Unplug chassis, then press & hold power button for 10 seconds to release power in capacitors.

Use a can of Dry compressed air (A well ventelated place suggested, bad thing to do in Kitchen)  carefully blow dust out of chassis.

http://www.computerhope.com/cleaning.htm

This is a little more time consuming and in depth.

You can pick and choose as you wish or whatever applies to your particular situation.

See this:

http://www.pcqanda.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=2&topic_id=277702&mesg_id=277702&page=4

Although many people do use compressed air there are some IT supervisors who would fire a tech for it.  Personally, I do use it in conjunction with a vacuum but only on certain components (example, fan blades).  The natural bristle brush | vacuum combination is considered safer.

Message Edited by Dan Manley on 02-08-2004 07:54 PM

I agree with Dan. I use a small shop-vac with an artist brush (1/2" bristles) to lossen any stubborn dust bunnies. This may seem strange but I also took a strip of furnace air filter medium and placed it in the front air intake on my tower (from the inside), on all the air intake ports. Now when I open the case, there's hardly anything there.

thanks for the tips.

 

 

a strip of furnace air filter medium and placed it in the front air intake on my tower (from the inside

that sounds like a good idea, where can i get that strip??

Hardware stores. Electrical/computer supply outlets have special filters for that type of use also. There are also vent holes on the case floor. Regular shop vacs etc work, but they are a source of large amounts of static electricity so you need to ground the computer and yourself to insure no damage. You can also buy "safe" vacs made for computer cleaning with tools and use the natural bristle brushes like camera lense brushes as mentioned above. Like others, I use air on the fans and heat sinks and then clean up the mess blown around with the special vac and brush. PS blow out any empty PCI slots and the PSU.

If you use filters, check them often as then tend to plug up. I have also found the anti static wipes work good to clean the case floor and also slide them through the case feet panel under the case floor (a lot of dust collects in there over time). Keeping the computer up away from the floor also helps a lot.

Message Edited by dogin on 02-05-2004 06:28 AM

thanks very much