Spring Cleaning the Inside of Your Computer

Another quick tip for tonight.

For those of us with desktop computers a good deal of us probably don’t open it up once the unit itself has been removed from the box (or once it has been put together in the first instance for the system builders out there). You might open it up quickly to add another drive or some more RAM but the insides of the desktop computer can often accumulate great amounts of dust unnoticed.

Of course, dust is the enemy of heat dissipation and excess build up can clog fans and heatsinks which may ultimately lead to overheating CPUs or components. To compensate, affected components may run slower and/or fans work harder to keep things cool inside. Eventually, there will come a tipping point where the fans can no longer adequately cool one or more components and you encounter events like blue screens, unexpected reboots or shutdowns or component failure.

So why not clean it, dear Boydo I here you ask?

Cleaning is an appropriate solution but it must be done properly to avoid damaging the fragile insides of your computer. Using the wrong method would be akin to letting a bull loose in a china shop. Here are some general guidelines for cleaning things out:

1. Turn the computer off at the wall but leave the plug connected (if possible) then ground yourself before working on the computer. The last thing you need to do is fry your computer when all you are trying to do is maintain its working operation or to revive it. The simplest way to do this is to touch part of the metal chassis prior to doing anything  else.
2. Do not use a vacuum cleaner as the primary cleaning tool as you may inadvertently suck up little headers that bridge pins on the motherboard. You may also break off capacitors or other chips from the motherboard if you knock things around or use a motorhead vacuum on the inside. Instead, use a can of compressed air to dislodge dirt and keep the nozzle at a safe distance to prevent liquid from forming.
3. Be careful when removing or reinstalling the CPU heatsink and/or CPU (which is often a slab of metal with lots of fins rising above it). The CPU can be one of the most expensive components inside the computer. If you need to remove the CPU heatsink to do a better job of cleaning it but are not confident in removing it then call in a friendly geek to help you. The last thing you want to do is smash or crush a CPU or bend a pin on the CPU or board through incorrect handling.
4. Cable management. Whilst it can be tempting for system builders to slap a computer together and forget about the insides this can make a world of difference in the airflow inside the case. Using thin cables, routing them around the edges of the chassis and using cable ties to secure them is the best thing you can do to keep things in place whilst maximising the flow of air through the case. For some. this can be an incredibly tedious and boring task so if you don’t fancy yourself undertaking such an activity then you might want to ask someone else to do it for you.

This is not an exhaustive list but it covers off some of the big hitters when it comes to carefully but effecting cleaning your computer.