How to clean the dust on your computer

How to Clean the Dust On Your Computer

Dust is one of the major enemies of your computer. No matter how much we may try to keep our computers away from dust, it still settles on the computer from the air. Just like your body and your house, your computer needs proper cleaning at least once in a while so as to prevent the buildup of dust or even overheating. Heat and dust may lower the cooling efficiency of your computer thus slowing down your computer and resulting into shorter life spans for the components of your computer. Cleaning your computer is an easy task to undertake and may take up to 20 minutes. So, we are going to cover some few tips on how to effectively clean your computer using readily available items.

Preparing to Clean Your Computer

Shut down your computer and unplug it from the electrical power outlet. Remove all the other peripherals such as audio cables USB cables, and video cables. This is especially important since having your computer on with peripherals connected to it may cause havoc on computer components when moisture trapped from the air gets power.

Next, move your computer to a properly ventilated area such as your garage or backyard. This is important especially when your computer has accumulated a lot of dust which will be blowing around as you clean. Breathing such built up dust that has accumulated for a considerable amount of time is not good for you and being in an enclosed area may make dust to return back to the components of your computer. If you are worried about inhaling dust, you can purchase a mask.

Next, you may need to gather the tools you will use in cleaning your computer. It is important to note that it is not usually recommended to use a vacuum in cleaning dust off your computer. Using a vacuum may actually cause static buildup which could fry vital components of your computer such as video card, or even your motherboard. To save yourself such agony, use a compressed air can instead. A vacuum may only be used when cleaning dust out of the inside of your computer components.

What Type of Tools Do I Need to Gather?

·         A can of compressed air

·         A set of hardware that comprise of screw drivers

·         Damp clean cloth

·         Clean paint brush

·         Pen or pencil

These tools are available to make you not to be stressed out if you while trying to find them. Having such few tools still makes you to do a great cleaning for your computer components.

Starting the Cleaning Process

After situating yourself and your computer in a properly ventilated area and gathered all your tools, here are several steps in which you can follow in cleaning your computer.

Step 1: Open the case of your computer using a screw driver. If you are having any trouble in opening the case, try searching online guides on how to open it or you can refer to your computer’s manual for proper guidance.

 

Step 2: Clean the screen of your computer using a clean damp cloth, not a wet cloth.

Step 3: Clean off the dust particles trapped within the keyboard using a clean paint brush and a clean damp cloth.

Step 4: Next, move to cleaning the peripherals that you had removed from the computer using the can of compressed air. Hold the trigger of the can to release a burst of air and direct the trigger to areas where there is buildup of dust. When cleaning video cards that have a fan, it is recommended to use a pen or pencil to hinder the spinning of the blades.

Step 5: After cleaning the peripherals, you can start cleaning the inside of your computer. For every slot in the computer including RAM slots, hold the trigger of the compressed air while aiming directly at them to clean way dust buildup.

Step 6: Move to the CPU fan and try to blow away trapped dust particles using a compressed air can. While cleaning the fan, be sure to use a pencil or a pen so as to prevent the spinning of the blades. It is quite tedious suing a pencil or pen but it will avoid damaging the fan and you will have a clean fan eventually.

Step 7: Move to the bottom of the computer case where there is possibly a lot of dust buildup. Start with blowing a burst of air using a compressed air can. If there is still a substantial amount of dust stuck on the bottom of the case, you can use a clean damp cloth to wipe it off. Be sure not to use a wet cloth but a damp one.

Aftermath

Plug back your computer cables referring to the manual if you fail to remembers where each cable goes. By this time, your computer will be looking clean both in the inside and the outside. If you had issues with overheating, you will realize that it will not be there anymore as the cleaning process gives your computer a cooling effect. And don’t forget to occasionally clean your computer to keep up its performance like every 3 to 6 months.