[erkansus]

ok guys since im bored and have to go to turkey (the country) tomorrow ill will make you guys a guide on how to properly clean a pc.

disclaimer: remember you are following the steps on your own free will and i am not liable for any damage done to your belongings. (just making sure im not gonna get sued)

step one: clean your case filters and fans

the very first thing you need to do is pop off the front bezel and clean out the dust and cruft from around the fans. if your case is really dirty, theres going to be dust caked around everywhere air moves into the case.
if your case already sports filters, carefully remove them, wash them with warm water, and let them air dry for a day or two. once they're dry, remount them. if your case doesn't have filters dont worry ill teach you how to make them later in the guide.
next clean the out of your intake and exhaust fans. first use compressed air to knock off as much dust as possible. its likely there will still be dust left after this step, so next you'll need to wet a towel with isopropyl alchohol and carefully wipe each blade. depending on the direction the fans face, you might actually need remove them from your case.

step two: clean your cpu and heatskink

cleaning your cpu cooler is a little trickier. i firmly subscribe to the "if it aint broke dont touch it " school of thought. so i generally recomend against disconnecting the cooler from the system. however if you cant clean your cooler when its mounted to your motherboard you can remove it. blasting the dust from the dirty cpu fan/heatsink has given me really good end results in the cooling area.
i recomend holding a paper towel on one side of the cpu fan and blowing compressed air on it from the other side. once you got most of the dust off your cpu cooler use isopropyl alchohol to wipe the blades clean. but remember not to push to hard or you can risk damaging your fan.

step 3: cleaning your vd card

the next place to clean will be your video card, if your fans sports one of those fancy gpu coolers complete with a heat pipeand air shroud you need to affix a straw on your compressed air can and use it to clean the fan through the air tunnel.
if your card has a standard cooler you'll need to take a look at it with a flashlight and make sure you blow the dust off the blades thouroughly. its reall simple to do by just using the can of compressed air on it. but remember to look at it carefully with a flash light because you can risk moving big chunks of grime into the way and blocking your fan from spinning which will make your cooling situation very bad. once your done with the fan blades clean off any dust around it with the alchohol soaked paper towel and leave it out of your case for now.

step 4: cleaning your motherboard

its rarely neccesary to clean your motherboard unless you have an older computer. if you do have an older computer though all you need to do is disconnect everything from your mobo take it outta the case clean the dust of from under where the mobo was in your case . and gently with a paper towel remember gently rub off and excess dust on the bottom remeber bottom of your motherboard.

step 5: cleaning you esata and sata cables

since you already have them out just give them a quick run down with a paper towel to get an dust off. remember this will not help your cooling situation much but it will make your computer look better.

step 6: cleaning your ram

first take your ram out your motherboard. then give the heat spreaders on your ram a quick swipe with your paper towel. then reinstall your ram back into your motherboard. at this time you can also reinstall your video cards.

step 7: clean your keyboard

any geek knows that your keyboard is gonna get uber dirty. what i do it take out all the keys. put it in the dishwasher but wash it without heat or else your gonna have a melted keyboard (dont try that at home) also dont use dishwasher soap in their just take regular hand washing soap and put a teaspoon full int the machine. once its clean shake it so some water gets out and leave it ontop of a towel for a few hours before replacing the keys to make sure its dry.

step 8: installing fan filters (the step you've been waiting for)

ok first open your exhaust and intake fans covers if they have them. then take a swiffer pad (those found on those disposable mops you knwo those thingys) then cut them into squares that are the exact same size as your fans.. then take it down around the fan making sure you leave no gaps for air to go in around the corners. i use swiffer pads cause the attract dust and are good enough so that air flows through them without being muffled (trust be on this this one is a must to keep your case from getting dusty again) only problem is that you'll have to replace them about every 6 months.

remember you are following the steps on your own free will and i am not liable for any damage done to your belongings. (just covering my patuty on this one)

i hope you like this guide and when i get back from vacation i will make more how to guides. i hope this gets stickied because it is very helpfull on getting your system temps down a notch.

[erkansus]

bump hmm wonder why no one has found this helpful

[Frank4d]

Nobody has a dirty PC case?

[kiwiguy]

Perhaps this post belongs in the joke section?

As I see no mention of taking anti-static precautions when removing RAM and motherboard, it has to be a joke, right?

I would rather see the post deleted than stickied, its poor advice that someone may end up regretting.

[erkansus]

i forgot to add that lool sorry that this didnt help anyone