韩妙我的美丽日记辨别:How To Thoroughly Clean Your Dirty Desktop Computer

How To Thoroughly Clean Your Dirty Desktop Computer

Just like your car, your house, and even yourself, your computerneeds a good cleaning every once and a while to prevent overheating anddust build up. It’s easy to do and it only takes about 20 minutes, sotoday we’re going to cover how to effectively clean the inside of yourdesktop computer.

Editor’s Note: This article shows how to completelyclean everything inside of the computer. You don’t necessarily have toremove the RAM and video card if you don’t want to. We do recommendcleaning your computer on a regular basis.

How often should I clean my computer?

Depending on your environment, you may need to clean your computermore often (or less often) than others. Computer placement is importantto consider; keeping your computer on the floor allows for dust, hair,skin cells, and carpet particles to get inside easier. But if you keepyour computer above the floor, like on your desk, particles are lessprone to gaining access inside your computer.

If you smoke near your computer, cigarette ashes and chemicals canbuild up inside your computer’s fans and other places. Ridding yourcomputer of these things every 6 months can increase your computer’sperformance.

If you’re a pet owner, there is no denying the presence of sheddedfur from your pet  that gets on your floor. The inside of your computeris just as susceptible to fur clogging fans and other areas of yourcomputer.

It’s also not uncommon to eat or drink next to your computer, but beaware that you should clean your computer and its peripherals more oftenif you do.

With all this being said, if you found yourself guilty of anythingmentioned above, we recommend cleaning your computer every 3 to 6months. As always, if your computer starts getting hotter than usual,open it up to check for any dust or hair buildup and then clean it.

Preparation

Do not open your computer while it is running or with any cablesattached to it. It is always safer to remove all peripherals such as USBcables, audio cables, video cables, and especially the power cable.

Do not attempt to clean your computer with electricity flowing through its circuits. Be sure that the power cable is unplugged.

Now move your computer to a well-ventilated area such as yourbackyard or garage. This is especially important to consider if yourcomputer has built up a lot of dust that will blowing around. Breathingall that old, accumulated dust just can’t be good for you.

If you’re limited on space just be sure to keep a vacuum (notfor cleaning the inside of the computer; more on that soon) nearby for aquick clean up afterwards. And if you’re worried about inhaling dust,you can always stop at your local hardware stop to pick up a cheap dustmask for less than $5.

Tools

Before you begin opening your computer’s case, you’ll need to gather your cleaning tools. We highly recommend not using a vacuum.This can create a static buildup and could potentially fry importantelectrical components on your motherboard, video card, and other places.It’s just a bad idea, so spare yourself the agony and pick up acompressed air can.

There are a few tools you will need to clean your computer:

• Hardware set that includes screw drivers
• Can of compressed air
• Cleaning cloth
• Zip ties (optional)
• Scissors (optional)
• Cotton swabs (optional)
• Thermal paste (optional)
• Pencil or pen (optional)

One of our readers, Carlos,suggests using a small paint brush to sweep away dust where compressedair just can’t reach. Some of these tools are optional, so don’t stressout if you don’t have them. We only had a few ourselves, and stillmanaged to do a great job.

Now that you’re in a well-ventilated area with all your toolsgathered, we can start the preparation process by opening up yourcomputer’s case. All computer cases are different. If you’ve neveropened yours before and are having trouble opening it, consult yourcomputer’s manual or try searching online for guides specifically aboutyour opening your model.

The case we’re using is a Sigma Luna WB, and, just like most cases,all it takes is unscrewing two screws, sliding the side-panel outward,and our computer was opened.

Once inside your computer, you may have to disconnect any cables that connect to your side panel.

To make the cleaning process easier, it’s best to take out anycomponents that can be easily removed. Most desktop computers allow youto remove RAM sticks, video cards, and hard drives.

We recommend not removing your CPU because thermal paste that is usedto transfer heat from the top of the processor to the fan needs to bereplaced every time the fan is removed. If you are equippedwith thermal paste and want to remove your CPU, just be sure to cleanoff the old thermal paste on your CPU with rubbing alcohol and a softcloth. Then apply a fresh coat of thermal paste once you’re donecleaning your computer.

Most people shouldn’t need to remove their CPU and CPU fan. It justdoesn’t make sense considering barely any dust makes its way into theCPU socket. Then again, if you’re cleaning your computer, why not go allthe way? The choice is yours.

Cleaning

To start the cleaning process, begin with the peripherals we justremoved. Grab your can of compressed air and hold the trigger to releasea burst of air onto an area with a lot of dust buildup. We’re cleaningan old video card that never got a lot of attention, so there was somedust clumps that were accumulating around the DVI ports. If you’recleaning a video card with a fan, you can use a pen or pencil to placein between the blades to prevent it from spinning while blowing thecompressed air.

Next, we move inside the computer case. Let’s start with removing anydust particles that may have found their way inside the RAM slots. Takeyour compressed air can, aim it at a RAM slot, hold the trigger, andmove it down the entire slot. Repeat this for every slot in yourcomputer case.

Now we’ll move onto the bigger equipment inside such as your CPU fanand power supply unit. Again, it’s recommended to use a pen or pencilwhen cleaning fans to prevent the blades from spinning. Use yourcompressed air can to blow out any loose dust particles.

You can also use a cotton swab to clean the fan by rubbing the swabagainst the blades to stick the dust particles. It’s a little tedious,but it makes for a nice, clean fan in the end.

The bottom of your case will undoubtedly have dust buildup. You canbegin with blowing the dust away with your compressed air. If there isstill dust stuck to the case, you can use a damp cloth to wipe it. Makesure your cloth is not wet, but damp. Repeat this step for all the nooks of your case until there is minimal or no amounts of dust left.

Finally, don’t forget to also clean out any other fans, ports, or enclosures as described above.

Decluttering Cables (Optional)

This next step is optional and is recommended for custom builtcomputers. Unlike professionally manufactured computers, custom builtcomputers don’t arrive with nicely tucked away cabling that fits justright. So the best way to make your case more secure and organized is touse zip ties. You also don’t want your CPU fan or any other fansscraping away at cables if they’re not neatly tucked away.

To start you’ll need a pack of zip ties. It doesn’t matter what sizethey are as long as they can fit around all your cables. We’ll be using4-inch zip ties.

Begin by disconnecting all cables that will need to be tied. Be sure to write down how they were connected for reference later.

When you have a cable or set of cables grouped to your liking, wrap azip tie around it and run the thin end through the fastener. Thentighten the zip tie by pulling the thin end until you can no longertighten it. Grab your scissors and cut the excess.

Repeat this step for as many cables as possible. You can then tuckthem away to reduce their visibility and give your computer’s guts acleaner look.

The Aftermath

Plug your cables back into their correct sockets. Refer to yourdocument from earlier if you don’t remember where each cable goes. Alsoremember to put back any removed peripherals, such as a video card orsticks of RAM, back into their appropriate sockets.

Your computer, inside and out, should be looking as good as new.We’ve rid our computer of dust, hair, skin particles, and much more.Your cables should be neatly managed and out of the way of fans andother sensitive equipment. If you were having heating issues before,you’ll begin to notice that it’s thing of the past. And don’t forget toclean your computer every 3 to 6 months to keep that performance up!