How often do you clean your computer?

[Guest]

I just teared my laptop apart cleaned it with vacuum cleaner and now... less heat and less noise. WORTH IT!

 

[TrevDog]

I used to clean 8 workstations and 2 servers out every month because of a terribly dusty environment. My personal machines go about 6 months at a time, and a small office that I volunteer at gets a good cleaning annually.

 

[WaveZero]

I clean my one every 6 months. I don't get much dust build up so it's all good =)

 

[Sarcasm]

I clean it when I start seeing too much dust over my case fans. Just a simple 10 second spray usually does the trick. Simple small cleaning now = less big cleaning jobs over time.

 

[IvanAwfulitch]

As 'sarcasm' said, usually I will do a once-over when the outer case-fans get a light covering of dust; I dust out the inside of my PC, and close it back up. However, much deeper cleanings are needed when my CPU fan and heat-sink become covered in dust. When I notice a lot of built-up dust in my CPU heat-sink during one of my routine cleanings, I clean the fan, take the heat-sink off, rinse the dust off the heat-sink, dry it, replace the thermal paste, and put everything back.

 

[ramonsterns]

Well, can't say I do a every good job of keeping the insides clean, but it's never gotten to the point where it looked like the picture above.

 

[Marnomancer]

Twice a month. The atmosphere here is hot and humid, and there are 2 construction sites nearby, so the precaution is needed.

 

[Guest]

every may...

 

[yowanvista]

I take everything apart once each 3 months or so for some cleaning.

 

[spikester48661]

all my pc,s are cleaned every 2-3 months.

 

[Guest]

I guess I sound a bit paranoid. Haha.

 

[Puiu]

Guest said:
i've recently noticed a decreased frame rate when logging into an MMO (runescape) could this be due to dust? I plan to clean out my computer once i get home shortly, but by god since it's a dell I cant manage to get the fan off the heat sink, its clipped on with 4 VERY stiff clips, one which i've broke over the years attempting to get it off.

on a side note, I've ordered a faster graphic's card recently which should be here soon.

or could simply be the "rot" effect of the OS. one of the most important reason people reinstall the OS (at least for me, but i also work with many many big programs that slow down the PC a lot: server, adobe cs, corel, visual studio, and many dev tools )
read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_rot

 

[Puiu]

we really need an edit button here ^_^

 

[Tekkaraiden]

Every time I do a major upgrade so once a year. I do keep it on my desk which does seem to help with dust build up.

 

[colinf]

mostly clean it when i notice the filters, but generally when i flush/change my w/c loop

as a note to those who use vacuum cleaners...stop!!..static isnt good for your pc

 

[Picture Picture]

Whenever I remember - say once every two to three months on average

 

[LNCPapa]

Every time I open my case to change something, so about 2-3 times a year.

Same for me

 

[Guest]

iv been doing some part time at a computer shop the last 6 months and it really is unbelievable how many people bring there pc saying it don't work so we go in to diagnostics mode only to end up opening the case and seeing a carpet of dust!!!

i clean my pc/laptop/consoles every 6 months!!!!

utube link of a desktop jammed up with dust i just had to video it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKLJ8AlPijU

 

[Guest]

the last Sunday of the month is designated as electronic cleaning day in my house the wife and the kids both hate it
3 laptops
2 gaming rigs (one for me one for the kids)

 

[Guest]

I used to clean my computer every 2-3 months, but I noticed that everytime I opened it there was too much dust, so now I clean it every month. I cleaned it for the first time on January 15th, so I should have cleaned it on February 15th, but I decided to skip the cleaning to March 1st. The new "plan" is to the desktop every first day of every month.

 

[Guest]

All five machines every 6 months. Made special "vacuum tool" - 18" length of 1/4" diameter tubing pushed through a hole in a larger bottle cap (which has a couple of 'relief holes') - pop it on the vacuum and suck away.... can snake down into the inner reaches of the mainboard, etc without sucking down any critical components (really bad when you have to dig your RAM out of the filter bag...hahaha) ... I do pull vent fan and CPU fan for separate cleaning.

 

[Per Hansson]

Well, my own PC I barley ever need to clean, it was probably two or three years ago and it just has a very very light dust cover.
I might take it out and give it a run-over with the compressor just because of this thread though
(It has a Window so I do see if it or the waterloop gets dirty...)

As for other peoples computers; I'll just say that the picture to this story is a VERY mild case of dust compared to what I see on a regular basis!
Sometimes all I have to do to make a computer work (usually laptops) is to clean them of the dust, and they are happily working again!

 

[Guest]

I break out the mop and soap suds and give my computer a good scrub and then hose it down about every 2 years. usually right before i get a new one ^_~

 

[rvnwlfdroid]

Clean my PC? Doesn?t everyone live in a dust/allergen/static free environment? Kidding? When I hear the fans running a little more than (normal) I?ll pull the side off and blow/vacuum it out.

 

[TomSEA]

My gaming rig gets a thorough cleaning about once every two months.