Originally Posted by
Jeremy
Thanks corker for reading the article. As long as you use a little care, it isn't too difficult to do some physical cleaning, and if your fans and vents are dirty it can cause airflow problems and cause your PC to run to hot which can slow down your PC's performance, as well as shorten the life of your hardware. When your components get hot, they expand, when you shut down your PC, they cool back down and contract. Over time the expanding and contracting of your components can cause damage. Good airflow helps minimize the expansion of your hardware and prolongs component life. If you decide to try cleaning your PC, just make sure you disconnect all power to the machine i.e. disconnect the Power Supply Unit from power and use a soft dry cloth or dry cotton swab. If you have compressed air, that works great. Remember when cleaning your fans that you want to be careful not to directly spray them with air as this can cause damage to the fans if they spin too fast. Just use your finger or cotton swab to hold the fan in place during cleaning. As long as you minimize touching components and cords you'll be fine. You can do it corker!