Quickest way to fully clean a desktop.

[Darkleoco]

I just got back home for fall break after 2 months and my desktop is in dire need of a nice cleaning. What would be the best way to clean literally everything without having to go and buy things I would not already have on hand?

[UbErN00b]

Originally Posted by Darkleoco

I just got back home for fall break after 2 months and my desktop is in dire need of a nice cleaning. What would be the best way to clean literally everything without having to go and buy things I would not already have on hand?

Paint brush and hoover nozzel

[[Ion]]

A vacuum does wonders. Also, even just blowing with your mouth can help. I also like to use a damp paper towel on fans and flat metal surfaces.

[jasper1605]

Firstly, where in the heck do you go to school that you get 2 months off for fall break?!

I've used a vacuum with the soft brush head on mine a few times after I unplugged the comp from the wall to avoid messing anything up. So long as you don't get too aggressive on the vacuuming I don't see any pratfalls awaiting you on that attempt if you don't have canned air lying around.

[Darkleoco]

Originally Posted by jasper1605

Firstly, where in the heck do you go to school that you get 2 months off for fall break?!

I've used a vacuum with the soft brush head on mine a few times after I unplugged the comp from the wall to avoid messing anything up. So long as you don't get too aggressive on the vacuuming I don't see any pratfalls awaiting you on that attempt if you don't have canned air lying around.

Might want to re-read that I am BACK after 2 months not for 2 months I could only wish for that

[EiSFX]

I'v read in quite a few places that useing a vacuum on your computer is a bad idea not that it happens all the time or it will even happen but with a vacuum it tends to creat a rather large static charge could possably fry some or all parts. On some forums people have said they did that and it happened and they coulden't start there PC afterwards even after a full troubleshoot. I personally have never used a vacuum on my PC just cuz of some of the stories i have read. I usaully just go out to the garage and use my trusty air compressor.

[Darkleoco]

My side intake filter had a ring of dust perfectly representing my fan when I took it off This poor desktop needed this so bad.

[trickson]

Originally Posted by Darkleoco

I just got back home for fall break after 2 months and my desktop is in dire need of a nice cleaning. What would be the best way to clean literally everything without having to go and buy things I would not already have on hand?

I just use my lungs to blow mine out and a small paint brush. When I want to supper clean it I use a can of air.

[Derek12]

Some soft brush preferabily with natural bristles to avoid ESD surprises. And canned or compressed air.

Never a household vacuum cleaner, only a small battery powered one or you may kill the comp.

[Darkleoco]

Originally Posted by Derek12

Some soft brush preferabily with natural bristles to avoid ESD surprises. And canned or compressed air.

Never a household vacuum cleaner, only a small battery powered one or you may kill the comp.

Using a household vacuum is a good idea as long as you don't try anything completely stupid with it. For example I use it to clean my fans and filters when I remove them but obviously I won't go poking it into my actual case like an idiot.

[Derek12]

Originally Posted by Darkleoco

Using a household vacuum is a good idea as long as you don't try anything completely stupid with it. For example I use it to clean my fans and filters when I remove them but obviously I won't go poking it into my actual case like an idiot.

A good idea to kill a computer. Those things produce much ESD and even bringing closer to sensitive components can damage them I don't know if that it's "stupid".

Obviously cleaning a fan outside case or a empty case doesn't do nothing. I was refering to ESD or suction power in my previous post.

I prefer to poke inside safe than fast and dangerous. Or using Canned air.

[jaydeee]

I use dishwashing liquid soup. amazingly it does the job pretty well.

[Kantastic]

Originally Posted by jaydeee

I use dishwashing liquid soup. amazingly it does the job pretty well.

You might want to be a little more specific if you're going to recommend just an unorthodox method.

[option350z]

Air Compressor and nozzle for filling tires is usually what I use. I have no problems with that. Gets dust out of the most hard to reach places. Plus takes less time. If you have one that is.
Obviously clean the rest by hand of course.

[Delta6326]

This is what i use, just adjust the psi to what a can is and your good to go.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_320358-45003...sales_dollar|1

[RejZoR]

Originally Posted by jaydeee

I use dishwashing liquid soup. amazingly it does the job pretty well.

Most diswasher solutions are very aggressive and corrosive/oxidizing agent (like Finish brand here in Europe).
While in general it shouldn't do much to plastics it may affect colored stuff and letters if you're thinking of washing the keyboard and stuff with it.

Personally i prefer to use hot water and hand dish washing solutions (Pril, Jar and stuff). They aren't as aggressive but they do provide good cleaning and removal of grease on peripherals.

[xBruce88x]

Back when I worked at a dealership I used to use the air lines the auto techs used for their air tools lol. that worked VERY well and VERY quickly.

[The Von Matrices]

If your PC is really dirty, this has to be the quickest way to clean it:

A PC full of filth! - YouTube

[Frag Maniac]

The vacuums ruining PCs paranoia is so blown out of proportion.

The main thing that causes static in a vacuum is the motor. You have a long hose with a brush on the end of it that is far away from the motor. Horse hair brushes are fairly cheap, easy to find, and are much better than the static-prone plastic bristle ones.

When holding the hose nozzle near the brush with one hand and touching the metal frame of the PC case with the other, all static is grounded by the case, just as it would be when attaching yourself to it with an anti static wrist strap.

I happen to have a pretty decent Riccar Pristine canister vac I bought used locally for $200 that was only 1 yr old and in great shape. They go for $600-$700 new. It has a telescoping oval aluminum powerhead wand, wooden beater bar roller with horse hair brush, lifetime bearings, digital push button power level adjust, swivel power head, 4 swivel canister casters vs non pivoting wheels, lifetime roller bearings, and HEPA filtration.

I also buy HEPA bags for it on eBay that only cost me about $13.50 for a 6-pack with free shipping. HEPA bags are actually a better deal than the paper ones because the aftermarket ones (which work fine) don't cost much more and allow better airflow and don't get clogged nearly as fast. You can literally pack them full, which means they last longer than paper ones. This vac is very powerful too, and made in the USA.

I also have a Husky Quiet Air compressor which was $80 at Home Depot. It's 90 PSI, has a 3 gal hotdog tank, coiled shop hose, and I bought a trigger nozzle for it for $5. It's actually quieter than the average vacuum.

My PC case is an Antec DF-85, which I've added a 120mm side fan to blowing in on the GPU. I have the lower of the two 120mm rear fans facing inward as part of a push/pull assembly on my H50 CPU cooler. I have Silverstone fan filters over that and the side fan.

All I have to do to clean it is pull the filters out of the 3 front 120mm fan doors that swing open and dust them off with my horse hair brush/vac, then use the crevice nozzle to pull dust out of the side and rear filters.

Every few months I take the side off and blow the dust out while holding the vac brush where I'm blowing the dust to. The vac brush can be placed over the exterior of intake and exhaust fans while blowing through them from the inside.

I clean the rad/fan assembly by blowing the fans, then carefully placing the nozzle in between the fan blades without touching the rad, to blow through the rad as I move it around. The dust then clings to the inside face of the rear filter where I can suck it out with the crevice nozzle on the vac.

Since I have to do this indoors due to no outlets outdoors, I'm going to further perfect my methods. I plan to place the PC tower on my large pullout cutting board on top of the stove and use the stove's hood vent on high to pull dust out. I'm even going to take the large plastic bag that came with my TV and wrap it's open end around the side of the case after taking the panel off, and cut a small hole in it to allow me to use the air nozzle through the bottom of the bag. Using the bag to seal the side of the case off combined with the stove vent fan and the vac brush on the top PC exhaust vents, should minimize any airborne dust from lingering in my apartment.

[xBruce88x]

i really need to get another air compressor lol. I gave my room mate an Athlon II x4 system in exchange for this laptop i'm using now (see the compaq in my specs) and it had a bunch of dust and I think some carpet stuck on the heatsink

[stinger608]

Originally Posted by xBruce88x

i really need to get another air compressor lol. I gave my room mate an Athlon II x4 system in exchange for this laptop i'm using now (see the compaq in my specs) and it had a bunch of dust and I think some carpet stuck on the heatsink

http://img.techpowerup.org/121014/20...-59_997717.jpg

holy crap man!!! That will cause some heat issues for sure. Good thing ya found that out.

[jgunning]

Originally Posted by option350z

Air Compressor and nozzle for filling tires is usually what I use. I have no problems with that. Gets dust out of the most hard to reach places. Plus takes less time. If you have one that is.
Obviously clean the rest by hand of course.

I totally agree..Dont mess around with vacume cleaners in your pc..Stick with a trusty air compressor. Works wonders!Does a great job =)

[Krazy Owl]

The worst is to clean a friend PC for free and find pubic hairs in the fan. Since then I wear latex gloves! :P

[Kantastic]

Originally Posted by xBruce88x

i really need to get another air compressor lol. I gave my room mate an Athlon II x4 system in exchange for this laptop i'm using now (see the compaq in my specs) and it had a bunch of dust and I think some carpet stuck on the heatsink

http://img.techpowerup.org/121014/20...-59_997717.jpg

Looks a lot like my pop's Compaq CQ60 when I removed the fan. That area was completely invisible to me until I removed the fan (which was making clicking noises) for replacement. I doubt an air compressor would have been able to clear that out, I peeled off the dust like peeling skin off an orange.

[xBruce88x]

@KrazyOwl well we now know what type of sites your friend prefers...

@stinger608 Yea a found it when I was checking the chipset to see what cpu I could upgrade to. I really need one that supports speed step. right now I average 2 hrs on the battery. I found out I can go up to a Celeron T3500, basically an old core 2, but i'll drop in a T3300 since they're cheaper, 4gb ram, and an ssd should do

@kantastic... yea it was stuck on pretty well

... where the hell did the "thanks" button go?