It’s time to clean what’s in, on your computer

I grew up in a Southern town where spring cleaning was practically a competitive sport. During that frantic time a dust ball had the life span of a housefly.

Maybe because of my Pine-Sol-scented upbringing, I’ve used this time of the year for high-tech spring cleaning. Just as the good folks back in Arkadelphia, Ark., understood, having a set time for cleaning is best for making sure dirty jobs get done.

TECHNOBUDDY

E-mail Bill Husted

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Let’s start with your desktop computer. It’s filled with dust — I can almost promise that. After all, the cooling system pumps air through the machine. Along with the air comes dust that soon blankets the motherboard. And like a real blanket, the dust is a great insulator that holds in heat. Heat eventually kills electronics.

So unplug your desktop computer, remove all the accessory plugs and get ready for some cleaning. The safest method for home users is to blow out dust using a can of compressed air. Many computer stores and almost any camera shop sell these cans. Just keep two precautions in mind: Make sure you avoid static electricity by touching the metal chassis before beginning; and keep the metal nozzle of the can 4 to 6 inches away from the circuit boards.

While the case is open, check out the exhaust fan. Make sure the grating is dust-free. A tiny dot of oil (use the kind made for sewing machines or firearms — it’s very light) on the motor’s spindle can be added if you like.

After you have reassembled the computer’s case, sit back and admire your work for a second. Then lower your eyes to the area under your desk. My guess is you’ll see a tangle of wires. With the connections already removed from your computer, it’s a good time to bundle and label the wires.

Plastic wire ties — available at any hardware store — add neatness. Labels help you identify what goes where. For instance, in my home there are four computers on a wireless network. Knowing where each ethernet cable goes helps, especially during the panicked time when I’m trying to fix something that has gone wrong.

There’s more to be done. Not all the trash can be blown away with compressed air. Some of it resides on your computer.

If you’re like me, you’ve downloaded and tried some free programs — or even commercial software — that just didn’t suit you. Use the uninstall feature in Windows to get rid of that stuff. Just click on the Start button, go to the Control Panel, and use the Add/Remove Program link.

You may think that this doesn’t apply to you — after all that giant hard disk of yours may not even be 10 percent full. But there’s more than just space involved. Removing programs you don’t need can help avoid conflicts. It’s sort of like walking into a giant crowd — the more people around, the more chance that there will be conflicts. The more software you have, the more chance that there will be trouble.

Now that you’ve changed what’s stored on your hard disk, this is a great time to run the built-in defragmenter utility that comes with Windows. Just click on the Start button, select Accessories and then System Tools to find it. You’ll also see a small program called Disk Clean-up. I don’t think it’s really all that necessary, but you might as well run it, too.

And as any competitive spring cleaner back in my hometown would know, doing a little extra won’t hurt.