Computer Repair: Dust Kills Computers

Dust kills computers. Let me repeat that: DUST KILLS COMPUTERS.

Just last night, I was attempting to fix a customer's computer. He brought it to me because it would not boot and he thought he had a virus. After opening the case, I found that all the air intakes were clogged, spiders breeding on the motherboard and soot inside of the power supply. His computer actually overheated and fried the processor and motherboard. Worse, at some point, the power supply almost caught on fire, evidenced by the soot. Another computer dead before it's time.

Dust in your computer acts as a thermal blanket, actually retaining heat. Computers naturally run very hot, especially the newer, faster processors. If a processor gets too hot, it causes unexplained runtime errors or worse, hardware failure. Proper air flow is essential to maintaining for your hardware.

As a computer professional, I have seen many dusty computers. I often amaze customers by telling them about their home with amazing accuracy without ever visiting their home. How? By looking at the dust and debris in their computer. Here are some facts:

• Homes with pets often have pet hair in the computer.
• Computers that are kept in basements sometimes have actual bugs living and breeding in them, such as spiders.
• Smokers usually have a tacky, brownish film accompanying the dust.
• Non-smokers usually have a white or grey fine-particle dust.
• Computers located next to a hot air vent have double or triple the dust.

So what should I do? You should add the physical cleaning of your computer to your regular maintenance schedule at least once a year. If you are a smoker, live in a dustier environment, or have your computer located next to a heating vent, you should do clean your computer more often. Removing the dust is not hard, but it does involve opening the computer up. If you are uncomfortable with that, have your local computer professional do it for you.

How to remove dust:

1. Purchase a can of computer cleaning air. You can get these at most stores that sell computer parts, such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Comp USA. The canned air should be specifically for computers. NEVER USE AN AIR COMPRESSOR OR OTHER FORM OF AIR.
2. Unplug your computer.
3. Open your computer case.
4. In gentle one to two second sprays, spray out the fans, power supply and casing. Try not to hit the motherboard or other vital parts directly with the spray. You want to use the quick bursts to blow the dust out, not to blast the processor.
5. If you are a smoker and a film is present, you may need to remove the fans and clean them with a paper towel to remove the film.
6. Close your case and reconnect your computer.
7. Restart your computer and make sure that the cpu fan and power supply fan are running.

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog on the issues and happenings in the pc world. As you know, there are tons of blogs out there on computer repair and technology. Why should you read this blog?

First, let me tell you a little about myself. In my primary job, I work for a small college in western Pennsylvania, in the Admission and Financial Aid Office. My role is a combination of IT and enrollment management, but what I am most proud of is a large database that I wrote in FileMaker that is now used by 75 or so members of our community. Besides the database, I manage the operations and data management of the Admission Office.

I am also the owner of Barnes Computer Services, LLC, which is a small business dedicated to serving the personal computer needs of Murrysville PA and the surrounding community. BCS affords me the opportunity to fix computers, which has been a hobby of mine for quite some time.

In both of these roles, I constantly am reading and educating myself on the IT industry. In this industry, keeping up-to-date means constantly reading from many sources on a frequent basis. Some professionals skip this and in a very short time period, they slip farther and farther behind. Some of the publications I read are: techrepublic.com, eWeek, PC World, PC Magazine, Washington Times Tech, CNN Technology, Campus Technology and FileMaker Advisor.

My customers (and some colleagues) frequently ask me how the average person is supposed to keep up with the ever changing aspects of pc technology. I intend this blog to be that resource, drawing from what I learned from either these sources or through experience. It is not meant as a one-stop-shop, but rather a resource for busy people that want a quick resource, written in common language, to keep up-to-date.

I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Thank you for reading,

Bill Barnes
President