Filthy PCs: The X-rated circus of horrors

[Wayne]

Grotesque dust creatures and mummified frogs

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/26/ventblockers_2/

[glennzo]

Thankfully I haven't run into many like that. :eek:

[jordanisawesome]

Ugh, nasty.

[Zotter]

Anyone that's done public end user support is all too familiar with scenes like that. Hopefully, the professional, in house enterprise folks won't see anything like that except when they visit friends and family.

Didn't know there were geek points to be had for the pics though - my bad. Seen some real doozies in years past. There's a reason I bought a contractors grade 5 gal compressor and a large enough inverter to run it out of the back of a pickup!

Never clean PCs in the shop!!! Always outside - with the wind blowing and for your own sake, wear a dust mask.

[wolfen69]

A couple of my customers have had some serious dust issues. My mantra: GET THAT COMPUTER UP OFF THE DAMN FLOOR!

[ryptyde]

Anyone that's done public end user support is all too familiar with scenes like that. Hopefully, the professional, in house enterprise folks won't see anything like that except when they visit friends and family.

Didn't know there were geek points to be had for the pics though - my bad. Seen some real doozies in years past. There's a reason I bought a contractors grade 5 gal compressor and a large enough inverter to run it out of the back of a pickup!

Never clean PCs in the shop!!! Always outside - with the wind blowing and for your own sake, wear a dust mask.

Make sure to regulate the air pressure down to not more than 20 psi and also block the fan blades
from spinning on the processor, PSU, case fan and graphics card if they have them. :)
Dust mask and eye protection! ;)

phil

[hungvo]

we can grow a garden inside these computers. :)

[DavidMcCann]

I'm astonished these things worked for so long. I tend to be a keen cleaner, with my canned air and alcohol-soaked pipe-cleaners (great for heatsink fins). My sister once told me she'd spotted a keyboard with all the keys missing and it's owner about to leave the office. "What's happened to your keyboard?!" "I'm taking the key-caps to wash them. Don't you ever do that?" Now that's clean.

[marriedto51]

"I'm taking the key-caps to wash them. Don't you ever do that?".
I have done that, yes. But only after spilling a cup of hot chocolate straight across the keyboard, narrowly missing the tax forms I was working on, but sadly not missing my lap.

[sej7278]

My sister once told me she'd spotted a keyboard with all the keys missing and it's owner about to leave the office. "What's happened to your keyboard?!" "I'm taking the key-caps to wash them. Don't you ever do that?" Now that's clean.

when i worked at a computer shop years ago, we used to offer that as a service!

decent keyboards were expensive then and these were proprietary, we used to charge about 30-odd quid (50 bucks?) to remove all the keys and put them in a bag in a regular washing machine and refit them.

we also washed mouse balls for £3 ($5). sometimes we'd get hired to dispose of a school full of old computers, the boss would be like "get the mouse balls before skipping the rest"!

we used to refurbish laptop batteries too, when laptops cost 2k+, basically taking the battery housing apart and replacing the contents with rechargeable torch (flashlight) batteries strung together with some conductive paperclips.

back on topic though, i've seen desktops almost as bad as that with dust - and the worst is when people smoke and their pc's stink of cigarettes.

[Lord Honk]

Some people like to wash their Ferrari regularly, I tend to my PC and peripherals. There just isn't anything like a clean, mean computing machine 8)

Oh jesus, just got flashbacks to our '95 PC mouse, I opened it once because it wasn't responding. I guess that sight was what got me into periodically cleaning my equipment :D

[DavidMcCann]

we also washed mouse balls for £3 ($5).

Ever get bitten?

[JamesNZ]

Oh jesus

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

[NinjaCat]

Some people like to wash their Ferrari regularly, I tend to my PC and peripherals. There just isn't anything like a clean, mean computing machine 8)

Oh jesus, just got flashbacks to our '95 PC mouse, I opened it once because it wasn't responding. I guess that sight was what got me into periodically cleaning my equipment :D

Well I once tried to clean up the keyboard, removed the keys and then tried to wash it.....but there was something brownish/yellowish sticking to the keys and the board itself that only would come of by scrubbing......and the crumbs...i could probably make a whole cookie with those crumbs.

Anyone ever tried to vacuum clean it? It was going pretty well, easy,quick.......until it swallowed 1 key.........

Oh, and i never ever wash my car..........the rain washes it.

[kona0197]

I've ran a keyboard through the dishwasher. Worked fine after drying out.