Dust, Dirt, and Germs, Oh My: Clean your computer out!
March 1st, 2006 by Chuck Sharp
Why clean your PC, or do any preventive maintenance? Basically, it will live longer and have fewer hardware problems. Dust and dirt cause several problems. First, they gunk up fans. If a computer’s fan goes out, it will overheat. At best, this will cause your computer to lock up. At worst, computer things get fried. Second, dust is a heat insulator. All the work that your PC does to move hot air out of itself doesn’t do much good if the dust traps the heat into the PC’s parts. Third, dust can get into computer ports like the USB ports, and can cause USB and other devices to not connect properly. Fourth, a dirty PC is messy and not very pretty. 
Disclaimer
The directions that follow are not complicated, but they can cause computer problems if not done correctly and cautiously. As stated in my disclaimer:
I, CHARLES SHARP, WILL ASSUME NO LIABILITY NOR RESPONSIBILITY TO ANY PERSON OR ENTITY WITH RESPECT TO ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE RELATED DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY TO THE INFORMATION ON THIS SITE. NO WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE. I, CHARLES SHARP, WILL PROVIDE NO REMEDY FOR INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES ARISING FROM THIS SITE, INCLUDING SUCH FROM NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, OR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, EVEN AFTER NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
Basically, if you don’t feel comfortable doing the following things, find someone who is.
Before You Begin
You’re going to need a few supplies from Walmart and Fry’s Electronics (or Officemax, etc):
- Can of compressed air
- Klear Screen or similar solution for regular CRT monitors
- 50/50 isopropyl alcohol/water solution
- Several old clean cotton t-shirts
- Phillips screwdriver
- Floppy cleaning kit
Now, before you do anything, turn off your computer and monitor. This process can be dangerous to you and your PC if you don’t.
You need to unplug everything from your PC. Before you do, make sure you know where things go. If you’re not sure, you can label the cables with scotch tape and a perm marker, draw a diagram on paper, or just take a digital picture of the back and front of your PC. If you take a picture, you might want to print it out before you unplug the PC. Just a thought.
Cleaning the Computer
Once everything’s unplugged, take the PC outside. Wipe it off with a rag. Open the case up. To do this, it’s usually a matter of taking off one of the two big side panels. You’re looking for the one that’s opposite where the majority of plug ports are in the back of the PC. There will probably either be a screw, a thumbscrew, or a sliding plastic lock on the back. Some Dell PCs I’ve seen have a button on the front of the PC at the bottom that you push to pop the cover off. At any rate, remove the screw(s) to that panel, slide the locks, or push the cover buttons, and pull the cover off and set it aside.
Use your compressed air can in short bursts, held upright, to blow the dust and junk out of the inside. Spray air on the fans, the power supply, around the boards and cards, and around vents.
Spray the vents and ports on the front, back, top, and sides of unit as well. When it looks pretty clean (it doesn’t have to look sparkling clean), check to make sure that no cables or cards became loose or disconnected. Put the case cover back on, and take it back inside.
While you’re there, dust the computer’s area with a damp cloth (try not to stir up too much dust that will be sucked back into your nice clean computer). Run the damp cloth over the monitor casing, the PC casing, and anything else around there that could use a dusting.
Cleaning your monitor or LCD screen
Wow, there is a lot of controversy in cleaning CRT and LCD displays. The basic consensus is to avoid ammonia-based products on everything, and that a 50/50 mixture of isopropyl alcohol and water is Ok for LCDs. Ammonia can cut through a monitor’s anti-glare coating, and can apparently etch LCD surfaces. It looks like alcohol can also hurt the antiglare coating on CRT monitors as well.
So, I’m thinking that your best bet, if you have a regular CRT monitor, is to go buy a screen cleaning solution, like Klear Screen from Fry’s Electronics or someplace similar. Klear Screen comes with a cleaning rag, but I really don’t see why you couldn’t use your own, despite dire warnings from its manufacturer. It’s way pricier than windex, but if it saves your monitor…
If you have an LCD display, you can still use Klear Screen, but you can also mix water and isopropyl alcohol in a 50/50 mix. Then, apply the solution to an old, clean cotton t-shirt and gently scrub away. When done, dry off with a dry cotton cloth.
Three important things to note here:
- Be careful what you apply to your LCD and CRT displays! They are not forgiving.
- Always turn off the monitor before cleaning it
- Always apply the cleaning solution to a cloth, not the display. If you spray cleaner or water directly on the glass, it very well might get inside the monitor through the cracks. Bye bye monitor.
Cleaning your Keyboard and Mouse
First, if you haven’t cleaned your keyboard in a while, layout some newspaper. Seriously. Now, hold the keyboard upside down over the newspaper and shake it fairly good from side to side. Then, stand or hold the keyboard on its side and spray compressed air across all the keys several times. Use short bursts of air. Go after the debris that seems stuck. Once you’ve done that, repeat the shaking and spraying steps once more.
Next, use the 50/50 solution to thoroughly scrub the keyboard down. Test it first on the keys on the upper right of the keyboard to make sure that the key letters don’t come off. This step is really important, just because keyboards are filthy. Apparently, keyboards, because they’re never sanitized, can contain up to many thousands time more bacteria than a toilet seat. Once the keyboard is dry, do it again. Probably didn’t need to tell you that at this point, did I? Maybe scrub your mouse too…
As far as mouse cleaning goes, we could talk about how to clean the roller ball in a mouse. Instead, I’m going to say this: get an optical mouse! Really, there’s no reason to not have an optical mouse (a mouse that uses light instead of a rubber ball). Prices are insanely cheap for knock-off optical mice/mouses/meese.
Put it all back together
Plug everything back into the computer the way it was. Turn on the monitor and PC. Almost done!
Cleaning the CD-ROM and Floppy Drive
Carefully follow the directions on the floppy cleaning kit. No big deal there. As far as cleaning CD-ROM/DVD/whatever drives, I’d recommend not. They’re just too sensitive. If you’re getting read and write errors on your drives, get it checked out under warranty, or replace it. That’s my advice anyway.
There you are. You now have a clean computer!
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