Cleaning the hard drive from dust. How to clean your computer from dust

Dust is the main enemy of all electronic devices. It worsens their heat transfer and performance, and causes breakdowns and malfunctions. To keep your computer working properly for many years, keep it clean, both outside and inside the case. Let's find out how to clean your computer from dust and dirt so that it works for a long time and does not slow down.

Cleaning Tools

The ideal means for cleaning a computer is a can of compressed air, which is sold in any electronics store. By attaching a thin tube to the cylinder, you can reach the most difficult to reach places. Using it couldn't be easier: direct the air stream to the dusty area - and you're done!

A cheaper and more effective option for blowing dust out of the body is an electric car pump. If you have one, take the system unit outside and start cleaning using it.

There are other tools for removing dust that everyone has at home: a brush, a vacuum cleaner and wipes. However, they are more difficult to work with. You have to carefully shake off the accumulated dirt from the inside of the computer and suck it up with a vacuum cleaner. Dust should not get into small holes, because... It's almost impossible to get it out of there.

Step-by-step instruction

The procedure for cleaning the system unit is as follows:

Remove dust from the power supply.
Go to CPU cooling elements.
Clean the motherboard.
Clean your hard drive.
Wipe coolers.
Remove any remaining dust from the walls of the housing.

Let's take a closer look at each point on how to properly clean your computer from dust. It is advisable to do this on a balcony or in a garage so that dust does not spread throughout the rooms.

Please note that further actions may void your warranty on some components. If the warranty has not yet expired, then consider whether it is worth cleaning it. On the other hand, if your computer is quite dirty, then most likely the warranty period has already expired.

Unplug the device and remove the cover. Then find the power supply; it looks like this.

Carefully disconnect it (usually it is held on by 4 bolts that unscrew on the back wall; do not forget about the wires) and place it on the table. Remove any existing dust. Then unscrew the lid and clean the inside. Some bolts may be located under the label. When finished, reassemble the device. Now you know how to clean your computer power supply from dust.

Now the processor. The cooling radiator, which is bolted on, needs to be removed and cleaned; A regular brush will do. Lubrication of this element (if necessary) must be done with extreme caution so as not to damage it.

Let's take out the processor itself. It is held in place by a clip that is easy to remove. Using a napkin (regular or moistened with alcohol), remove the thermal paste and apply a new layer. One small drop will be enough; it should be smeared over the entire surface of the processor.

It's time for a hard drive. In the system unit it looks like this.

Cleaning it is easy: run a brush over the surface of the part and remove the dust with a vacuum cleaner.

Go to the motherboard. It looks like this:

Disconnect it from the power supply; Unscrew all existing bolts. First you need to remove the video card and sweep away the dust from it. Then go over the entire surface of the motherboard with a brush. Pay special attention to the corners of the parts, as a large amount of dirt accumulates there. Once everything is ready, the video card needs to be fixed in its original place.

The main step is to clean all coolers. Their number in each computer is different. In simple system units they are located on the processor and power supply. Coolers can also be located on the motherboard, video card and on the back wall.

First, disconnect all coolers; This can usually be done with a screwdriver. Then, using a slightly damp cloth, wipe the blades. Let them dry thoroughly. After reinstallation, for greater efficiency, you can blow out the cooler with a vacuum cleaner.

When the internal space of the system unit is free of parts, wipe the walls of the case with a napkin and also remove dust from the wires. Reassembling the computer must be done in reverse order. To avoid confusion, write down your every action.

Cleaning your mouse and keyboard

If you are done with the system unit, then you can clean the peripheral equipment at the same time. But here you need to be especially careful. If you are not confident, I advise you to do only external cleaning without interfering with the keyboard and mouse housing.

If you still want to get rid of dust and dirt on the keyboard, you can do the following:

Disconnect the keys.
Turn the keyboard over and tap the back side.
Use a vacuum cleaner and wipe the surface with a napkin.

Cleaning the mouse is done as follows:

Remove the screws from the case.
Clean the wheel and internal parts.
Wipe the outer casing with a damp cloth.

Try to clean more often. Remember, dust in large quantities can cause a short circuit and burn, for example, the motherboard. It's unlikely you need it.

There's nothing to be ashamed of. What happened? Look, my computer is full of dust. These are the emotions experienced by those users who accidentally, for some reason, opened the lid of the system unit and

never clean their computer. And as always the question is asked. In this material I will cover this topic extensively and tell you all the stages cleaning your computer from dust in detail. To date computer cleaning is a fairly important process. If there is dust in the computer and the computer has not been cleaned for a long time, the computer will slow down and even begin to overheat. To prevent such unpleasant incidents, you need to do it at least once every six months. clean your computer from dust.

Before you start cleaning the system unit, disconnect it completely from the power supply. Next, remove all the wires from the back so that it is convenient.

Attention, if you do not know how to connect all the cables back, take a photo before removing all the cables.

For safety reasons, remove the battery on the motherboard to avoid short circuit.

According to my statistics, cleaning a computer is divided into 3 stages:

Superficial cleaning of the computer
Cleaning your computer with a compressor
Detailed computer cleaning

Tools that will help you clean your computer from dust

Let's look at what tools are needed for each method.

Surface cleaning

For this method, you need to use a vacuum cleaner with a fine attachment or an antistatic brush (preferably).

Using these tools, you can both superficially clean your computer of dust and get rid of it.

Cleaning with a compressor

How to clean your computer from dust using a compressor. Not everyone will be able to implement this method, since not everyone has a compressor at home. As a compressor, you can use a car pump that is connected to the cigarette lighter.

You can also ask your neighbors.

Detailed computer cleaning

How to clean your computer from dust taking it apart piece by piece. To do this, you will need a flat-head and a flat-head screwdriver. Next you will need a brush (preferably antistatic), you can also use a compressor.

Superficial computer cleaning

First, completely disconnect the system unit from the power supply. Next, remove the cover from the system unit. We take a vacuum cleaner and start collecting dust. If you use a brush, it is advisable to remove the battery on the motherboard that is responsible for the BIOS settings.

Everything is done very simply. No special equipment or skills required. The dust is collected by the vacuum cleaner and you don't have to sneeze.

Cannot completely clean your computer from dust

Cleaning your computer with a compressor

As you might have guessed with this method cleaning your computer from dust, you need a compressor. It doesn't matter small or big. Next, remove the same cover, go outside and turn on the compressor. We direct the air flow to the source of dust and clean the entire system unit.

Attention, if you use a compressor for cars, direct the jet from a certain distance. Otherwise there may be damage.

Cleaning your computer from dust by 80%. Convenient and fast.

Lack of equipment. Dust scattered in all directions.

Detailed computer cleaning

With this method cleaning your computer from dust lasts longer than the first two methods. First, as with all methods, you need to completely disconnect the computer from the power supply. Next, remove the cover and begin to disassemble the computer. We remove the video card, take a compressor and blow out the dust. Next, take a brush (antistatic) and clean the board completely, and to finish, blow air again.

We remove the processor cooling system i.e. cooler We also carry out cleaning as with a video card. Next, remove the hard drive and clean it. And the last part is the motherboard, clean it until it shines. Before cleaning, remove the battery on the motherboard to avoid short circuit. Also, don’t forget to clean the system unit box.

Of all the listed methods, I chose detailed cleaning of the computer from dust. How to completely clean your computer from dust

In this article, I looked at three main ways to clean a computer from dust and addressed the question of how to clean a computer from dust. I hope the material will be useful. If you have any questions, write in the comments or email me.

You might be interested

Dust constantly accumulates on electronic circuits and computer components. Just like a magnet, static electricity that forms on the monitor and printer acts on dust. It collects all the remaining small dust particles that did not enter the system unit. Sooner or later, almost every computer owner asks himself the question: how to clean it from dust?

Why do you need to clean your PC?

Dust is a computer's worst enemy. Over time, it accumulates and settles on the motherboard, video card, and hard drives. In addition, it envelops fans, wires and radiators, preventing them from cooling and increasing the fire hazard. As a result, the processor can heat up to ninety degrees Celsius, while its normal temperature ranges from thirty to sixty degrees. In order not to go to extremes, it is necessary to periodically (at least once a year) open the computer case and remove accumulated dust.

Preparing for cleaning

Before you start cleaning your computer from dust, you should check the temperature, and. After cleaning them from dust, you can notice a significant drop in temperature. This is very important, because if there is no required cooling, the computer will constantly restart or even not turn on at all. Now let's look at the basic preparation steps.

First you need to disconnect your computer from the power supply. Then you need to disconnect the printer, webcam, speakers and other third-party devices from the system unit.

Static electricity sometimes accumulates in the hole where the power plug connects to the computer. To remove it, you just need to touch the three open contacts with your finger. After this, you need to unscrew the bolts from the back that hold the side wall of the case and remove the cover, but not the one where the motherboard is located, but the opposite one. The bolts must be placed in a box or somewhere where they will not get lost.

The system unit must be placed on the right side. Although you can clean your computer in a vertical position, it is much more convenient to do it horizontally. You need to remove the RAM from the system unit, not forgetting to remove the latches at the ends of the board.

Then you need to remove the video card. As a rule, it is held in place by a bolt screwed to the back wall and a latch on the motherboard. The bolt must first be unscrewed and the latch must be removed. After completing all of the above steps, you need to remove the drive and hard drive. All removed parts must be carefully laid out in the order in which they were removed. This will make it easier to insert them back.

What tools are needed for cleaning

Then you need to clean the chips from dust. When the vacuum cleaner tube is near motherboards, extra care must be taken. The result of carelessness may be a slight blow that can cause damage to the fragile board.

Now it's time to use the eraser. The fact is that the contacts inserted into the connectors of the motherboard (for example), in some cases become oxidized, which is why the board malfunctions or even stops working altogether. The contacts should be carefully rubbed on both sides with an eraser. This must be done carefully so that no rubber remains on the contacts.

After cleaning, return all components to their place, connect all disconnected connectors from the power supply and connectors on the rear panel.

How to prevent dust from getting into your PC

To carry out the procedures described above as rarely as possible, you need to follow the following tips. It is necessary to leave a gap between the system unit and the wall. Its width should be at least five centimeters. This is necessary for normal ventilation and to prevent the computer from overheating. Whenever you wet clean a room, be sure to wipe the area behind the system unit, as a large amount of dust accumulates there. Moreover, it helps reduce the amount of dust inside the computer. You should clean your computer from dust at least once every six months.

Please be aware that dust can cause serious problems with your computer. As a result of its accumulation in the system unit, the computer begins to slow down, freeze, various errors occur, etc. It also happens that accumulated dust causes a sudden shutdown of the computer. If you encounter difficulties in cleaning your computer from dust on your own, it is better to contact the specialists of the computer help center.

For forced cooling of blocks and boards of a stationary PC, coolers (fans) are installed in it, which suck cold air inside the case. Along with the outside air, small particles of various debris get inside, so after a while the question arises: how to clean the computer from dust. If this is not done in a timely manner, the computer units will begin to overheat and the efficiency of the home assistant will noticeably decrease. If there is severe overheating, the protection will be triggered and the PC will begin to turn off spontaneously.

How to clean your computer

If during operation the computer begins to make noise louder than usual, and the image on the monitor begins to clearly slow down, then in all likelihood, the system unit needs to be cleaned of dust. You can take your computer to a service company, or you can try to deal with the problem at home, on your own. First you need to determine the sequence of work.

Computer processor

Cleaning is usually carried out in the following order:

Clean the power supply.
Remove large pieces of accumulated dust from the inside of the case.
Clean the radiator that cools the processor.
Clean and lubricate or replace the cooler (fans)
Clean the motherboard, its components and devices attached to it from dust.

Before cleaning, you should prepare a soft cloth, a vacuum cleaner, and a Phillips and flathead screwdriver. In addition, it is advisable to have a soft brush on hand (an old makeup brush, a small paint brush, or a shaving brush will do).

It should be remembered that during work, some of the dust will fly out, so it is advisable to clean the system unit in an appropriate room - on a balcony, in a bathroom, in a corridor, in a workshop or in a garage.

Cleaning the power supply

When cleaning a PC, the power supply is often left “for later”. But you shouldn't do this. Dust is sucked into the device by the cooler along with air. It settles on the board, covering parts, heatsinks and microcircuits like loose felt. This greatly reduces heat transfer. As a result, the device overheats, its performance deteriorates, and ultimately it may fail.

Computer power supply

Before starting work, you must disconnect the computer from the electrical network and disconnect the wire from the power supply, then you can begin dismantling and cleaning:

We lay the system unit on its side, unscrew the bolts at the end (usually two) and remove the side cover.
We inspect the bundle of wires coming from the power supply. Be sure to disconnect the connectors on the hard drive and optical drive for reading CD-DVD discs.
The motherboard power cables are usually quite long and do not need to be disconnected. But if you decide to completely disconnect the device, then the long connector should be removed from the socket very carefully, while holding the board, since it is usually difficult to remove.
Unscrew the 4 mounting bolts on the rear panel and remove the power supply.
Find and unscrew the four small bolts located in the corners on the side of the removed device. One of them is usually located under the paper sticker.
Remove the cover. It is shaped like the letter “P” and covers three sides at the same time.
Using a brush or small vacuum cleaner, carefully clean the board, parts and radiators from dust.
Clean the cooler with a brush. Do not touch the fan blades with your hands, as dust will stick to greasy fingerprints very quickly.
Assemble the power supply. All operations are performed in reverse order. If it does not interfere with access to the motherboard, then you can immediately install this unit in place. Or you can secure it in the system unit after cleaning all PC devices.

Motherboard power cables

How to clean the motherboard and its components

First of all, you need to remove dirt from the cooling radiator installed on the processor. At the same time, specialists dismantle the cooler and radiator, clean them and replace the thermal paste. Users fail to do this correctly and risk damaging the processor. Therefore, at home, the radiator is not removed. If the cooler installed on it is secured with bolts, then it should be removed, as this will allow for better removal of dust between the plates.

Use a thin wooden stick (a toothpick will do just fine) to remove dirt from all the cracks between the radiator fins. When finished, you should sweep it with a brush, clean the cooler from dust and install it in place. After such maintenance, the processor will not overheat, which means its operating efficiency will become noticeably higher.

The final stage is cleaning the motherboard.

Motherboard

If the video card is not built-in, then you need to remove it (this is not difficult to do), then clean it from dust with a brush. The radiator and cooler on the chip are cleaned in the same way as the radiator cooling the processor.
Use a brush to remove dust from the motherboard and parts attached to it.
Remove all dirt and dust from the system unit case.
Secure the video card in place.
Reinstall the power supply if this has not been done previously.

We connect the power wires to the motherboard.

Connecting the power cable to the motherboard

The long connector must be inserted into the connection on the motherboard very carefully, in no case using much force. The motherboard is fixed at several points in such a way that it is actually suspended. If you press hard, cracks may form on it. Such a board will most likely have to be replaced with a new one.

Connect the hard drive and optical drive to power.

It remains to make sure that everything that was unscrewed and disconnected was installed correctly. After this, you need to install the side cover on the system unit and secure it with bolts.

You can connect your computer to the network and check its operation.

Over time, our computer begins to work slower or, as they say (slows down), strange noises appear. It even happens that it just turns off and turns off, you start to worry, thinking that it’s time for your computer to go to the landfill. Plus, to all this, you begin to notice that the main hard drive is full of some strange files, you try to clean it using different methods, but nothing works. Here we will deal with a question that will tell how to clean your computer yourself at home, eliminate extraneous noise, clean your computer from dust, as well as unnecessary files and much more.

How to clean your computer from dust!

I will say this, in order to clean the computer from dust, we do not need large financial expenses; all these manipulations can be performed at home with a minimum of knowledge about the computer. You may ask why you need to clean your computer? I answer, the computer has many holes through which dust is sucked in and settles on the internal parts of the system unit, over time it becomes more and more there, thereby covering the fins of the cooling radiators of such main parts as the processor, video card, hard drive, which is why these devices begin to overheat and the computer begins to slow down, work incorrectly, it happens that dust clogs the radiators so much that the fans begin to make noise. To prevent this from happening, we will clean the computer from dust at home. I recommend doing this at least once a year. So we need: if you have a vacuum cleaner at home, a simple cross-head screwdriver, a regular paint brush, some thermal paste.

Let's go - we take and disconnect from our system unit all the wires that are connected to it and remember where they were connected, take our system unit, use a cross-head screwdriver, select a place where we will clean the internal parts of the system unit and, as shown in the picture below, unscrew the two screws and move the side cover of our computer to the side. After we remove the cover, all the main parts of the system unit will become available to us.

Here is a brief description of all the main parts of the computer that we have to clean from dust, everything is outlined in the picture below, so when you carry out the cleaning itself, you will already know exactly where and what is located.

Now you already know the structure of the computer system unit and we can safely start cleaning the computer; from the picture below you can see for yourself how dusty the system unit and its internal parts can become. Let's go, take a brush and slowly and carefully begin to clean all the fans, special attention should be paid to the processor radiator, video card and RAM.

Be careful and don't rush, as some parts are fragile and may break. If possible, try to remove the parts you are cleaning, remember how and where they are; in inaccessible places, I recommend using a vacuum cleaner or compressed air in cans, which are specially sold for cleaning computers in stores. Remember the most important thing - these are clean fans and radiators, which are usually located on the processor and video card!

Don't allow so much dust in your computer and it will serve you for a very long time! Let's assume that all the dust has been cleaned from the system unit; we move on to the next step in eliminating overheating and slowdown of the computer. But before that, I recommend reading the topic “”.

Be sure to change the thermal paste under the processor!

On the way to completely eliminating all possible breakdowns involving slowdowns and overheating of the computer, I recommend changing the thermal paste under the heatsink of the most basic and important part of the processor. In the picture below I tried to show how the radiator is approximately removed. You just need to find the connector where the processor fan is connected to the motherboard and disconnect it. Then unscrew the screws or plastic fasteners as shown in the picture, then remove the radiator and clean the upper part of the processor and radiator with a napkin. After we clean everything, we apply new thermal paste.

Heat-conducting paste is usually sold in a tube or syringe; it can be purchased at any computer store. It must be applied in a thin layer as shown in the picture below. As a rule, a small ball is squeezed out in the center of the processor and smeared over the entire plane of the processor itself. This can be done with any stick or usually with your finger. Attention, the layer should not be thick but slightly cover the working part of the processor. Shown in more detail in the picture below.

At this stage, our process of replacing the theriopaste under the processor heatsink is completed and the computer has been cleaned of dust; we proceed to reassemble the system unit in the reverse order. I think that after what has been done, it will not be difficult for you to assemble it in the reverse order. Believe me, after such actions, your computer will definitely stop overheating and slowing down, unnecessary noise will be removed, and much more. At this point, our stage of mechanical cleaning is completed and our computer is ready for work, all that remains is to turn it on and clean it of unnecessary files, thereby speeding up its operation and freeing up additional space on the hard drives. Below I will give a couple of examples of how you can clean your computer of unnecessary files.

A standard way to clean your computer by deleting old files!

Let's start deleting old and unnecessary files in the usual way provided by the Windows operating system itself. This method is simple at first glance, but thanks to it you can clear and free up sometimes a large amount of free space on your hard drive by deleting temporary system files, clearing system cache files, and so on. This can be done very simply: to do this, go to “My Computer”, here select the partition of the hard drive that you would like to clean from unnecessary files and right-click on it in the drop-down menu, select “Properties”, a window will open, select the “General” tab and Below, select “Disk Cleanup”.

An additional window will appear as shown in the picture below, it will offer a list of files that can be deleted. All you have to do is check the boxes and click the “OK” button. This way, you can easily clean your system of junk and unnecessary files in almost three steps, freeing up additional free space. Oh yes, I almost forgot in the same window there is a button “Clean up system files”. I'll tell you a little about this function, here you can clear system restore checkpoints. But this function should be used if you are sure that your computer is working normally.

Now you know how you can easily and quickly clean your personal computer of outdated, unnecessary and many other files. Now, in conclusion, I recommend speeding up the work of our personal friend and assistant a little in the same simple way as cleaning.

A standard way to speed up your computer by defragmenting your hard drive!

I think you will ask how hard drive defragmentation can help us in computer acceleration. I think the answer will be here too. Let me briefly tell you, every user of a personal computer constantly downloads and deletes files from the hard drive, and so every file, be it “deleted/downloaded”, is written constantly and each time in different cells on the disk, their position changes and now they are virtually scattered throughout the entire disk and when reading information, the system looks for it scatteredly, and not in order. And after we do the defragmentation, the files will be placed on shelves so the system can quickly find everything, thanks to this our computer will significantly speed up its operation. Well, let's start, our actions are simple, just like in cleaning a computer, we need to follow the following path. Right-click on the My Computer icon and select Properties in the drop-down window, select the Tools tab as shown in the picture below, select Run disk defragmenter and here we indicate the partition of the hard drive that we will defragment and click Disk defragmentation after these steps, the placement of files on shelves will begin will speed up your computer quite well.

So we have optimized the operation of your computer in simple ways, such as cleaning the computer from dust, deleting unnecessary files, and speeding up the computer by defragmenting the hard drive, for which I congratulate you. Thanks to such simple manipulations, your computer will last much longer and without any problems. If you don’t understand something, write comments, ask questions and I will try to help if I can. With respect to you!

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