So You haven't really cleaned the inside of your PC in a decade and Windows 8 seems to be running a little sluggish these days....

[SCANNERMAN]

The primary killers of system boards and PC components are heat, dust, and humidity. A PC tends to run best dust free, in a cool, dry environment. I build PCs. Ever hear of how the mechanic's car never gets fixed? That's me. I finally mustered up the discipline to actually clean my nearly one decade old work station. *WARNING* Viewers might find contents of these pictures disturbing. These are truly dirty pictures.

 

[SCANNERMAN]

I spare you the rest but you get the idea. I'm surprised it even stayed working. I'm surprised I never lost data. I'm surprised I didn't have fire in my case.

 

[SCANNERMAN]

It's all good now. Temps dropped by 6 degrees, 4 on CPU, and o/s seems to run a whole lot smoother. Yup. Sometimes it's not just your operating system. Please don't let your PC go as long as I did. If you want any cleaning tips just ask and I'll be happy to offer what I know. A clean PC is a happy PC

 

[SCANNERMAN]

So. When you make a profile in Windows EightForums there is a place where you can list your computer profile specs. You will soon discover a place where you can list your hard drives. There wasn't enough room for me to type my list so I merely asked the question, "Are you kidding"? I have opted to share a picture instead. Here is a picture of the hard drives in my work station as viewed from windows 8.1. Since I am running multiple operating systems the view does change depending on which o/s I boot to. Y and Z are reserved for my toaster or any SD, USB, or other external devices I might use for storage.

 

[Barman58]

I've worked with PC hardware in industry, and to be honest, your images would be the "after shots" on some of the equipment I've seen before cleaning. Imagine a system panel in North Africa, with Six to eight inches of fine sand in the bottom. there were mechanical components fixed to the base of the cabinet, and were working fine, the cabinet had to be cleaned out just to find these components.

I agree that the PC components in generally available cases are susceptible to dust and I personally Vacuum clean regularly, ( I never ever even consider using compressed air to blow a case clean, too much potential for damage, sand blasted components are not desirable )

 

[MGhee]

<snip> These are truly dirty pictures.

That's perverted, you should be ashamed

 

[SCANNERMAN]

I've worked with PC hardware in industry, and to be honest, your images would be the "after shots" on some of the equipment I've seen before cleaning. Imagine a system panel in North Africa, with Six to eight inches of fine sand in the bottom. there were mechanical components fixed to the base of the cabinet, and were working fine, the cabinet had to be cleaned out just to find these components.

I agree that the PC components in generally available cases are susceptible to dust and I personally Vacuum clean regularly, ( I never ever even consider using compressed air to blow a case clean, too much potential for damage, sand blasted components are not desirable )

It's amazing how much abuse some of these components can take. I think I have a video kicking around of me running an air compressor on my case. I don't advise people to do it but since it was my own unit I took the risk. Didn't find much sand in my case though. Where I lived before had a gravel road and a dirt lot kitty corner to my residence. I think that's where most of it came from. I'll see if I can scrounge up that video.

 

[SCANNERMAN]

That's perverted, you should be ashamed

Yes, but in this world of geek porn at least I was decent enough to include a disclaimer! (This time.)

 

[SCANNERMAN]

*sponsored by red neck techno geeks association

 

[TechnoMage]

99% of a PC can take a little compressed air, except fan blades. So, I always prevent a fan from turning when I'm hitting it with 100 psi Air.
On a PSU, I just stick a small screwdriver into the fan to prevent the blade from turning while I blow the dust out of the PSU.
An old computer tech told me, 56 years ago, "When it comes to electronics, HEAT KILLS!". So keep'em cool and keep'em running.

I'll bet that every tech has their own library of Dirty Pictures. eh?
The CPU fan on the above PC was running full speed all the time, and generated a service call, which I was glad to take.

TM

 

[SCANNERMAN]

Ha ha ha Takes geek porn to a whole new level. Eeeeew!