Compressed air

A few years back I bought a 4- or 6-pack of compressed air when it was on sale, knowing that this was a good tool for a PC Doctor to carry in his bag. I hardly ever used it to clean out a laptop, but it is a very valuable tool, as I found out his week.

I was getting a can out of my storage cabinet to use on a customer's laptop. It had some sticky keys and short of removing key tops or a keyboard, I thought his might be a good first step.

Was I surprised when I tested the can out on my own laptop. My laptop had gotten sluggish lately, but like the shoemaker's kids, this laptop got little attention from me. So I tried the can out, mosly just to see that it worked okay, on my Acer laptop. This machine is maybe 4 years old. As I shot the compressed air into all of the vents, I was very surprised to see dust fly out. Hmmm. Maybe this is what is ailing my laptop, I thought. So I continued and finished up the job, and to my amazement the sluggishness is completely gone form my laptop!

All in all this was a 10 minute exercise. It required no dismantling of the laptop, and was a near-instant fix to what had been ailing it. I bought my compressed air at Costco, but I know that Staples and Best Buy carry it, as do most all computer stores. It might just help you out with your machine and is a small investment. It sells for about $5 per can, although most stores seem to prefer to sell packs of 4 or 6. Suggest this fix to a few fellow laptop owners and share the cost.

Compressed air or even a small brush will also do the trick on desktops. Open up the case and look for the dust and get rid of it. Mostly you will find dust around the fan(s).