How often do you clean your computer?

[Eisenwinter]

I just cleaned mine with an air sprayer today, oh man, so much dust!

Before today, the last time I gave it a serious dust-off clean, was in December 2007.

I'm gonna start cleaning it now every month or so.

[s.fox]

I clean the monitor and base unit once a week. I just don't like dust I guess :D

[billgoldberg]

I cleaned mine when it started overheating last week.

An epic amount of dust came out.

[Eisenwinter]

I cleaned mine when it started overheating last week.

An epic amount of dust came out.
Yup, that's one reason I cleaned it today too.

I've been planning to clean it for a few months now, wanted to bring it work with me (we have a nice air sprayer there) and clean it, but then I always postponed the idea.

Eventually today I went to a local factory (5~ minutes away by foot) with it, and cleaned it there. Man, so much dust came out of the CPU's cooling fan and ribs.

It actually looked really clean when I finished, I loved it! :P

[swoll1980]

I clean mine once a week. The amount of performance you loose with a little dust build up is ridiculous.

[Christmas]

Usually once a month, but that's only because I have to clean the CPU cooler, otherwise I wouldn't touch it.

[CP1256]

Once a month or so, dust builds up pretty quickly on my pc. I don't clean my server though since it doens't look dirty anyway.

[speedwell68]

I clean the screens and keyboards on my desktop, laptop and netbook on a weekly basis. I wipe the base unit and bodies of them down monthly, as well as complete dust down of my desk. Actually getting the lid off them and blowing the dust out is done as and when I think it needs doing.:D

[Skripka]

My tower sucks lots of dust off the carpet. Usually I clean intake fans once a week, with a cleaning of the inside once or so a month...Fortunately Lian-Li cases are good about trapping dust and what not on intake grills, so I only need to clean out the CPU HSF maybe once a year or so.

[MysticGold04]

On my AMD system I put a scotchgard pad in front of the intake grills on the inside.. this cuts down on dog hair and the larger dust particles getting it. I just take the pad out and wash, then replace. On my VAIO, I have to disconnect it and take it outside to give it an air bath. I need to do it soon before summer gets here!

[wolfen69]

My tower sucks lots of dust off the carpet.

[-X [-X [-X

getting it up off the floor will cut down on the dust by a lot.

i had a customer call me saying his computer kept shutting off. i had a hunch about it. i brought my can of air over, and sure enough his cpu heatsink was completely clogged. cost him $90 for a half can of air. ;)

[Skripka]

[-X [-X [-X

getting it up off the floor will cut down on the dust by a lot.


I've thought about it...but a few minutes every week beats going out and buying either more funiture or having cheap dimensional lumber in a nice apartment. Last time I cleaned out my CPU HSF it had a light coating of dust, but no clogging, and only a small dust-bunny.

[ninjapirate89]

Woops I didn't read carefully enough. I thought you meant like cleaning up unneeded dependencies and other stuff so I voted once a day. I have actually only cleaned my computer maybe three or four times since I bought it.

[Therion]

... I put a scotchgard pad in front of the intake grills on the inside... this cuts down on dog hair and the larger dust particles getting it.
Dryer sheets are good for this too (e.g. Bounce).

I use a soft bristled 2" paintbrush and lots of canned air one or twice a month to keep things humming inside my Antec case. The filters are a huuuuge help, but even so keeping a clean system clean beats the heck outta letting it get all outta control and then having to chisel off a years accumulation of dust and pet hair.

[gn2]

I clean out the insides very occasionally, less than once a year.

[bashveank]

Once a month, or when I notice dust building up.

[Firestem4]

I clean my monitor, keyboard, etc daily because I get tremendous dust build up for some damn reason. (Even if my windows are closed).

I clean my case out a little about once a month. I get quite a lot of dust in my house because we live on the edge of town, right next to the farms. (You can guess the reason I don't wash my car very often...Its futile...1 day later its dirty again).

My case is the Tagan El Diablo http://www.tagan.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=113&Itemid=123

It doesn't see much of a performance impact with dust..*grin*