Computer fans in the power supply, case and on the cpu pull a lot of dirt and dust inside the computer. This accumulated dust can interfere with proper ventilation leading to overheated components and failure.Periodic cleaning can reduce heat, lower demand on cooling fans, save electricity and prolong your computer's life.

What you need for cleaning:

For small jobs cleaning a few computers, you can use disposable compressed air duster cans. For computer lab usage it may be more economical and environmentally friendly to use an electric duster such the Metro Vac.

Compressed air can duster	Metro Vac Duster

Follow these steps to clean your computers.

Unplug all cords and remove the side panel of the case. Take the computer outside or to a well ventilated area for cleaning.

Clean the the power supply vents. The power supply has one or more cooling fans. These fans can pull in dust that clogs the ventilation leading to overheating. Using compressed air, gently blow the dust out of the vents and power supply.
Clean the fan and the heatsink for the CPU. CPU's can generate a lot of heat and require their own fan and heat sink to disperse the heat. Hold the fan blades still and blow the dust off the fan and out of the cooling fins of the heat sink.
Clean the case and components. Dust can accumulate in between component connections and cause electrical interference. Remove memory chips, add-on cards and clean the slots they connect to. Finish up by cleaning the dust from the motherboard, cables and case.

Before Computer Cleaning:

Hover over the outlined areas to see magnified images of each area.

cleaning lab computers

After Computer Cleaning:

computer after good cleaning