Just total curiosity. I spent about 90 minutes today cleaning the dust out of my computer. Pulled all the fans out and cleaned them with a brush. Cleaned off all the cards. Vacuumed out the case. I was surprised at just how much dust had accumulated in there since the last cleaning about a month ago. Based upon the three cleanings I've done now though, it looks like I might be doing it once a month. I never really bothered to with my other computers, but this one seems to attract it like a magnet. It'd have to be because of the way my fans are running. Most of them are blowing in.

Any ideas on how to cut the ammount of dust getting in there? Some form of mesh has come to mind, but just how effective would that be? And how would it impact the air getting in?

Lastly, just for fun, post your current running uptime. Mine's 21 Days, 8 Hours, 35 Minutes, and 54 Seconds. And most of that time has been spent actually ON. I don't stick Hal in Hibernation too often.

You cleaned the dust out of your computer while it was ON?

I just clean mine out whenever I have it open. Uptime's about 2 days, because I installed a new HD.

I do it whenever I have the case open anyway to install new hardware or something.. maybe like 4-6 months.

Oh, I thought you meant software wise. Well, I just clean when it gets dirty, really.

Because logically, that makes the most sense.

I put it into Hibernation first. I'm sure my 700 dollar computer would LOVE having it's 150 dollar Radeon 9600XT removed while it was on, and then having it placed back in a few minutes later. I'm also quite sure that cleaning out my fans with a brush while those same fans are running, would also be a brilliant idea.

I may do dumb things from time to time, but I am DEFINATELY not stupid enough to do anything like that.

Only once. Ever.

I had it open, it was dusty, so I fired up the vacuum cleaner and sucked out the dust. Problem solved.

I'm pretty sure a dust buildup fried my mobo and cpu, so I will make a future effort to clean it more often then my current "Whenever."

Just that a 21 day uptime doesn't make sense if you TURNED IT OFF to clean it, hibernation or no hibernation. :p

Whenever installing new hardware. Which tends to be around 18-30 months

oh i thought you ment spywhare get out and disk defrag and stuff

I take mine down to the carwash every second sunday.

I clean it whenever I view the keyboard and get annoyed by the dirt and grime that accumulate. I cleaned the ole' chassis about a week ago after installing a new LCD flat panel monitor.

Never. Just clean the dust filter that's over the intake fans out regularly, and dust isn't a problem.

Dust really isn't a problem in my case. The exhaust fans suck almost all of it out.

I clean it whenever I go to a lan party (Aka I actually move the PC and turn it off).

My system only crashes when I do something incredibly stupid, like in linux turning on a game option that says "DO NOT USE - EXPERIMENTAL OPTION WITH NO TESTING".

Oops.

Whenever I open the case.

I clean mine whenever I open the case.

Why is it that computers always accumulate that puffy sort of dust that nothing else seems to get?

Most of the time, when that dust accumulates on things, it gets brushed off by contact with something... or it just floats around in the air. Computers have all those nice little grooves and whatnot inside for the dust to get caught in when your fans suck it in... Not to mention I'm sure it's got something to do with the electrical charge of the stuff in your pc and the static charge that dust probably has. I don't know if that's accurate at all, but hell it might have something to do with it.

i never

When I'm plugging in something new, I'll give stuff a quick wipe. I generally wipe my front grills every now and then, too.

I usually clean out my case whenever I don't like the level of dust I see. This means it's fairly often (perhaps every 3-5 weeks) when I've got my desk cleared up. However, it's been a while since I last did that... I'll probably get at it as soon as the semester ends.

Additionally, as odd as it may sound, my computer is shut down about 70% of the time. In fact, the other 30% is the entire time I'm using it.:D

Every couple of months

Maybe I'm just dumb but I don't see the option to vote.

I clean mine out when I format it, usually every six months or so. I'll be doing it in the next two weeks, as soon as the semester is over and I've registered for classes.

edit: OK weird, it worked after I replied. I voted, where's my sticker?

were you logged in before you replied? it won't let you vote until you've logged in and you have to be logged in to post.

I never clean mine... Guess i should... sometime, But I don't use it all the often... i'm usually at school or in the library using theirs.

I do it whatever my systems need it, which isn't often. I use high quality air filters that also trap a lot of dust. Also known as pantyhose.

When I feel like it, or, when I'm at Office Max, and I buy compressed air.

Take the PC outside, open her up, use compressed air (maybe add some vacuum) and boom. speaking of which, I'm looking at my heatsink , and there are some pretty damn big chunks of dust. I'll go to office max son.

I cleaned mine for the first time in the four years since I built it the other day. Of course, for two of those years I didn't have it, but I'm sure my brother didn't clean it either. It wasn't very dirty, surprisingly. Especially since I don't have a fan that sucks out the back, just one that sucks in the front.

Clean it? Why the hell would I want to do that?