Have you noticed that dust is starting to build up on your computers causing it to overheat? All computers are susceptible to dust and dirt. It’s inevitable that dust will end up in your system. We suggest you clean your computer every three to six months to keep your system looking its best and to prevent a significant reduction in your PC’s lifespan. It’s also a good idea to take the time to clean up the inside of your computer, such as deleting any old files or applications or even installing a fresh copy of Windows.
How to clean your laptop
PCs, like all electronic devices, are magnets for dust. With dust comes heat, and with heat comes a decrease in PC performance. Don’t forget: PCs need to breathe.
Though you may only be interested in cleaning the exterior of your computer (it’s better than nothing, we’re not judging), we’re going to give you tips on cleaning your machine inside and out. While it might be tempting to start with the computer casing, we recommend doing the inside first.
How to clean the inside of your laptop
Before we embark on this journey to the center of your laptop, it should be stated that amore intensive interior cleaning should be left to professionalssincemishandling the components could cause damage.
To clean the inside, you will need to procure two things:
1)Canned (aka compressed) airand 2)A screwdriver or two.
Unlike PCs, many laptops (including Apple’s) use super tiny, five-pointed screws known as a pentalobes. Other laptops don’t use screws, and have nice handy levers you can press to remove the back panel.
However, this is a general guide, and computers vary a lot, soit’s best to check the specs of your machine.
- Make sure you turn off and unplug your laptop before you start to clean; failure to do so could cause some serious damage to the hardware.
- Proceed to take off the back panel and then gently blast short bursts of air into the various ports and cracks of the laptop using the little plastic straw attachment to the aerosol can.
- Make sure to hold the fan in place with your finger before blowing air on it, so it doesn’t spin too fast and damage the mechanism.
How to clean the exterior of your laptop
After you’ve put the casing back on your laptop, you’re ready to clean the outside. Get a soft, non-abrasive, non-linty microfiber cloth that’s slightly dampened with water or isopropyl alcohol (it dries quickly) and gently wipe the bottom and top (back of the screen) of the computer clean.
While the inside of your laptop might be rife with dust, the keyboard is usually the candidate for dirtiest part of your laptop.
Tilt the laptop upside down to let fall any loose particles. You can even give it a little shake, and then proceed to spray the keyboard with that canned air.Dampen your microfiber cloth and wipe it gently over the keyboard. You can also try using a Q-tip that is very slightly dampened with water or alcohol to get between the keys and remove any stubborn substances.
How to clean your desktop PC
Desktop cases do vary a lot, soit’s best to check your particular model onlinebefore attempting to go inside.
- Turn off your PC and unplug the power cable. This will ensure your safety.
- It’s a good idea to move your PC to somewhere well ventilated, otherwise any dust you remove will settle back on the computer.
- The dirtiest parts of a case are usually the top and bottom since this is where the dust settles. Wipe down the exterior of your case with a damp cloth.
- The insides are a little trickier. The best thing to use to remove dust is a can of compressed air. Remove the side or front panels of the case and then use the compressed air to clear the dust from any dust filters. Any obvious collections of dust at the bottom of the case can be wiped away or, if you’re very careful, a vacuum might also do the job.
- If you know how to remove your components, it can be a good idea to remove everything from the case and remove any dust using short bursts of air.
- Before you put your system back together, we recommend doing some cable management to ensure that there is a cleaner passage of air running through your system. You could also pressurize your case so that you minimize the amount of dust that will build up before your next clean.
Some desktop towers also have a dust filter. Detach the filter from the unit and use a low-powered vacuum with a small attachment to clean it. If the bottom of the tower case has also accumulated a lot of dust, it is permissible to vacuum up the bottom, but be very careful not to touch any of the other components when you do this. Once all the big pieces of dust are removed, spray that canned air around a few more times for good measure.
Cleaning Your System
A great way to clean up the inside of your computer is to delete any files that you don’t use anymore or even save them on a USB drive or cloud storage. This will free up a lot of space on your PC.
Most PCs come with preinstalled programs that can take up a lot of space and slow your PC down. Remove any programs or apps that you never use.
It’s always a good idea to clear your browser history, cache, and cookies. Clearing your browser history every now and again is important so your browser doesn’t hold on to too much information.
Emptying the trash is recommended after you have deleted lots of files. But remember, once the trash is emptied any files in the trash will be gone forever.
Reinstalling Windows is a great way to speed up your PC and to get rid of any malware or systematic problems on the PC. Remember to back up your personal data before reinstalling Windows.
Conclusion
Cleaning is necessity if you want to keep your system running at peak performance and prevent it from overheating. If your computer was overheating before, you’ll notice that it’s a thing of the past after a good clean. The extra time that you take to clean up the inside and outside of your PC will ensure that it’s running at maximum capacity. We recommend cleaning your computerevery three to six monthsto keep the performance up and increase your machine’s overall lifespan.
