Emerald Green Hardware

Basic physics says that when electricity flows through any non-superconductor, it generates heat in the process.  Computers need to get rid of this heat in order to keep working, so cases are built to maintain an airflow across hot components to cool them.  Of course, another side effect of flowing electricity is that it generates an electromagnetic field, and electromagnetic fields tend to draw dust.

This photo of my mother?s computer is actually not the dustiest system I?ve ever cleaned out, that would be my older brother?s system which hadn?t been cleaned for several years when I opened it up.

Dust isn?t just an aesthetic problem for computers, it?s potentially much more serious.  First of all, dust can act like a heat barrier, reducing the effectiveness of your computer?s cooling systems.  Overheating makes a system less stable and more error prone.  Plus it pushes the fans harder making the system noisier.  Also, some dust is conductive, which means that exceptionally dusty systems actually have a risk of short circuits forming.

To clean your system, you?ll want to first power down and unplug your system.  And considering how much dust can be thrown into the air, it?s a good idea to consider moving your system someplace with good ventilation. 

In the case of my mother?s system, I was able to use the deck behind our house.

The first step is to open the side panel of your system.  The how varies from system to system, but the majority of computers made today try to simplify the process, securing the panel with either thumbscrews or some form of latch mechanism.  Once you?ve opened the computer, it?s time to start using the compressed air to blow away the dust.  Keep in mind, this is going to be blowing a fair bit of dust into the air.  Many sources recommend using a cheap dust mask you can buy at any hardware store.

Or you could improvise if you don?t think to pick one up.

Anyway, try working in short bursts, starting with the visible clumps of dust.  Next, you?ll want to go to work on the the hidden dust surfaces.  Look over the power source (The big box that your system?s power cord plugs into) and alternate blowing puffs of air into the openings both inside and outside the case (The changing airflow should help dislodge more of the dust.)  Now look at the CPU cooler.  It?s the big fan and assembly at the center of the motherboard.

Take a little time to look it over to figure out which direction the metal fins are lined up in (Note, if the style of cooler has the fins exposed, don?t touch them, their sharp.)  Direct a few shots of air from both sides to dislodge as much dust as possible.

Then you?ll just want to give a quick once over to the motherboard and peripherals with your can of air to blow off the remaining dust that you can?t see.  Then angle the air on the bottom of the case to blow the dust there out and you can close up your case, return it to it?s normal resting place, hook the cables back up and power it on. 

In addition to routine cleaning, keyboards are often subjected to spilled liquids. If this happens, the very first thing to do is to disconnect your keyboards power. If it plugs into the back of your system, pull that plug immediately. If it’s a wireless keyboard, remove it’s batteries immediately.

Ok, now that you’ve unplugged the keyboard, you can take a moment to consider the problem. Spilled liquids bring two threats to the table as far as keyboard functionality is concerned. First of all, there’s the threat of a short circuit. This threat is the reason you want to immediately cut power to the keyboard. It’s also the reason that whatever other cleaning you do, you’ll want to let the keyboard sit afterward for at least 24 hours (longer on humid days) to ensure its internals are completely dried out.

Your other concern is residue. If the liquid you spilled was just an ordinary glass of water, residue will not be much of a problem. If it’s unsweetened coffee, tea, or diet soda, residue might give you problems, but the danger is not as severe as if there was sugar dissolved in it.

The key to blocking residue is to dissolve it with water. Since your keyboard is only vulnerable to short circuits when its plugged in, putting it in your shower and spraying down the keyboard is a very good precaution against residue. If you have a keyboard that was disabled by a spill, there’s a chance you might be able to clean out the residue using your shower like this.

I’ve even heard that some people has successfully cleaned out a spill disabled keyboard by running it through their dishwasher. I’ve never tried this myself, so I can’t offer any personal input on it. But rationally this would probably work best if whatever was spilled on your keyboard contained a fair bit of fat like ice cream. The most important thing to remember would be to put your keyboard on the top shelf of the dishwasher, since the plastics making it up are vulnerable to melting.

Now whatever method you use to wash the residue out of your keyboard, you’ll need to let it dry out afterward. Be sure that you let it dry at least 24 hours, and be sure to reposition it a few times during that drying period. Repositioning it will help ensure the keyboard doesn’t retain small pools of water inside it that could wet things again when you plug it back in.

And once you’ve waited the recommended 24 hours (if not a little more), you’ll want to plug it into your system and give it a test run.

As the components of the computers that gets the most direct contact with you, your mouse and keyboard will have the most need for regular cleaning. Though when I say cleaning, I also mean disinfecting. Your keyboard and mouse can pick up significant volumes of bacteria through handling, and rubbing alcohol wipes do perfect double duty at killing the bacteria and cleaning whatever’s stuck to the plastic making up your keyboard and mouse.

The first step is to dislodge the large stuff (It’s surprising how much there is.) Take your keyboard, turn it upside down, and shake it side to side and backward and forward for a minute or two. Afterward, direct your can of air into the cracks between the keys, and spray in short bursts to knock loose the smaller dust. You can likewise use your air to blow dust loose from under the buttons on your mouse.

Once you’ve dusted your mouse and keyboard, you then take an antibacterial wipe, and gently wipe the keyboard and keys. Then wipe down your mouse and it’s buttons. Once finished, give your keyboard a few moments to dry and it should be good as new. If you don’t have antibacterial wipes, you can use a paper towel, dampened with a very small amount of rubbing alcohol.

Most systems use LCD monitors, replacing the old CRT monitors. The most visible difference between them is the thinness of LCD’s. But in cleaning terms, there’s another important difference. CRT’s have screens made of glass, while LCD’s screens are made of plastic.

The majority of monitors sold in the last few years were LCD monitors. Their screen is made of a plastic that’s much more prone to scratching than the glass of older monitors, making glass cleaner and paper towels a bad choice. To clean it, you need a specialized piece of equipment, a microfiber cleaning cloth. Either as is, or with a light misting of water, wipe down the screen, being careful not to apply too much pressure to it. That’s usually all you need.

If you’ve held onto your old CRT monitor, you should already know that regular glass cleaner is the best tool for cleaning the screen. But, it’s important to keep in mind that if you spray the cleaner directly on the screen, it can drip down through the gap in the front, and get water onto certain components that you very much want to keep dry if you want your CRT to keep working. So you should only spray the cleaner onto a paper towel and use the dampened cloth to clean the screen.