July 13th, 2018 by Chris Chapman

PCs are incredibly important parts of daily life. However, they also happen to be incredibly expensive parts of daily life, too! These two factors make for a pretty convincing argument that we should take care of our computers, whether they’re for work, gaming, or internet browsing. Getting your computer fixed can be a stressful and incredibly expensive experience, especially if you’re not that confident on a computer, so it’s always good to maintain your PC well to reduce the risk of things going wrong.

How to Clean Inside Your PC Tower

You probably know to give your PC tower a quick wipe down every now and then, but many people forget that it’s just as important – if not more so – to clean inside your PC every now and then, too! After a few months of use, there’ll be a thick covering of dust all over the inside of your machine. As you might imagine, having your PC’s components clogged up with dust can quickly lead to overheating and damage, so it’s best to clean inside every few months. To clean your PC’s insides, you’ll need to remove part of the tower’s case. Before you do that, though, touch a nearby radiator to earth yourself. This will get rid of any static charge in your body so you don’t transfer it onto your PC hardware. You should also unplug your computer just to be on the safe side. On the back of your PC case, there should be a screw on each corner (usually these are just thumbscrews). If you unscrew two of these you should be able to slide one side of your case off. Be careful – if you haven’t cleaned your PC tower in months or even years you’ll have a lot of dust in there so try not to breathe it in! From here you can either use a vacuum cleaner to gently suck up near the parts or a can of compressed air to blow the dust away, where you can vacuum it up off the floor. Try to avoid touching your exposed PC components if you can help it – they’re more robust than you might think, but it’s still better to be cautious. Once you’re all done, simply screw your case back together!

How to Clean Your Monitor

It’s also important to give your monitor a clean. Computer monitors will seem to attract dust, dirt, and mysterious smudges (especially in houses with children, oddly enough) over time, so it’s important to clean them up before they get too bad. They usually won’t cause any lasting damage unless your monitor is really filthy and covered in gunk, but it can still be distracting to see fingerprints all over your screen while you work! For cleaning your monitor, all you need is a microfibre cloth. This is better than a regular cloth because the microfibres in it will clean up dust and dirt easier. If the dirt is badly caked-on, you may need a weak mixture of warm water and washing up liquid, but nothing stronger than that. Please don’t try to use any other solutions or hard surface cleaner on your monitor – it won’t end well! Simply wipe your screen with the cloth, being a bit firmer with any particularly stubborn marks. If this doesn’t get rid of the marks, use another microfibre cloth that’s been dampened with a weak soapy water solution. After this, wipe it again with your dry cloth to get rid of any streaks. With a clean monitor, now there’s one less thing that can distract you on the computer!

How to Clean Your Keyboard and Mouse

Your keyboard and mouse are easily the most unhygienic parts of your computer as you’re constantly touching them. All the sweat, grease, and bacteria from your hands will gradually build up on your keyboard and mouse over time, which in turn will attract dust and dirt, leading to a gunky residue on your keys and mouse buttons. This can be very bad for your health as well as your PC, so be sure to clean it up regularly. To do this, pick up some disinfectant and dilute it with water. Disconnect your keyboard and mouse and gently wipe them with a microfibre cloth that you’ve dampened with your disinfectant solution. Don’t forget the underside of your keyboard and mouse, which will pick up a lot of dirt from your desk. Try and let your keyboard and mouse dry properly before using them – it shouldn’t take long as you shouldn’t be using very much disinfectant; you only want to slightly dampen your keyboard and mouse, not soak them. You can also thoroughly clean your keyboard by pulling out the keys and giving the area underneath them a quick blast with your compressed air canister. It might surprise you what can fall between the cracks in your keyboard, and if you let enough debris gather down there your keyboard could end up getting jammed. After you’ve blasted out all the dirt, you can just click your keys back into place.