I thought I was running a clean computer. Until I checked the power supply….

I don’t vacuum my office as often as I should. Okay, I only vacuum when someone’s coming  to visit, and we haven’t been getting many guests the last couple years. So I’m careful to vacuum out my PC’s at least once a year. After all, they live on the floor. As does the dog. And the cat. And my boots. And the furnace cold air return duct. In short, I know my PC’s live in an unclean environment. So every New Year’s day  I have a calendar reminder that pops up and tells me to clean them. (I run 3 tower PC’s, an old one, a new one, and a Linux box for fun.)

Cleaning a tower PC is quick and easy. I power each PC down, unplug the power cord, and open up the side. I carefully use a vacuum hose to suck out the obvious dust bunnies. I suck the dirt off the external fan grills. If there is dust on internal fans or components, (more…)