A month or so ago, the CPU fan in my PC seemed to be going into overdrive every once in a while. This condition worsened over the course of the next few weeks, to the point that the fan was on much more than it was off. The cause? Dust.

The problem: The inside of your PC is somewhat aerodynamic–it depends on air flow to keep the heat-generating parts cool. The chip in your PC that does all the thinking gets as hot as a box in a forest fire, even when your PC is cooling itself normally. When your PC case vents get clogged with dust, restricting the air flow, the CPU starts slowing down to reduce over-heating.

The result is a computer that runs slower than it should, decreasing your working efficiency along with it.

This affects home computers more than office workstations. Office environments tend to be less dusty, due to things like low pile carpeting, frequent visits by the cleaning crew and a lack of furry friends.

If you are like me, you know you should clean out your PC on a regular basis. If you are also like me, you wait and wait, until your PC fan starts to sound like an airliner, and your programs slow to a crawl.

With luck, your PC will just slow down. However, overheating can cause wear and tear on the electronic parts as well as the fans themselves, leading to costly repair bills.

You may confuse the slowness due to overheating with unwanted programs and spyware and pay your local tech support  to come out and unnecessarily run spyware removal programs. You may be told you need more RAM. You may be told your hard drive is too full. You may be told you need a new PC.

When it may just need a good cleaning.

For office computers:

Ask your tech support people for help, or at least for permission, before opening up a work computer!  They can either schedule the work for you, or give you tips on how to do it safely.

For home computers:

If you feel comfortable with the insides of your computer, cleaning a PC is not a difficult task. It does require care, though.

Do not:

• Use a household vacuum.
• Use a compressor.
• Touch the surfaces of the card inside with your hands, or with a static-y duster.

Do:

• Buy canned air from your local office supply store, and use that to blow out the dust.
• Use an anti-static cleaning brush to loosen compacted particles and clean fan blades.

If you don’t feel comfortable working inside your computer, call your neighborhood tech support company for a price.  Cleaning your computer is a pretty quick process, and shouldn’t cost much.  If you’re interested, ask if they can show you how–that may cost a little extra, but save you money over the long run.

If your computer is anywhere near as dusty as mine was, you will notice an immediate improvement once it’s clean-your fan will be quieter, and your computer will be faster.