Subscribe by EmailAttack of the Killer Dust Bunnies
June 25, 2008 by Geeks are Sexy | 13 commentsYou’ve been using your computer for years, and up until today, you never had to open it. You don’t know much about computers anyways, so if everything seems to be working fine, why would you bother? But this morning, after unsuccessfully trying to power it on, you decide to drag your computer from its comfy looking spot under your desk. You unscrew the side panel, and a vision of horror jumps at you.
Little did you know that furry little creatures called dust bunnies like to get into your systems at night. They usually are very insidious, so you often won’t notice them until it’s too late.
The moral of this story? Everyone should open their computer case from time to time. A little bit of compressed air in there each 2-3 months can’t really hurt now, can it?
Header picture source | Creds go to Korben.info (French) for the inspiration
- Attack of the Killer Asteroid
- Computer maintenance, or archaeological dig?
- Mosquito Attack! – Interesting Facts About Mosquitoes
- Remix Videos: Another One Bites the Dust
Thanks for the link :-) I love your blog and your sexy geekchick :-)
dammmmmm!!!!
Compressed air? Get the Hoover (vacuum) on it boss!
You are an idiot. If you want to fry your PC go for it. Vacuum=static electricity=dead PC.
Luckily my computer never got that bad. And that top picture is very fitting. haha.
How do you get rid of dust bunnies on laptops? I’m too chicken to open it since I feel there will spare parts left at the moment I put it back together again.
Dang dirty! And I thought the last computer I worked on was bad! This one beats it by a mile!
I’ve seen some bad PC interiors, but this is pretty sick!
My computer is so big and powerful, at it have it own vacuum cleaner!!
I must admit that my computers are excellent vacuum cleaners.
FYI – NEVER EVER use a vacuum cleaner on the interior of a computer…
Vacuum cleaners actually generate a very strong static field and can zap computer parts. This is why compressed air is used. Blow it out let the dust SETTLE and dust/vacuum the carnage after the computer is closed back up… oh and do that before you start the computer backup, or you will just suck all that dust you blew out right back into the computer.
I volunteered at Goodwill in their computer recycling area. I noticed that some computers had this weird redish brown dust inside. The supervisor told me that those were the PCs that were in the houses of smokers. Apparently, as the fan draws air through the system, the electrical charge attracts the reddish part of the smoke, which sucks in other dust. It was NASTY.
I have seen lots of computer interiors like this, and I have found that the best way by far to take care of the problem is a leaf blower. Take the computer case outside like on your sidewalk, take the side off, and blow some of that concentrated leaf-blowing air into it from all angles. You will see the dust fly out and this is much more effective than those little cans of compressed air (and those cans are expensive…if you already have a leaf blower, this method is free).