is it safe to clean out the inside of my computer?
 

I'm sure you're all sick of hearing me moan and complain about my comp today, but I noticed that there is dust PACKED everywhere inside my computer. It's all over the RAM chip, the video card chip, and basically just dust and dirt everywhere inside. I figure this may be the reason why my comp has been freezing at random times, but I may be wrong. Anyway, how do I clean this when it is directly on the circuits? The only thinkg I would imagine could be safe is spraying a can of aerosol on it to blow it out, but even that may screw up the chips. Am I gonna have to send this in to Gateway and wait a week for them to fix it or can I do it myself?

Take a DRY towel and dust that bitch off. If you arent a complete ass about it and go banging around youll be fine....

Also, taking the side casings off and blowing the hell out of the system should get that prelim dust off, then towel it all off.

As Ed said..

I've also used canned air a few times.. it works really well, and is rather convenient.

...try a vacuum cleaner (SET ON LOW!), with a brush attachment.

I get the dust airborne with canned air and then suck it up with a vacuum or shopvac (better power to get all the flying particles)

Here is a nice way to keep it clean once you clean it.

Either buy or make rounded IDE and floppy cables. They not only look nice they will let the dust blow right threw without being stopped by the ribbons cables. It also improves air flow. I was amazed at how clean my case stays once I did this.

Do a search in google on how to make them or buy them.

Thank you, gents. I appreciate every one's feedback.

Sound like a good idea, I get tired of pulling my computer out from my desk and unhooking everything.

yeah man get a vacuum cleaner and suck most of the loose dust out. get some compressed air to get the packed on crap off your board.

also stick the vacuum up against the fan outlet on your power supply. always a lot of dust in there and a lot of electriccy bitz you dont want on fire nsuch.

try a garden hose!
mb