what is the safest way to clean the inside of my computer out? I have a lot of dust built up and want to get rid of it. Can i use those air spray cans?

Matt

 

Yes. Use the compressed air. Just crack open your case and blast away. The more often you do this, the better. Dust is an insulator for heat, and heat damages your computer.

I had to replace my sister's power supply last year because the inside of the case was so dusty, the exhaust fan was completely clogged and the hot air was just circulating around the case. Fried the PS completely. I'm glad I caught it when I did before it damaged anything else.

 

Compressed air works, but it also creates a dust cloud that can work its way into places you don't want--like CD-ROM and floppy drives. I like to vaccuum first, and then use compressed air to get what can't be sucked out. I use the compressed air on the CD drives last to make sure they'll definitely be dust free. A dirty optical drive WILL fail; it's just a matter of when.

 

awesome, thanks a lot guys

matt

 

Sticking the vacuum on the cpu fan is fun. Makes it run really fast. They never run the same afterwards though. When I try to vacuum dust from the heatsink I always hold the fan to stop it from spinning. The same goes for the powersupply fan. I've had to replace one after doing the vacuum thing without blocking it.
I install computer in greenhouses, and most growers never look after the computer. Recently I had one which didn't work. When I opened the case, 2 mice were running around inside and came out. I've also had quite a few with burnt out powersupplies, some of which took the motherboard along with it.
I found having the box on the ground, it makes it a dust magnet. Hanging it under the desk with some sort of cpu holder is much better in preventing dust buildup.

 

That's a good point. I was deployed to Oman (basically a huge sand box) a couple of years ago and had awful problems with computers going bad after only a few months. It became pretty clear that machines sitting on the floor were sucking in lots of sand. We had everyone move their CPUs onto their desks and the number of failures dropped significantly.

 

I run it through a couple cycles in the dishwasher.

 

I use the air cans as well, and almost use up an entire can.
Problem with the cans is they loose pressure real quick as they get cold fast.

My PC has a window on the side, so I am able to look inside even when the tower is in my desk.
With the light inside I can see the dust starting to build up on the bottom.

I have a very hairy cat, so a lot of cat dander and hair get sucked into mine.
One day I will take part of a vac sack and cut out a portion and make a filter to go in the front behind the vent where the main entry fan is in front.
That should help quite a bit.

 

Gave my computer a BJ yesterday.

See that big dust cake in front of the air intake for the front intake fan?
I need to get some thin foam material like they use for a vacuum or something, kind of like a pre filter or something.

My case had quite a bit of dust in it again, and most comes in through that front opening for the fan.

 

probable wasn't the fact of it spinning really fast, more to the fact it was spinning really fast in the wrong driection. It fun though. Yea yea vacume with caution but do vacume first then blow the system out. And do it at the very least every other month. Dust bunnie like heat your computer doesn't.