11 Mistakes To Avoid When Cleaning Your PC

Cleaning the inside of your computer can seem scary, especially because some common mistakes can be really BAD for your computer. From knocked components to shorts caused by liquid or static, it’s easy to do something wrong during cleaning.

So in this video I cover 11 mistakes that people sometimes make when cleaning their PC, and I also give a few tips along the way so that you can keep your PC in tip-top condition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr8b3cc5Vjw

If you prefer text over video, please read on for the guide/transcript version of this video.

Video Transcript And Guide

Hey everyone! I built my Homelab NAS a few months ago, and already there’s dust everywhere. There’s dust on all the fans, there’s loads of dust inside it, so I’m going to give it a proper clean. All done!

So, clearly, there’s a right and wrong way of actually cleaning your computer. It’s easy to make some mistakes without even realizing it. In this video, I wanted to show off some of the mistakes that people make and tell you how to avoid them. I’ll also give you some tips along the way because, as my doctor tells me when I go to him about my chlamydia, it’s better to actually prevent an issue than need to treat it.

Compressed Air

The first mistake that some people make is they go out and buy a can of compressed air, and then they shake it a lot and hold it at a weird angle, squirting it all over the computer. In theory, that sounds fine, but it’s not actually a can of paint—it’s compressed air. You’re meant to actually hold it at 0° and often you’re not meant to actually shake it or anything like that. That’s because it’s liquefied air inside of it, and if you start shaking it a lot, then holding it at weird angles when cleaning your computer, you can actually be squirting water all over your computer. Then when you come to boot up, you could potentially get a short circuit because there’s actually moisture from the can on your motherboard or something like that.

What you’re actually meant to do is keep the can at 0°, in other words, completely level, and then you’re meant to move the case around. You’re not actually meant to move the can because otherwise, as I said, the can can actually generate moisture and potentially cause a short circuit. So try not to do that.

Case On Back

The second mistake some people make is they get their computer case, they lie it flat, and then they spray to actually get the air out with compressed air or use an electric blower, which I’ll discuss later. They keep their computer case flat, spray it all, and all that does is move the dust around inside the case, but none of the dust actually comes out because they’ve laid the computer case flat and basically made a big bin, and the dust just moves around there.

So what you should ideally do is put the computer on its side, and then you actually use compressed air or the electric blower, and that way, the dust can actually get out. And on that note, this will generate a lot of dust, especially when you put the computer case properly on its side. So ideally, you should put your computer case outside, and then the dust can naturally just escape. Or if you have to do it indoors or you don’t have a balcony to use or whatever, you should actually have a can of compressed air and then a vacuum cleaner in your other hand to actually suck up all of the dust.

Don’t know why I needed to put that on, it’s kind of obvious how to use a vacuum cleaner, but essentially that’s one of the better ways of doing it if you have to do it indoors because you can actually suck up all of the dust that’s being sprayed out into your room or wherever else. So that’s your best bet because otherwise, again, the dust is just going to be in your room and it’s going to end up settling back in your case: either straight away, or when you power your computer back on, it’s just… the fans are just going to suck the dust straight back in.

Vacuum Cleaners

Having said that though, vacuum cleaners can actually be dangerous if you literally just get a vacuum cleaner and then you just start shoving it inside your case and doing things like this. That can actually be dangerous because firstly, you could accidentally hit a component like your CPU cooler, which could result in higher temperatures if you dislodge it slightly, or you could damage a bit of hardware like your graphics card, or you could accidentally pull out a cable. If you’re doing it too much, your fan cable could come out and then you might not realize when you put your computer back on.

Also, some people have concerns that the end of this can actually cause static electricity, especially if it’s going right up to your motherboard and actually touching components. There’s a debate about this—I’ll talk about static electricity later because some people say that’s not a risk, but either way, just don’t chance it. Don’t shove your vacuum cleaner straight into your case and then start cleaning, ’cause that can lead to bad things. You should instead use your can of compressed air, hold it at 0°, spray in, and then when the dust comes out, you then hover near your case but not inside your case to actually help get rid of the dust.

Not Turning Off

The next mistake that some people make is they don’t actually turn off their computer when they come to clean it. I’ve been guilty of it; for example, my Homelab NAS is used by lots of other computers in my house, and I don’t like turning it off. As a result, when I come to clean it, but clearly I need to do that, otherwise you could have shorts from liquid accidentally coming in from the can of compressed air, or your vacuum cleaner might get too close to something and cause a short, especially when it’s running. But when any computer’s powered off, there’s less of a risk of that.

But what I would say is also make sure that you unplug it from the wall and you also flip your PSU switch to be off as well. You probably don’t need to do the PSU switch if you’ve unplugged it from the wall, but I like to just cover all the bases. I like to get my computer away from where it usually is, make sure it’s unplugged from the wall, and then do the PSU switch as well just to be safe.

Liquid Residue

And that brings me on to the next mistake that some people make: they move their computer, they unplug it from the wall, but then they immediately plug it back in and they start gaming, working on it. In other words, they turn it straight back on, and that can be a bad thing because if you’ve used compressed air, there can still be liquid on your components. Or even if you use isopropyl alcohol, even if it’s like really pure 99.9% IPA, you can still have liquid on things, and that then can cause issues too. So make sure your computer is completely dry before you actually turn it back on.

Household Cleaners

On that note, since I mentioned IPA, what you should not do is use standard household cleaning products to actually clean inside your computer. You might think if you’ve got a really dusty fan, just use a scouring pad to clean it, but that’s usually not a good idea because this could be too rough. Equally, standard antibacterial sprays and things like that can leave a residue. If you just look at the list of chemicals in them, they will leave a residue.

Ideally, as I mentioned before, you should use isopropyl alcohol, and the purer the better—at least 90%. If you can get completely pure, one that’s better. Again, it’s the best thing you can use because it won’t leave any residue, but as I mentioned before, make sure you actually leave it to dry before you power your computer back on.

Tough Brushes

And that brings me to the seventh mistake that some people make. While you should generally not use standard household cleaning products, it is actually good advice to use a toothbrush to clean some of your components because they’re really small and the bristles on them can be really good for getting in hard-to-reach areas and cleaning your fans and also the little CPU heat sink fins and things like that. It can be really good for that, but make sure you don’t use a hard toothbrush. You can buy them for certain types of teeth. You should always use a super soft one, especially one designed for kids can actually be the best thing. Don’t go out and get some really harsh one because it’s actually going to end up scratching your components.

And that brings me on to my first tip, and I’ve touched on it a few times in this video already, but instead of getting a can of compressed air, you should actually buy an electric blower if you can afford it. It is slightly more costly, but it’ll save you money in the long run compared to buying loads of canned air. To be honest, an electric blower is the opposite of a vacuum cleaner. So whereas there, Suchi sucks air into it, an electric blower does the exact opposite.

The same rules apply though. You should make sure you don’t shove your electric blower directly into your computer ’cause that’s not going to be a good idea. You keep it at a certain safe distance with the manual if needed, and then you blow it inside your case, and that will actually cause the dust to go everywhere. And then if you’re outdoors, great, but if you’re indoors, use a vacuum cleaner to actually suck up that dust as we’ve mentioned before.

Spinning Fans

And that brings me on to the next point, which is that whether you use compressed air or an electric blower, it can actually cause your fans, whether it’s on the CPU heat sink or your chassis fans, to spin really fast. Now, there’s a debate about this. Some people say when the fans spin really fast, it actually acts as a reverse electric motor and it generates a small amount of electricity that goes back through the fan cables and into your motherboard or into your fan hub. Some people say this can actually destroy your motherboard. Other people dispute this, and Linus Tech Tips recently did a video where they’re showing that this isn’t usually a concern. It’s very unlikely that spinning your fans will actually destroy your motherboard.

But a bigger risk for many people is, especially if they’ve got older fans with maybe not as much oil or lubrication inside the bearings, using compressed air or an electric blower will actually cause the fans to speed up to maximum RPM really quickly. And in some cases, this can then actually destroy the fans. And there’s two solutions to this: either you can put your finger in the actual fan when you’re cleaning it, or you can get toothpicks or something like that. You literally put it inside the fan, and then it shouldn’t blow or won’t blow as much when you actually come to clean it. And that can protect your fans. And for me, that’s the bigger risk than the voltage issue. But if you are concerned about the voltage issue, just unplug your fans from the motherboard fan headers before you start cleaning, and then you don’t have that potential risk of electricity flowing back through the fan into the fan header.

Forgetting Some Parts

The next mistake that some people make is they forget to clean some of their components or some of their fans or anything like that. Basically, out of sight, out of mind kicks in, and maybe the fans at the very front, covered by the case’s front chassis thing, they just forget about them. Or maybe they actually take this off, they clean the fans at the front, but they forget that the actual grill here can pull loads of dust. Or maybe people clean the CPU heatsink fins but they forget to clean the GPU heatsink fins.

OCD Removal

However, there’s another mistake that some people make, which is the 10th mistake, I think, if I’m counting correctly, which is that they become a bit too OCD about actually cleaning their computer and they take apart all of their components. They remove everything and they take every single fan off and clean things from scratch in a kind of a bit-too-OCD way, to be honest. And basically then they put everything back together and in some cases it doesn’t work because they forgot to connect a cable or something like that.

And it is good to actually sometimes take various components out. You can make sure your CPU heatsink fins are clean, for example. You don’t need to be OCD about this. You don’t need to constantly be taking all of your computer components out all the time. In some cases, especially with the 12VHPWR power adapter, for example, you don’t want to be sort of constantly plugging that in and out because of all the melting issues that have been reported. Sometimes it’s best just to leave things be.

So what I would say is, when you come to cleaning things, you know, clean the quick wins, take the front panel off, clean your fans, use an electric blower or compressed air to actually get as much dust out as you can, and then leave it be. And then maybe once a year or once every 2 years, maybe then dismantle your computer to actually give things a proper clean.

Thermal Paste

Following on from that point, the final mistake I wanted to cover is that some people actually change the thermal paste on their CPU every single time they come to clean. But there is no need to do that. You certainly don’t need to dismantle things to that extent and rub off all of the thermal paste and then apply new thermal paste every single time. Good quality thermal paste should last for at least 2 or 3 years in many cases, and it’s one of those things where it’s best left undisturbed unless you’re having problems with high temperatures. You often don’t need to actually be changing it. You certainly don’t need to be changing it every couple of months.

Tip – Dust Filters

And that wraps up all the mistakes that people make. I want to finish with one final tip, which is dust filters. Some cases, especially budget ones, won’t actually come with dust filters for the fans and things like that, and that’s a really easy source for dust to actually get inside your computer case. For example, with this case, which didn’t come with any dust filters, I’ve got a side fan here which is an intake fan, and intake fans are the worst for actually bringing in dust. So if you’re going to buy any dust filters, get them for your intake fans.

But basically, this is just one big gaping hole in the side of my case, and then I got a fan in there that’s bringing in cool air to actually cool my computer components. Of course, it’s also sucking in loads of dust as well, and that’s not a good thing. So what you should probably do is go out and buy dust filters. You can buy them at 120mm or 140mm for your fans, or you can actually buy strips of them for the front fans on your case. You should actually go out and buy dust filters, fit them wherever you can, but of course, you will then need to clean the dust filters every so often because they will get dusty. When you clean them, and especially if you use water to clean them, make sure they are completely dry before you put them back inside your computer and turn your computer back on.

So that wraps up the 11 mistakes that I think some people make when cleaning their computer components. But if you can think of any more, please let us all know down in the comments. And I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, please click the thumbs up button. Please subscribe to see more videos like this. Thanks for watching!