Cleaning your computer hardware is something you should periodically do. The reason is simple as over time dust accumulates on the components and acts as both a barrier to airflow and an insulator which can bottle up heat on your components.
If you have never physically cleaned your computer, the process is quite simple and doesn’t take long to do. Microsoft actually has a very concise guide for cleaning your hardware. While you don’t need to get everything ‘spotless’, it is important to at least get the visible accumulation of dust out as this not only improves longevity but can actually help improve your computer’s performance.
While you should probably do a cleaning every few months or so, if you keep your computer on the floor or you have pets you might want to consider cleaning more often. Having your computer on the floor can cause more debris to be sucked up through your air intake and if you have pets… well you know how it is.
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Hey ,
How about cleaning a laptop. Sure a case is easy ans simple enough, but, laptops as we all know are all in one. Anything special or tips that we should know about before tearing into one to clean it all?????????????
One thing that I have noted that does get quite dusty on laptops is the assembly on the heat sink. It can differ from laptop to laptop, but generally getting to it is a process of turning off the PC, closing it, flipping it over, removing a few screws and then using basic logic to remove/clean the offending parts.
For instance the laptop I am typing this on has a fan with heat pipes to a set of fins that a fan blows air through. Dust accumulates in the fins and one time even to the point that it made somewhat of a mat… not good. Laptops are PCs jammed into small confines, so yes cleaning them of dust and blockages is even more important that your spacious desktop IMO.
Two words – compressed air. The best way to clean out the dust in a laptop and/or PC.