It’s amazing the things I’ve never done but need to. Somehow, until last week, I never knew that one is supposed to actually clean her computer once a month. And, by clean, I don’t mean viewing your cluttered desktop and trashing all those extra photos and filing your documents. Nor do I mean spraying Method on a rag and taking the rag to the plastic pieces surrounding the computer. (Though both of those are necessary, too.) Last Monday, my friends at West Chester Computer Doctors shared this message on their Facebook page:
Desktop computer maintenance 101… Keep it clean!
- Every few months (or more frequently in a house with pets, carpet, or a lot of dust), you should disconnect your computer, take it outside, stand upwind, and blast the fans, heatsinks, and power supply with compressed air.
- Dirty computers do not cool effectively and can lead to data corruption or worse.
- Make sure you stand upwind, so the dust and debris you are blasting out of the computer don’t end up on you or in your lungs.
- Also, keep your compressed air can vertical to prevent propellant from getting all over your system.
- Vacuuming out the inside of your computer can result in damage as jumpers or other loose connectors can get sucked right out.
West Chester Computer Doctors clean all computers that come into our shop even if repairs are declined.
So, yay. At least my computers have been cleaned the times that I’ve brought them into the shop. The good news is that I don’t have to bring my computer in often. The bad news is that that means that my computer hasn’t been cleaned since I purchased it in November. Um… yeah. That’s not so good.
West Chester Computer Doctors, located in West Chester, PA, is dedicated to providing the highest level of service and customer satisfaction at affordable prices. Providing end-to-end IT support for customers throughout the mid–Atlantic region since 1992, their highly skilled team has several years of support experience working for both large and small corporations and home users. (including me). Contact them through their webpage or chat with them on their Facebook page.
I did not receive compensation for this post; I just thought it was info worth sharing (and recording for the future.)