Do you regularly clean out your desktop?

Discussion in Computers, Electronics & Gadgets started by rossonomous • Apr 8, 2014.

  1. rossonomous

    rossonomousActive Member

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    I have made it a habit to try and clean out my tower once a month. This mostly just means taking the side off and giving it a good blow out with some compressed air. This helps to remove all the dust and help keep airflow at it's maximum which ultimately helps the tower from overheating. This can be good in the long run because you will be less likely to spend money on new components such as fans and potential other parts that are damaged from overheating.

    How often do you clean your tower?
     
  2. sidney

    sidneyWell-Known Member

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    To be honest, I only clean it when it noticeably gets dusty, lol. And I only open it when the PC is making those annoying beeps, so that means that the RAM is dusty/dirty again. So that's the time that I only open the side cover of the CPU and clean the RAM with an eraser. After that, I clean the whole inside of the CPU. Then the next cleaning time will happen when I need to open the CPU again when the PC malfunctions.
     
  3. rossonomous

    rossonomousActive Member

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    I always try to avoid waiting for an issue before fixing it. I like to make sure things don't happen in the first place rather than waiting for them to occur.

    Cleaning the whole CPU is good though and definitely helps out in the long run.
     
  4. mistymi

    mistymiActive Member

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    I don't let my fans get completely clogged with dust but I don't clean it very often because it's a hassle. The problem is blowing dust into your own room so you have to take parts out and do it outside then reassemble it. It feels good once it's cleaned though.
     
  5. eagle22

    eagle22Active Member

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    Oh I am regularly cleaning my desktop, my laptop, my gaming consoles, etc. People don't realize how much dust actually gets in these machines. One of the main reasons people's computer "break down" on them is because they were dirty on the inside!
     
  6. Rusky

    RuskyMember

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    I haven't actually cleaned mine since I got it back in September. And my friend who built it said I really should clean it out as soon as it was out of the packaging. But I've never gotten around to doing it. I really should one of these days.
     
  7. deathbyprayer

    deathbyprayerActive Member

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    I don't really have a stable cleaning habit when it comes to my PC, but I do clean it once in a while. In the case of my tower, well, it's pretty sealed off, so the dirt and dust it accumulates over time isn't that bad, but occasionally, maybe once or twice every 2-5 months, I pop out my tower from its shelve and so some good old dusting of the gears. I also do some quick cleaning whenever I notice than the fan's are becoming noisy or the heat is going up a notch.
     
  8. rossonomous

    rossonomousActive Member

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    To be honest, it doesn't have to be that much of a hassle. Just take it outside, put it on a bit of tarpaulin and go crazy. You don't have to remove all of the parts in order to clean it.

    This is very correct. It's the same with consoles, only it's harder to see the dust that is in them.
    Your friend is right. It's highly recommended, especially with summer coming up and the general heat increasing in the air.
     
  9. That'sDevo

    That'sDevoActive Member

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    I would clean my old tower several times a year. It was a huge though and always got lots of dust over time. Going with mid sized at most anymore.
     
  10. Eagle910

    Eagle910Active Member

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    I clean out my Laptop Everyday.

    At the end of everyday i run a program called CCleaner. It does all the work for me. It finds, and deletes all cache, cookies, and temporary files, and deletes them all. I do not have to do anything, but click a button. i recommend it to everyone.
     
  11. stacyje

    stacyjeActive Member

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    Im one whos desk stay full of paperwork, I try too clean my desk out at the end of every week. If I don't get it at the end of the week I try to at least get it done that first thing Monday morning.
     
  12. AB91000

    AB91000Active Member

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    I do this as well.

    CCleaner is a great program. However. Take it to a totally different level. I run windows, and all of my programs in Sanboxie. That way nothing is actually installed on my computer. They are installed in the Sandboxie.

    When i am finished. I just delete the contents of the Sandbox, and my computer goes back to normal, as if those files were ever there. I have not had a virus since i started using it. It eliminates the need for an anti virus program.
     
  13. rossonomous

    rossonomousActive Member

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    We're talking about external cleaning of your case, not running software.

    However, I do highly recommend CCleaner for internal cleaning of files.
     
  14. Steve

    SteveMember

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    Well, this is a nice opportunity to try and open that old box of mine. I haven't clean it since the day i made an upgrade and i think it really needs a little air blow and some cleaning. I usually take all the parts away, clean them and then place them back :)
     
  15. Nickchick

    NickchickWell-Known Member

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    I haven't cleaned my desktop since we got her which was a few months ago but I know I probably should. I haven't even cleaned my laptop either which is old. I always get nervous to open computers because I'm afraid I will break them. I know that sounds stupid when I'm very computer familiar but when it comes to the actual parts, I know nothing.
     
  16. tinyfang

    tinyfangMember

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    Ah you literally meant clean out the dust and stuff in the tower. I expected the thread to mean "Do you uninstall apps from your computer every now and then?"

    In that case, I rarely do but it definitely is a good idea to. Dust clumping up on the board and sockets is a bad thing. They should definitely be cleaned up at least once a month to help deter static and other ailments.
     
  17. prettycolors

    prettycolorsActive Member

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    Two times per month is how often I clean my tower PC. And honestly, I should be doing it more often! I don't know where all the dust comes from since I clean my flat weekly, but boy, does it gather inside the computer. I usually use a soft brush to remove the dust from the components and also vacuum the inside. It's a boring task, but one that must be done. Dust is the number one electronics killer, so removing it properly can save you a lot of money!
     
  18. Hedonologist

    HedonologistActive Member

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    Well not regularly no. In fact I probably only do it once a year or so if I'm ever putting in some extra ram or something has gone wrong (maybe a sign I should be doing this more often) I used to work in tech support and we did these clean quite religiously so I should know better really.
     
  19. Thejamal

    ThejamalActive Member

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    Sort of a hassle for me to clean out, so I really only do it when it gets noticeably dirty. Not the best thing for my PC, but have never had any really noticeable problems from not cleaning it out more than I have been.
     
  20. Nickchick

    NickchickWell-Known Member

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    Yeah I don't know if it's a necessity to clean it out frequently. The old computer only had problems due to viruses. It ran fine for an old computer and it rarely got cleaned. I can see why it'd be a good idea to clean more though.