Clean your PC inside and out
Even in the cleanest home or office, dust will inevitably collect inside your PC. Whenever it's on, your system is drawing air from the room to keep things cool. The tangle of cables and the texture of the various printed circuit boards make these items natural dust magnets. One hint: If your PC fan seems to be ratcheting up to high speed more often than you remember when the computer was new, you could have a dust buildup problem. Some highend boutique machines have easily accessible dust filters you can remove and replace from the outside, but most of us will need to open the case about once a year to clean it out. First, disconnect all the cables and bring the PC outside or into your garage. (You don't want to unleash a dust cloud on the kitchen table.) Have your can of compressed air handy, as well as a dust mask. Making sure the PC is turned off and unplugged (never open a PC case with the power cord still attached), carefully remove the side panel. Touch the metal chassis to ground yourself and dispel any built-up static charge you might be carrying; electrostatic discharge (ESD) can be lethal to the sensitive components inside your PC. Then, get to work with the compressed air, using it like a tiny leaf blower to herd the dust from crevices and out of the chassis. No matter how dusty your PC may be, don't resort to your household vacuum cleaner. The static electricity generated by these appliances will do more harm than the dust itself. You can find inexpensive battery-powered vacs for electronics that claim to be ideal for cleaning a PC, but we're hesitant about them, too. You'll want a machine that's rated ESD-safe, such as the 3M Electronics Vacuum. These units cost over S$200 (US$147.25), however, and are really worth the money only for IT and service departments that need to clean PCs all the time. | ||||
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