Description of the problem:
To be practical ah
Ans:
Cleaning your computer is actually quite an important task. A sticky keyboard can seriously affect your typing speed, a dusty monitor can seriously affect your ability to browse websites and send/receive emails, and dust inside the case can affect the machine's stable operation or overclocking. The purpose of this author's article is to guide you to clean your personal computer to ensure that it works stably and efficiently. Although this article is not comprehensive, there must be some inevitable omissions, but I believe that most users can clean the computer to provide some help.
The first thing you need to do before cleaning your PC is of course to turn off the power. Cleaning your PC with the power on is a very dangerous thing to do and can lead to hardware damage.
Let's start by looking at the tools you need to clean your computer. The tools listed here are not comprehensive, but are just the tools I use to clean my computer, and the reader doesn't necessarily need to follow suit.
- A soft cotton rag
- Glass or TV cleaner
- Alcohol
- Cotton swabs
- Screwdriver
- Earwash
If you don't have any of the above, you can always find something similar to use instead. For example, if you don't have an earwash ball, you can use a bucket of air to replace it, but make sure that the air you blow out is cold, or else you risk damaging the hardware.
Monitor cleaning
Cleaning the monitor must be divided into two parts, one is to clean the monitor screen, and the other is to clean the monitor shell. To clean the monitor screen you can use some of the cleaners used to clean glass or TVs. First pour a part of the cleaner on a clean soft rag, the rag is a little wet on it, pay attention not to pour too much, so as to avoid the detergent dripping into the display. Then gently wipe the screen of the monitor with this soft cloth to achieve the purpose of cleaning. Usually, such specialized cleaners can achieve a very satisfactory cleaning effect.
Wipe the monitor shell
Most of the monitor shell is milky white, after a long time of use will not only accumulate some dust, but also easy to stain some debris. I use a CRT monitor, due to the work will dissipate some heat, so the back of the monitor shell has a lot of heat sinks. These holes usually accumulate more dust, is the key part of the cleaning. I first soaked the rag, and then wrung out to no longer drip before using it to wipe the monitor's shell. Wringing it out is a particularly important step, so that no water drips from the cooling holes to the inside of the monitor. After wiping the casing, I used an earwash ball to clean the dust from the heat sink. Do not open the casing of the monitor when cleaning the monitor, CRT monitors within the cathode ray gun voltage is very high, unauthorized disassembly is quite dangerous. When cleaning the monitor you must turn off the power, it is best to unplug it as well, so as not to accidentally touch the switch during the cleaning process.
Cleaning dust from heat sinks
The cleaning process for LCD monitors is similar to that for CRT monitors, but because of the smaller size and the lack of many heat sinks, it's easier to clean.
Keyboard cleaning
Keyboard cleaning depends on usage. If the surface of the keys is just a little dusty, you can wipe the keyboard with an old dishwashing loofah dipped in some decontamination powder. But if the keyboard is only slightly dusty, and not serious words, you can not disassemble the keyboard, only individual keys pry down, and then use the earwash ball to remove the dust inside. However, this method has some disadvantages, first of all, the keys are not very easy to pry down, and like space, SHIFT, such as the larger keys in the process of prying down may be damaged. I recommend using this method with some caution.
The circuit board
The conductive contacts at the bottom of the keys
The most dusty places
If the keyboard is full of dust, hair, or even cracker crumbs that make the keys insensitive or impossible to press, it's best to turn the keyboard face down, use a screwdriver to disassemble the keyboard, then remove the circuit board halfway down, and then use a cloth to remove all the debris that is stuck to the bottom of the keys. Wipe off all the debris stuck to the bottom of the keys. If your keyboard is still under warranty, this method of cleaning is not very suitable for you. Disassembling the keyboard will void the warranty.
If the keys themselves are dirty, you can try a cleaning method recommended by a friend of mine. Put the keyboard in a long sock and tie the sock tightly (be especially careful, otherwise the keys will fall out and damage the washing machine). Then put it in the washing machine with your clothes. By the time your clothes are done, your keyboard will be clean. Generally most or all of the keys will come off after cleaning, I recommend to put the keyboard in the sun for more than two hours and wait until the inside of the keyboard is completely dry before putting the keys back on the keyboard. This cleaning method is relatively alternative, please use caution.
Mouse cleaning
The current mouse is mainly divided into mechanical mouse and photoelectric mouse, the two kinds of mouse cleaning is a big difference. Mechanical mouse cleaning is the main mouse inside the ball. Usually mechanical mouse in a long time after use, the ball will be stained with a lot of dust, affecting the normal work of the mouse. In fact, you only need to open the mechanical mouse bottom cover, the ball out. Use alcohol to wipe carefully, and then dry. Then use a cotton swab dipped in alcohol to wipe the mouse inside the slide, usually here will also accumulate a lot of dust. After wiping, wait for the alcohol to evaporate completely, and then put the rollerball into the mouse. If it's too dirty and difficult to clean, you can also boil the ball in boiling water for 5 to 10 minutes. For optical mice, the cleaning process is a bit easier. Users can clean the optical head of the mouse with a cotton swab dipped in detergent or alcohol.
If the mouse buttons or scroll wheel are not responsive, the mouse must be disassembled for cleaning. Usually there is a screw on the bottom of the mouse that you can unscrew to remove the mouse. Many mouse manufacturers will put a label on the screw hole, and the user will lose the warranty after removing the label. After disassembling the mouse, you can use a cotton swab moistened with alcohol to clean the mouse's scroll wheel as well as the button contacts.
The ball and the feet are the most important parts to clean
The bearings need to be cleaned after a long period of time
The ball is very prone to dust
After cleaning
Before cleaning the feet
After cleaning the feet
The feet are cleaned after cleaning
The feet are cleaned after cleaning
The last part of the mouse that needs to be cleaned is the feet, and most of the mice have four plastic feet at the bottom of the mouse. The plastic feet, after a long time of use will be stained with a lot of dust. The first step is to use a cotton swab and alcohol to clean the pads. However, a better way is to stick a special foot sticker on the mouse, which not only protects the mouse's feet but also allows the mouse to be used more smoothly.
Optical drive cleaning
Optical drive cleaning consists of two main parts - the tray and the laser head. Optical drives that have been in use for a long time usually have some dust accumulated on the tray, which can be popped out of the optical drive trays, and then the tray can be wiped down with alcohol or cleaner, and then allowed to retract back into the optical drive after the tray is completely dry.
Cleaning the trays
Dusty laser heads can interfere with readability
If your CD-ROM drive is struggling to read discs, it's likely that the laser heads are dirty. You need to buy a laser head cleaning device for CD or DVD players, then disassemble the drive and clean the laser head according to the instructions.
Chassis / card cleaning
Chassis cleaning is relatively simple, mainly the use of earwash ball inside the chassis, motherboards, graphics cards and other equipment on the dust blown away, if the dust is more than the author suggests that the chassis boards are all removed to clean, so the effect is better. The chassis shell can be cleaned with a wet rag, but pay attention to the rag as much as possible to wring dry, do not let the water flow into the chassis.
The motherboard has more interfaces, which are prone to dust, especially some of the vacant interfaces, such as unused PCI interfaces or memory slots on the motherboard. In the future, installing boards in slots where dust has entered can easily lead to system instability. I recommend using an earwax ball to blow the dust out of the slot, rather than using a cotton swab or other toothpick to clean it. Using a cotton swab or toothpick is likely to cause more debris to accumulate in the slot.
Blow out the dust
While cleaning the slots, it's best to also clean the gold fingers of the card. I recommend using a clean, soft cloth or an eraser to wipe the gold finger portion of the board. This not only ensures that the card works more stably and eliminates potential problems, but also protects the gold finger and prolongs the life of the card.
The gold finger is stained with a lot of dust
I used an eraser
After cleaning
The board fan and the power supply fan are one of the most important places to clean, especially the power supply fan. Many cases are designed with the power supply as an air outlet, which can lead to a lot of dust accumulating on the power supply fan. Without removing the power supply, you can use an earwash ball to blow the dust off the fan.
There is a lot of dust on the graphics card fan
It's even scarier when you take it apart
Is there too much of a difference after cleaning?
You can oil the bearings after removing the tabs
VGA and processor fans usually accumulate a lot of dust as well. Users can simply remove the fan to clean it. A lot of fans make a lot of noise when they are used for a long period of time, mostly due to the aging of the bearings, and a little bit of oil inside the bearings of the fan can reduce the noise of the fan.
Cleaning the fan
Cleaning the external ports
Most external ports are relatively small and not easily dusted or cleaned, so I don't think it's necessary to clean most of them. The only thing that needs to be cleaned is the USB port. I recommend using an earwash ball to blow off the dust inside, rather than using tools such as alcohol or cotton swabs to clean it. This can easily damage the interface.
Summary
The benefits of cleaning your computer are obvious, not only to ensure stable operation, but also to reduce the noise of the computer and accelerate the heat dissipation. The computer does not need to be cleaned often, usually only need to pay attention to the monitor and chassis cleaning, three months or so to clean the mouse (mechanical mouse needs to be cleaned more frequently), the chassis internal about a year or so to clean enough