuum used by the "cleaning crew." I often wonder if the office wouldn't be just as well served by daily emptying trash, washing coffee cups, and weekly vacuuming with a high quality vacuum. But, alas, management always like to know that someone is distributing the dust equitably so everyone can have his share!
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I get so irritated at hearing the non-word "preventative" instead of the correct "preventive." Thank you, George, for not only providing the winning answer, but for striking a blow at those who would destroy the English language!
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One common comment I keep seeing is to disconnect the computer from power. While that may seem like good advice, it is not necessarily so. You really want the case to remain grounded, and use a wrist strap connected to the case so all static charge is drained off continuously. (This is especially true if you are sitting on a carpet or rug. Even in conditions you would not expect, enough static charge can be built up to destroy components in the computer.) What you want is for the power source to be off since some components can continue to have power applied when the computer is turned off, but you also want the case grounded. So how do you do that? Plug the computer into a power strip that can be turned off. The strip disconnects power, but leaves the ground connected. The other way is to connect a wire from the case to a solid ground like a metal water pipe. (The assumption is that the pipe has water in it to act as a conductor if part of the pipe is plastic before reaching earth.)
Oh yes: I gently brush with a camel?s hair camera lens brush, holding a small vacuum 4-6? away to such up what the brush knocks loose. Why don?t manufacturers make cases with filters and fans strong enough to make up for the losses going through the filter?
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I can not tell you how good it is to see that I am not the only one who takes this seriously and uses one!
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I haven't been tracking this discussion, so forgive me if this has already been mentioned. After reading George's winning answer, I was surprised that NOT vacuuming the inside of your computer wasn't stressed more. Vacuums generate a lot of static electricity and getting one anywhere near your motherboard or other electronic components can cause permanent damage.
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My friend brought over his Toshiba Satellite laptop. The fan had been running very high and the computer had been turning off intermittendly for 6 months.
I thought it was a virus because it would turn off when logging in or trying to run virus scan.
A thread on the web suggested blowing dust from the cooling fins on the back of the Toshiba. I blew out a small amount of black dust, and all is now fine. Runs great and cool.
Unbelievable how a small amount of dust can disable a laptop.
Thanx
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A DELL engineer replaced a fan on my laptop, when I asked about compressed air cans he said that DELL engineers were instructed NEVER to use compressed air cans for dust cleaning purposes.
That seems significant advice to me.
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I was reading your mrddage about 'Removing dust cured long time laptop shut down.' I was wondering if this could be the problem with my tower. It started shutting down for no reason and I thought it was a virus. I ran the virus scan and nothing was found. Now it has shut down and will not come on. Someone told me it might be the power cord so I tried using another power cord and nothing happened. The computer was running fine with no problems before it shut down. I am running Windows XP on a HP Pavillon computer. Other than cleaning out the dust (computer is 3 years old and has never been cleaned), does anyone have any other suggestions.
Thank you,
LadyQ2U
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Fire that bad boy up and check the heat output numbers when you boot it. I'm betting yours was like mine and running at the limit idling. I just went through this issue with mine last week. It's why this issure at C/net caught my eye today. I vacuumed mine all out and the problem went away. Had plugged entry vents and the cpu heat sink was a mess. Memory chips were coated. I shut it all down and got my trusty brush vacuum out and sucked that garbage all out and my temp dropped 30degrees. Nice and cool again. No shutting down again. Thank heaven for automatic shutdown.
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Run and get that vacuum cleaner buddy. Same thing happened to my HP Pavilion PC. I would freeze after being on for no more than 5 minutes. I opened up the case and to my surprise there was quite a bit of dust in there. I used a vacuum cleaner and a small pc brush to remove the dust. It has worked flawlessly ever since that cleaning.
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I read yhis discussion thread with interest and picked up on the post by vitomacdoc on 01/06/2006 6:14 AM 'Removing dust cured long time laptop shut down'.I have been plagued for the last year by spontaneous screenfreezes at or within minutes of login.These have been progressively getting worse to the extent I have had to reboot up to 4-5 timed to get into a stable system.For months I have trawled the internet in vain for a solution The cure?----you guessed it.On reading this post I took out my cotton buds ,my house vacuum ,and my hairdryer. I concentrated om the cooling fan at the back of the desktop(power unit?)amd the fan at the cpu and the grillesbehind them.I cleaned what I could with the cotton bud and then sucked/blew out the rest with the hairdryer/vacuum.(I held the fan blades static as I did so ,to avoid damage to the fans! 15 minutes later I have a new computer.I really can't believe this.Not only is the computer no longer freezing on me but it is even booting and shutting down quicker!If anyone doubts that accumulated dust(in my case 2 years worth) can adversely affect computer performance and stability ,I offer my own experience as the living proof!!
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I refurbish and build quite a few computers to give to those who cannot afford them. I just ask businesses and friends to let me salvage their old computer rather than tossing them. An older computer is often more than most people need to browse, do homework, and have simple email but they are usually very dirty.
Carpet fibers and cat hair are the worst for collecting and holding dust inside the case.
I clean them by holding a vacuum cleaner hose close to (but not touching) the parts and brush them with a soft makeup brush. Compressed air plus the vacuum cleaner sucking up the dust also works.
A q-tip with rubbing alcohol cleans fan blades of the grease and gunk that seems to collect on the blades.
For keeping them clean, I always make sure there is a case fan on the front drawing air INTO the box. behind the fan (between the metal case and front panel, I tape a piece of HEPA filter (a 20x20 allergan filter costs about $10 and, cut up, will serve several computers). Usually, the case fan will draw more clean air into the case than the power supply fan takes out, so dirty air never gets into the case.
Computers I built for family members back in 1998-2000 this way are still clean, even though the piece of filter may be packed with lint and dust. I know because I am upgrading the processors and mother boards for them as a Christmas gift.
Cordially,
TwoHoot
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I have found that elevating the cpu off the floor by about 6 inches cuts interior debris by 60 %.
if you have a pet, make a bed on the other side of the room , as the hair will clog the fans.
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One of the simplest methods of keeping computers clean is to get them OFF of the floor, preferably up on a desk or even higher, so they don't suck in all the dust bunnies circulating on the floor. Also, ask users to shut down their computers at least once a week and move the computer and monitor, so that they can wipe up the dust underneath. I tell them that the dust underneath will probably end up inside sooner or later.
I've cleaned some very dirty machines in the past 30 years. There was a machine shop where the office computers had oil and metallic paint all over the components. There were dead mice, dead spiders and dead beetles. There was one at a video rental shop under the popcorn machine that was full of corn meal and worms! But my favorite closeup photo was one I used to show computer user groups, initially telling them that it was a snow scene I shot on my last ski trip, and that I don't know how that photo got mixed in with my computer photos. When I zoomed back out and showed them the second photo, they could see that it was really inside a computer at a paper mill, where paper dust about 1 to 2 inches thich had blanketed all the components with little wavy mounds that looked just like miniature ski hills!
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