Hi, I have a question about cleaning the PC on the inside.
I've been hearing some strange noises from the PC lately, which occurs sometimes when I am watching a video on the Internet. After reading some articles posted here regarding those noises I found out that the cause of it might be a fan. Of course, I'd like to get rid of the sound since it makes me feel unconfortable not exactly knowing what to do.
So now here's my question: Whenever you want to clean your PC on the inside [especially the fans (CPU, Graphic Card)] what do you have to consider? Wear certain gloves, make sure not standing on a carpet, etc. I'd like to know as many points as possible, so any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,

Yuki

Hi Yuki,

  TBH, I just usually open up the case - get a can of ole dust off and go to town to remove all the dirt I see, whether its on a board or clogged in a fan. If you want to be really safe, then don't stand on any carpet, make sure your grounded and are wearing non-conductive material. Disconnect the PSU from the wall and switch it off - you could go as far as disconnecting the mainboard from the PSU if you want as well as wearing rubber sole shoes, but like I said I usually just open it and start spraying with dustoff, dont really touch anything with my body - just let the air do the work. Also, dirt could be one source of the noise, the other could just be that the fan is failing, if so itll just need to be replaced. If you can identify which fan is actually making the noise - give it a good ole once over with the spray can, leave the case open - power it up, if its still making noise - look at it when its spinning if it looks wobbly or just whinning hysterically then its gotta be replaced.

Dizowned's use of compressed-air to clean-out a PC is probably the safest route to go, Yuki. The last thing anyone should use is a vacuum cleaner as it induces a lot of static electricity that can kill the electronics!

I can't tell you how many people have told me they use the vac. I will disagree with one statement. If you unplug the PSU from the case, you won't get properly grounded. Unless of course he has an anti-static wrist strap.In that case unplug away.

Lastly, an old tech friend once told me he had a customer that killed a fan by spinning it backwards while cleaning it. He said he holds fans still while blowing them off for that reason. Can't validate that though.