DUST- A COMPUTERS ENEMY
As dust accumulates in the case it can cause several problems such as: decreasing computer performance due to overheating, disruption of air flow and can be the cause of component connection problems. Overheating is caused when dust clogs up heat sinks, covers circuits on the motherboard, clogs up fans, power supply and air vents.
Dust prevents cool air from reaching the components that need to be cooled in order to operate efficiently. If there is enough dust in the computer's vents it can completely stop the airflow needed to keep the parts cool, it can shorten the life of your fans or stop them from working . This will cause your computer components to overheat , which will cause your computer to slow down considerably or shutdown to prevent damage and may even fry some components such as CPU, BIOS or your RAM to name a few. This would cost you a lot money replacing those components.
A $5 can of compressed air and a little of your time can prevent that!
Integrated circuits (ICs) can suffer from overheating due to the insulating effect of dust as well as suffer from electrical shorts caused by dust across their contacts. The most susceptible ICs are those having a metal lid acting as a heat sink cooling surface. To prevent overheating and failure, this metal surface and heat sink needs to be essentially dust free. Dust acts like an insulating blanket, preventing proper convection cooling.
How can I clean the dust out my computer ?
Clean the inside of your machine every couple of months to ensure that it continues to run smoothly for years to come. This is not hard to do. Just open the computer panel on your desktop. Get a can of air cost around $5 and use the can of air to spray all the dust out of your computer system and fans.
Open up your computers case side panel. This is usually as simple as taking out 3 screws and sliding the side panel back or the may be some levers to unlock the case and it will open on hinges. In either case it is a simple task and not hard to figure out. Take your computer outside if there's an excessive amount of dust. Give it a few quick blasts from the can with the goal of getting all the heavy dust and dust balls out of the box.
Then use the nozzle straw attachment to get to the hard to reach places like under the motherboard, in and around the hard drive's and cdrom's, hold your finger on the fan blade when you blast air to clean fans, inside fins of heat sinks, inside all slots of any kind, inside power supply and power supply fans and air vents, anywhere where dust can hide you clean it out.
After your finished. Wait another 10 minutes to be safe and let any condensation dry up before plugging your computer back in. This is a safety precaution only. The compressed air usually dry's almost instantly if used correctly. Never hold the compressed air can upside down when spraying.
Before putting the computer panel back on or closing up the computer case. Turn your computer on. If you notice one of the fans are not working, replace it immediately, this would be the one of the causes for your computer running slow and if you don't replace it you will damage your computer.
Shut off your computer and close up your case.
