From: Joan  (Original Message) Sent: 07/12/2004 11:01 AM
Hi all,
My puter has been running so slow it's been almost impossible to use. It's 6 years old. I tried everything I could think of. Nothing worked. I called a local computer tech and he told me he does a tuneup for $44 an hour and it usually takes three hours. Plus, he said he takes the hard drive outside to blow the dust out. Well, I got thinking. My son has a airbed with a nice vacuum that blows air out, not in. I took the cover off my hard drive and took it out on the porch. It was LOADED with dust. I blew a huge pile of dust out. It has to be done with a vacuum that blows out, not in. Plus, if you try this, make sure you do it without causing any static. Don't wear clothes that create static when you do this. It can harm the puter. Mine is working so much faster I can't believe it. Yipppeeee. I bet I got a cup of dust out of it, at least. I'm going to do it every six months from now on. Only try this if you feel you can do it. Get some help if you don't feel you can do it alone. A hard drive is pretty light without the case. Joan
 
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From: theboysmomtj Sent: 07/12/2004 11:39 AM
Joan I hope you don't mind but i copied your post and sent it to my husband.  It's a very good idea but i know some how i would screw things up, so sent it to Louis.  Thanks what a great idea.  Anne-marie
    
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From: tomcat5162 Sent: 07/12/2004 12:09 PM
Good job Joan, now be sure to add that job skill to your resume' okay?  Just joking.  I am quite sure that helped dramatically.  Especially since you said before it sits in a room near a wood burning stove, dust, ashes, and all.  I can't imagine paying $44 per hour X 3 hours for someone else to do it.  I am just happy you were able to do it and it helped the speed of your machine.  But you do realize, that a computer of 6 years of age is a dinosaur in today's times, right?  I bought my laptop in 2000 or 2001 and my son tells me it's worthless, piece of crap, etc.  He says these things to ire me because he "builds his own computers".  The one I'm on most of the time is his, and yes indeed it is super, super fast.  We also have connection through cable, that along with what he built the computer with, make it hard for me to leave the computer, at all.  I spend way too much time sitting here unfortunately.
Glad it worked for you!  I knew you could do it!
tomcat
 
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From: nanp Sent: 07/12/2004 1:19 PM
wow good ty for info how are you hugs nanna
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From: Cyndy Sent: 07/12/2004 2:09 PM
You can also buy a couple cans of compressed air and get the same effect as a vacuum that blows out and not have to worry that you're also blowing dust INTO the computer since compressed air contains no dust or anything BUT air.  And it comes with a thin straw nozzle that can let it get into those crevices too.  Great for CD drives and keyboards. 
Cyndy
 
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From: DarkShadow41 Sent: 07/12/2004 3:38 PM
And for those more industrial types like me, I use my air compressor set at about 40 psi.  I have a shop vac that I put on the other side of the air nozzle and turn it on at the same time.  That way I'm sucking up the dust as fast as I'm blowing it out.  As far as static is concerned, you can buy a strap that goes on your wrist and attaches to the chassis of the computer.  This will take care of grounding you to the computer.  Otherwise, just don't touch anything other than the main metal body of the case and you'll be ok.

Shadow-Dan
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From: Dan Sent: 07/12/2004 6:15 PM
OMG a 4 year old computer?  That's ANCIENT.  I buy a new computer  every year, or at least every two years.  The technology changes so fast that it's the only way to keep up.  Even if the processor speeds aren't that different, the motherboard architecture is different, graphics cards make spectacular leaps, and processor construction changes to make for faster, smarter processing.  Front side busses get larger.  Now technology like hyper-threading is added... 

It just goes on and on.  I just have a "computer account" where I put some money every month.  LOL  My last upgrade, thank goodness was good enough I'm going to be able to go for another year before bying a new one.  I should build my own, but at the high end like I am there are so many problems with making all the parts work together.  "Plug and play" isn't really quite there yet.  As long as devices still require IRQ settings and I/O memory, there's going to be conflicts when putting together high end computers with a lot of "parts". 

For example, my computer actually has umm, 5 drives...  It has three hard drives, two of which are in a "raid 0" array".  Then it's got my two disk drives, a CD-ROM drive and a CD-ROM rewriter. 

It gets complicatedgetting all that stuff ballanced.  So I let the pros do it for me.  They charge me but I get a mahcine that's stable and is also warrenteed.  I use a well known gamer company (Falcon Northwest).  It takes them from two to four weeks to build my computers. 

Well, I dunno why I got into all that.  No one's interested but me.  LOLOL 

As for getting the dirt out... I'm surprised that actually made a difference in your comuter speed.  I think your computer must have been overheating.  That's the only thing I can think of that would make it slow down from being dusty. 

And that's a good reason to go in there and clean those rascals out every now and then.  Don't let your computers overheat.  That's really bad for them. 

Hugs and love,

Dan  <Who goes to get his compressed air can.>
 
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From: hissyspit Sent: 07/12/2004 7:42 PM
I can tell you an easier way. Unplug it first, pop off the side and reach in with a nice long handled paintbrush. I use watercolor brushes that are about and in wide. It's just like sweeping the floor. If you put a paper towel under it before you start, you just have to roll it up and woolah, your done. Well you have to put the side back on and plug it in. But it's a lot easier than carrying the thing outside. 
 
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From: hannnah Sent: 07/12/2004 11:40 PM
We have the can of compressed air too. I bought it  at Best Byte (computer shop) I think. It was 10.00. We just do it right where the pc is set up.
The fan will become faulty if it gets clogged with dust, and the pc will over heat and slow right down. Very good point to bring up, many people would not know and they do make an arm and a leg doing maitenance at a shop that really we can do at home easily.  I am going copy this thread over to our computer help board.