Okay now - admit it. More than likely, you neglect your PC. It just sits there and runs and you don’t give it an ounce of thought until it breaks. Sounds like too many of us with our cars. Sure, you probably complain about all the noisy hard drive activity when you’re not doing anything. You might moan about how it takes all day to boot up. You might threaten it when it gives you the 100th illegal operation of the hour. Well, uummm….its being neglected.

PC’s require maintenance, just like any other piece of ellectonic equipment in this universe. Whether it’s a more recent system or an old 486, it needs to be maintained. If you have an old computer you don’t give a crap about anymore, this article is still for you. Sure, your dusty old 486 doesn’t compare to today’s snazzy machines, but a lot of times they have plenty of horsepower to still do some useful things. You could hook it up as a “second box” just for fun, use it as a server for your network, use it for some mundane processing task that you don’t want to waste time doing with your main machine - or, yes, you could just give it to grandma.

I’m going to go over some techniques to show mercy towards lowly technology. These tips really are common sense, but they do need to be addressed. These are things that should be done on a somewhat routine basis on your modern PC as well. This is your guide to caring for your own PC.

Dust Bunny Central

All computers eventually accumulate a layer of dust on the inside. ATX form factor machines, which encompasses just about anything made in the last few years, are much better at dealing with this due to the air flow through the chassis – but you will still find dust in there over time. On older machines (if you haven’t kept up with this),  you might have so much fur that your computer is bordering on its own classification in the animal kingdom. You need to clean that thing up – dust, over time, can lead to problems with the fans spinning, electrical contacts, etc.

To do a proper job, you will need to pick up a can of compressed air. You can get this at any computer store or electronics store. I do not recommend trying anything resembling taking a rag to your PC components. I have seen some get out a washcloth and gingerly run down their PC hardware. Not only does this take a lot more work than air, but you risk electrostatic discharge to your hardware, leading to fried components. Compressed air is safe and easy.

Using the air, blow the dust out from the PC. Get the expansion slots, the case itself, all circuit boards, the power supply, the case fan and CPU fan. Get the outside of the power supply, too, as they often develop the largest accumulations of dust in PCs. As a tip, you might want to do this in a somewhat open area, as dirty PCs can expel lots of dust into the air which it is probably not a good idea to breathe in. As an alternative, you could possibly use a vacuum cleaner with a PC-cleaning attachment.

When you are done with this, take a moist rag and wipe down the inside and outside of the computer case. Do not spray water directly onto the case.