My first Cleaning

Cleaning is easy.

The 3 cans of air are a great start. Next get out the vacuum cleaner to suck out the dust that will be coming out like crazy.

First, use the vacuum to clean out all the heavy dirt and dust.

Once that's done, use the vacuum to suck out what the air displaces while spraying the system. Don't worry, the air will not damage anything, just spray the air on the fans and cooling fins, making sure you follow with the vacuum to collect the dust as you go.

You don't have to get everything shinny new, just get the dirt and dust off the components.

Really concentrate on the cooling fins of the CPU and GPU coolers as well as any other cooling fins, following with the vacuum hose to get it out of the case.

If it's been over 3 years there will be allot of dust and dirt so be persistent and use all 3 cans if necessary.

Once your done you'll notice a big difference in temps and fan speeds, your computer will thank you as well! ;O)  

My fans seem to be coming on a faster than usual, I have not cleaned out the inside, it is three years old, I never had the cover off. I figured I would start here, and clean the processor heat sink fan circulation area, along with the rest in the inside. Have only had the cover off one computer, but am handy with electronic and feel confident. Comments please. I am going to by 3 cans of compressed air for the cleaning..... Insprion-530 Thanks

 gary7777 

 The article HERE may also help.

Remember to clean the heatsink's cooling fins, fans and the air intakes located in the front panel.

Bev.

It is a good idea to use a toothpick or small straw to keep the fan blades from spinning while using canned air. These fans are not designed to spin at high RPMs.

Good idea, didn't think about it shesagordie. Definitely take the front off and clean all the inlets.

That's a place that gets overlooked by allot and it's where allot of dirt and dust accumulate.

I'd say at 3 years you're going to have ALLOT of dust and dirt.

I usually clean mine twice a year and it's always dusty so I can only imagine what yours will look like.

I have cleaned some friends systems and at a year they're really bad.

Most people don't understand that there is some preventive maintenance required on computers to keep them running.

I had a friend about 4 years ago had me look at their system that was only 2 years old because it stopped working.

When I looked at it, it wouldn't boot so I opened it up and the dirt and dust was awful.  After cleaning it up I found that the dirt had built up so bad it clogged the CPU fan preventing it from running and eventually burned the CPU up.

She had it on the floor and owned 3 Cats so it was really bad. If you keep your system on the floor and own pets you really need to clean it at least every 6 months.

I keep mine up on the desk but my wife has 2 Cats so I really make sure to keep an eye on how dirty it is inside.

I usually pop the cover off every couple of months just to see how things are and I really listen to the fans.

When I hear them running faster than usual I'll take a peek.