Computer Maintenance: Cleaning your PC
That’s right ladies and gents. Even a computer needs a “bath” sometimes. *Please do not put any type of water or liquid in, on, around, or anything your computer* Computers are much more partial to “air” baths. This is a simple task really. Go down to your local IT store, or even convenience store such as Walmart or Target, and pick up a can of compressed air. The generic stuff works fine, but it’s all up to you.
Now that you have your compressed air, let’s start the cleaning. Look around the front, back, and sides of your computer. There should be multiple locations where there are ports in the case for air to flow in to and out of the PC. These locations are the trouble spots where dust, hair, and other debris get caught up and restrict air flow. This can cause serious heat issues, as well as other major problems. We are going to use this can of air to clean these spots right up.
• First we need to open the side of the PC. We are not actually working on anything so a simple screwdriver to remove the securing screws will do the hardware part for us. **Warning** Your motherboard is attached to one of the case sides. Look at the back of the PC and see which side all the plugs go in. That is the side where the Motherboard is. Open the other side.
• Once the Non-motherboard side is open then you will have a clear view of the inside of your PC. No need to touch anything just let it sit open.
• Now take your can of air and use it on the areas where dust and other debris has collected. Blow them as clean as you can. Get the fan and case holes as clean as possible.
• Once it is all clean. Just put the side back on and replace the screws.
That’s it! How simple is that? Pretty easy. Doing this once every few months will help your CPU and power unit fans greatly, and it is the first step in Preventative Hardware Maintenance. You can also used that canned air to clean out your keyboard! If you have any issues or need further help please feel free to contact me directly for assistance on a project such as this.
Until next time!
~Geoff
