Computers manage temperature by running a variety of fans that cause air to move through the case. Unfortunately, dust and other small particles often ride that circulating air and end up inside of your system. As time goes by, this will put more of a burden on your fans. They will eventually break down if this dust is not handled. When your fans break down, you will have to install new ones or your hardware will overheat. Overheating parts will break down very quickly. Many people never figure out that their fans are broken until a piece of hardware dies.
Sadly, there are only a small number of safe tricks to clean dust from your system. The same mechanisms that clean dust can also harm system parts. Even the safest methods should be used sparingly. There must be a balance between these two concerns.
The safest and easiest tool for dealing with dust is a can of compressed air. When you get compressed air, you want to confirm that the specific formula is safe for computer parts. Since canned air is inexpensive, price should not be an problem in this pursuit.
If you have a desktop computer, you will need to open the case in order to clean the dust from your system. Once you begin spraying the canned air inside your case, you could observe a white foam on the surface. This is liquid butane being forced out by the air (usually because you are holding the can at an angle) and it evaporates in very little time. While this will not harm your computer, you may want to strive to keep the can completely straight as you are spraying so that it lasts longer. You could need to prevent the fans from spinning while you’re cleaning by placing a soft object next to the fan blade. This is a divisive step; many people clean their fans without doing this. You should be careful to blow the dust off of every fan in your system. There may be multiple case fans. You also could have a fan on the heat sink of your CPU. If you have a high performance graphics card, it may have a fan as well. Your power supply fan is a very important one to clear; a dirty power supply fan can actually catch on fire.
You also want to clean dust sitting on all of the other components inside your system. When you have finished this chore, you could notice a change for the better in the operating temperature of your system. If so, you have almost certainly waited too long to perform this task.
If you have a laptop, this will be slightly more complex. You can dust off the exterior very easily. Still, the inside of the laptop will get dusty too. You can access the fan intake and exhaust with the small straw that will come with most canned air purchases. For most people, this will do the trick. You may need to open up your laptop from time to time to clean the rest of the inside area. This is an advanced step. If you don’t know how to take apart your laptop without damaging it, you should probably not experiment with this.
You shouldn’t fanatically clean dust from your system, though. Cleaning too much may harm your fans or other parts. However, you should make sure to do it every few months. This will add years to the lifespan of your hardware components.
recognizes that a dust-free system will last much longer. As a nationwide computer service and repair company, Geek Choice is committed to helping the general public learn good computer maintenance habits. Geek Choice provides on-site expertise for any crisis. If your fans are not properly cooling your system, reach out to a customer service representative at 1-800-GEEK HELP (433-5435).
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