Today, I am planning to write a tutorial on cleaning the Cabinet of your PC. It is one essential part of computing but is very often left unnoticed. Cleaning the Cabinet will decrease the temperature of the system, and hence increase its life. Also those of you with gaming rigs, higher temperatures also cause system lags, so, follow this tutorial, and have your system clean for the ultimate computing experience.
Cleaning your PC is very essential. Purchased a new computer?? and had an hardware upgrade?? Happy with the power and features? Let a month pass and you'll start seeing all the dust it gets. So how do you get rid of it? This thread is aimed at healthily cleaning your PC while getting it back in one piece.

When and why you should clean? Well it maybe once in a month or two. It could be boring and IT WILL TAKE TIME but its essential.

Why Do It? Well dust tends to kill the elegance of your PC and moreover if it stays stationary, it may cause malfunctioning in fans and other components.

What things to use for the job? The things I tend to use is a cloth(dry and smooth) and a hand blower. And u need to have a brush (tooth or painting one) handy for small places. And as usual all the stuff to open your cabinet.

How to do it? Well the main part. Gently start by unplugging ur wires(Remember which plug goes where!!). Open the cabinet and be sure to place on it on sturdy table-top or something. Use your wares or directly open if u have thumb screws. Gently clean the panels inside and out with the cloth and blow air afterwards. Use the brush for small places. keep the panels in a clean place so all your work dosent go in vain. Well now moving inside, first clean the base of the inside with the cloth and use brushes again for small places between connectors and stuff. Clean each fin of each fan with the brush in one hand while using the other to hold the fan steady. did it? Now moving to components. Take the HDD first. Its minimal effort to clean it as its a considerably large component. Use the cloth and brush as for now. Then take the optical drives. Now it needs care as u MAY damage it. Only use gentle brush strokes and be sure to get each crevass(hehe). Moving to ur GPU(if u have a dedicated. Its farely easy, dont use the cloth as to ensure safety. use long vertical strokes on the PCB and be sure to clean between each heatsink stick. Use the fan method on the GPU's fan. CPU is not as easy to clean as they have a big fan. Dont get frustated. Call another person if u like. Dont use the blower as that will just move the fan(actually,try it as its fun to see) use the cloth on the non-occupied parts of the mobo. Be careful while cleaning the RAM. its delicate. U need to plug it out. refer the manual of ur mobo to learn how to unplug it. Just use brush strokes and cloth on the heat-sink. Than blow it with the blower and plug it again. Give each compnent some blowing using the blower. Fit the case as it was and keep it there. We'll clean the wires. Its common sense. Use the brush(Its the best tool aint it?) to do it. U may use cloth for big connectors. No need to use the blower. Keep them aside and YES BE SURE TO CLEAN THAT PART OF THE DESK. Moving on to the monitor. If u have a LCD than its hassale free. Just use the cloth and give it a finishing touch with the blower. If its a CRT then duh! Work again Use the cloth to wipe the screen. Go gently all over the body with strokes from the cloth. Use the brush for areas near the stand as they tend to have samll places which are a hot-spot for dust(This point applies to LCDs too). Speakers are fairly easy. Woofers are mainly flat and the sattelites dont have much small places. The cloth will take care of it. Ah! the good old keyboard is a pain. U will have to use the brush to clean the space around each key. YES ALL 4 SIDES OF EACH KEY. but that is if u want a clean keyboard, otherwise just use the cloth and blower. Mouse is easy.

So now? Now? Now enjoy healthy computing. Not only it will give ur system more life, but will also save u from disease.

Caution - Dont do if u have a dust allergy. Just ask for help than. AND take care of ur components. They are expensive and delicate.

This shud be done at a regular time interval although it could be boring and very tiresome. BUT IT does not mean u make it a hobby and keep on doing it everyday but i know no one will do it


I would like to add :

1) Don't use the hair blower for too long, the heat may damage the components. Use the vaccum pump is great alternative to hair blower. You can get a Vaccum Pump in any computer store for Rs.100. Or a hand pump for Rs. 15 from the roadside on lmrd...

2) Open the pc in adequate lighting in your room. I prefer to open it on the floor.

3) Use Ear swabs .. the one to clean our ears, to clean the keys on your keyboard. It doesn an excellent job than brush.

4) Use Pencil Eraser to clean the ram stripes. Do it gently, don't apply too much force.

5) Use a dirt free cloth to clean the components.