Clean your PC's!

[azasadny]

This is fairly typical of an older (8 year old) PC tower that sits on the floor in a home or carpeted office. The dust gets on the fans, ruins the bearings, causing the fans to slow down and the parts to overheat. This one was too far gone and is headed for the boneyard...

Take the cover off and vacuum or (I prefer) use a compressor and a fingertip blower to blow the dust and grime out of the tower, power supply and various nooks and crannies. Keep the PC cool and it may last longer...

[masraum]

I thought this was going to be a thread about getting rid of evidence.

Yes, if you've got a PC that sites on the floor, you definitely want to crack the case and clean it out from time to time.

[rattlsnak]

Who keeps a computer longer than 3 years max without upgrading?

[Dantilla]

Originally Posted by rattlsnak

Who keeps a computer longer than 3 years max without upgrading?

Me.

I usually don't upgrade until the old machine has absolutely no life left. Most would consider the computer I'm using right now as completely obsolete, but it still does what I need it to do.

Yes, it did get vaccuumed out a few months back. Lotsa dust accumulating.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by rattlsnak

Who keeps a computer longer than 3 years max without upgrading?

I usually have mine longer than 3 years, but probably not much longer than 5. Normally, I buy PCs that can be upgraded and upgrade parts in the PC to get them to last a bit longer. My current PC is the first exception. It's an all-in-one PC (HP version of an iMac, comp is built into the monitor). I may be able to add memory or replace the HDD, but I can't add an extra internal HDD or change the video card. I spent a bit more to go a little more powerful than I normally would have so it will last a bit longer, hopefully.

[slodave]

Vacuuming the inside of a computer is not a good thing. Build up a nice static charge and you can kill RAM and other components. Better to use a can of air or compressor to blow the crap out.

[D911SC]

I used to be in IT and the techs were never allowed to wipe dust or use a vacuum because it was too easy for metal to make contact (or static electricity) and create a processor killing spark.

Instead they had a 'dusting room' where they would use compressed air to blow out the dust.

[Mark Henry]

My old computer died last Christmas. After buying a new PC I took the old one out disconnected the drives and blew it out. Then I took the heat sink off the CPU and cleaned it up, but don't remove the thermal paste on the heatsink.
Then I put it all back together and she fired right up.

I figured that was all it needed, but we need to up-grade and we needed a 2nd computer.

[89911]

I take mine outside and use my compressor. All the dust has got to go somewhere and better not in your house.

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by rattlsnak

Who keeps a computer longer than 3 years max without upgrading?

I am pretty much of this school as well. My Dell laptop is 3.5 years old.I would think that dust would get in a laptop just as easily as in a desktop pc. Am finding this comp is slower now, have to hit some keys harder. Perhaps dust is compromising it. Can't wait to get the next laptop - smaller and lighter. Then I will need new glasses too!

[cashflyer]

My office computer was replaced a couple of months ago at the old age of 7. Found out later that the problems were registry related, not hardware related. So, format, reload, and continue to use it as a spare.

The computer in the other office is 9.
And the server is 10.

[azasadny]

Laptops get dirty, too! I always clean the old thermal paste on the CPU and heatsink and then apply Arctic Silver when I clean up and tune up a PC. I blow out the power supply and make sure the CPU cooling fans and heatsink is clean with no dust bunnies. Many times, I ;ll replace the fans and that will quiet things down a bit.

Everyone I know keeps their PC's for at least 5 years... They don't replace them until they fail. I'm constantly upgrading our PC's. I just replaced the hard drive with an SSD in my PC and my wife's PC... made a huge difference!

We have a server in the basement (10TB), so we store all data on the server, not on the individual PC's, so that really helps!

[azasadny]

I've been in IT full-time since 1991 and I have yet to see any damage caused by cleaning the PC's interior. I prefer compressed air to vacuuming, but whatever you do, clean that PC once in awhile! I worked on one a few months ago that was ruined from cigarette smoke and dust. The combination created a sticky brown tar-like substance that covered every interior component and ruined the PC. Every part was replaced, except the case, which I cleaned with Krud Kutter and reused. I may have a picture of it somewhere, it was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen!

[azasadny]

This was beyond repair... I had already used the air compressor but the gooey material couldn't be cleaned...

[widebody911]

When I worked at Alldata, we had a few PC's that lived in the warehouse. I cleaned them one time, and the dust was so thick you couldn't see the motherboard components.

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by azasadny

I've been in IT full-time since 1991 and I have yet to see any damage caused by cleaning the PC's interior. I prefer compressed air to vacuuming, but whatever you do, clean that PC once in awhile! I worked on one a few months ago that was ruined from cigarette smoke and dust. The combination created a sticky brown tar-like substance that covered every interior component and ruined the PC. Every part was replaced, except the case, which I cleaned with Krud Kutter and reused. I may have a picture of it somewhere, it was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen!

I'm always amazed at the amount of damage cigarette smoke does to the insides of PC's. I've opened computers that sat in the dirtiest places on planet (a power plant tool room in North China for instance) and it was cleaner than a PC that belonged to a smoker.

I'll say though I'm with Dave, never use vacuums. Seen some damage done from a printer toner vacuum once.

[Schrup]

I was thinking data miners & key loggers during the online shopping season. My CC# got snagged last year & it's a pita to deal with. I think it happened at work.

[flatbutt]

My Dell is currently in a blue screen coma, rather than cleaning it I'm going to buy a Mac!

[azasadny]

Send me the Dell, I'll pay for the postage if you're going to throw it out. I know I can fix it! I wipe all data from the hard drive (1st thing I do), then replace or upgrade parts, as necessary.) I have fixed at least 20 PC's in the past month...

[beepbeep]

Dirty, dirty PCs: The X-rated picture guide • The Register