If you were to google “Top Ten ways to protect your PC” you would find a myriad of authoritative sounding articles. They all have much the same advice. Run a good antivirus program and always make sure your firewall is turned on. Defragment your hard drive on a regular basis, run a regular spyware check and store large files and documents on an external drive to prevent unnecessary memory loss. So on and so forth. Of all you would read from the first page of that googling not one of them mentions protecting your PC from its number one enemy: dust.
Dust is everywhere. It is the bane of the good housewife or househusband. It is the reason that Johnson & Johnson is a company that will never go out of business; we´ll always need to dust and polish. It collects on our little knickknacks and is annoying to clean off. It is what your mother in law is looking for when she comes over to see how well you are keeping house. And it will kill your computer.
A computer needs to maintain a cool, even internal temperature to function efficiently. Fans draw in air from outside the computer to do that and with that air they draw in the dust that is in the air everywhere. Depending upon the environment in which a PC is housed it can choke your computer to death in as little as six months if allowed to accumulate. In fact dust is the number one cause of computer failure worldwide.
Once dust has entered your computer it settles everywhere. It stops the fans from functioning properly and therefore your computer is no longer able to cool itself properly. Because the computer is working so hard to keep itself functioning it begins to crash and freeze at the very least. At worst it overheats or a short circuit in one of the many tiny but crucial components is caused by the dust and possibly irreparable damage is done. In some cases the dust inside a computer has become so bad that it actually causes a devastating internal fire.
Stopping dust from entering a computer is not difficult and it is certainly not at all expensive. For $5 you can purchase a filter that when placed over the air intakes will trap the dust before it ever enters the machine. These filters are easy to use and do not impede the function of the computer in any way.
One of the most important computer maintenance tasks you can undertake is to dust the inside of your machine. Many people fail to realize or simply do not think about the amount of dust that builds up inside their computers or what damage it can do to its internal workings.
The easiest and safest way to clean your computer out is to simply use a can of compressed air, which is usually available in many local supermarkets and stores and certainly at any office supply outlet. Before you begin, make sure that the computer is powered down properly and then unplugged. This is of course essential to avoid both damage to your computer and injury to yourself.
To start your computer clean up , open your tower carefully. Though you cannot see it all even now chances are you will be very surprised by how much dust has accumulated. Your dusting efforts should be concentrated on the fans but try to reach every possible nook and cranny. Once you think you have done all that you can close everything back up. Do not forget to pay attention to any USB ports and disk drive doors too, dust is just as fatal to them.
After your spring clean is over you should turn your attention to preventing the dust build up from returning. The easiest way to do this is to buy a filter that can be placed over your computer´s air intakes.
There is a filter on the market that affixes easily to your computer’s air intakes by a simple place and stick installation, does not impede your computer´s functioning and lasts 3-6 months before it needs replacing. It does all of this and it costs about $5 per computer, a very small price to pay considering how expensive dust related computer repairs are.
Once your computer is cleaned out and then protected in this way you will notice a difference. The fans will run quietly, the computer will run faster. It´s amazing how much trouble a little thing like dust can cause for a computer and how much better it will run once it is virtually dust free.
For many people their computer is an integral part of their daily lives and if it fails they are truly lost (and in many cases so is a great deal of precious, perhaps irreplaceable data). A simple spring clean and then the use of an inexpensive yet very effective dust filter can be both a lifesaver and a life extender for your computer.
http://www.dustx.net
Article Source: U Publish Articles
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