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When was the last time you cleaned the inside of your computer?

picasaweb.google.com — For goodness sake, clean your damn computer. I was given this earlier today to fix. I should charge the guy for my lunch as well.

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  • shadowmoose, on 10/11/2007, -3/+129... Damn.
    • L4WL3RS34L, on 10/11/2007, -0/+54Are those....spider eggs?
      • Hayaemsay, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9I found some dodgy looking stuff when I cleaned mine a week ago...
        • RussellDovey, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1When I cleaned mine recently, I made the (common, right? It's a common mistake, people? Don't laugh and point!) mistake of, well, mildly crushing the cpu while trying to scrape off old silver heat-contact goo so I could put the heatsink back on without having huge dried goo-boulders between the plates.

          It made a very interesting sound and light show when I attempted, in a spirit of desperate experimentation, to turn the computer on anyway. It was like a flashbang thrown by a cockroach.

          Damn Socket A AMD pieces of crap motherboards frassen shassen... And now I have a core 2 duo with a coolermaster case so the CPU can't be used to fry very small eggs! I love the future.
      • DubbedOver, on 10/11/2007, -0/+10We inherited a lot of customers from Georgia when we purchased a company down there and now we sometimes get computers back that have cockroaches or snakes in them. The cockroaches are the worst because they get in the power supply due to the heat and when they ***** they short out the power supply and zap themselves. It is a horrible smell... blah!
        • voetsjoeba, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Made me chuckle =)
        • RussellDovey, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Yep, had that same problem in Samoa. Damn tropical hellholes.
      • cybortrip, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2lol imagine hundreds of spiders scurrying out of your pc while you're using it. anyway, that pc is pretty dirty but i've seen worse. there was this one machine i worked on that had slightly more dust in it but it was all a dark reddish brown color. the owner was a serious cigar smoker and the entire inside of his computer smelt of it. the dust was so dense and thick i couldn't use a can of air to get most of it out but rather had to pull it out with my own hands. nasty.
    • zybch, on 10/11/2007, -0/+38This is the type of thing I see all too often!

      http://s35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/zybch/?action=view¤t=dusty_pc.jpg
      • sexybobo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5I had one like that but worse their pc had a solid inch of dust covering the entire mobo and their cpu fan couldent turn. they couldnt find out why it would keep restarting because of overheating.
    • Archon810, on 10/11/2007, -0/+108Almost as nasty as http://www.myextralife.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/mouse-dead.jpg
    • eaasness, on 10/11/2007, -0/+12I've seen(inhaled) worse, but the spider webs are pretty awesome!
    • buddyfarr, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6been there. the hospital that I worked for used to by refurbed pc's, (the hospital was cheap), from a vendor. one of the pc's was rattling when it came it. we opened it up and found a giant scrub brush. it looked like this:
      http://keysan.com/big/pic27146000.html
    • championchap, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7Once opened my old one to find a dead mouse inside there.
      I'd left one of the PCI backplates off because i'd lost the screw and thought nothing of it.

      Oh, and is it just me? Or could this guy buy a better computer for the ammount hes probably spending on getting it fixed?
      Not even AGP!
    • ChronicColonic, on 10/11/2007, -0/+32Those aren't dust bunnies, those are dust buffaloes...
    • cjpro, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3I really want to see someone sneeze into that computer.
    • defectDS, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4If you look closely, the web says "salutations!"
  • RoshanK, on 10/11/2007, -1/+55I just opened up one of my friends pc for him today to try and upgrade the hard drive. I found more dust than in here and even dust clumped up to a size of a baseball.
    • livevil, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Yeah you should definitely clean in between the CPU and Fan. It brings down the temperature and fan noise level. In just a couple of months of use you'll find "baseball" size dust bunnies in there.
    • nazadus, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1That's no moon^H^H^H^Hbaseball!
  • valleyvideo, on 10/11/2007, -1/+64Yup -- I've opened up a few office computers that look just like that.
  • matthewconnelly, on 10/11/2007, -11/+97Compressed air is your best friend in these kind of situations!
    • aussieNickuss, on 10/11/2007, -0/+86and a face mask.
    • Archon810, on 10/11/2007, -5/+38I'd say a vacuum cleaner would be a safer bet, at least at first.
      • buddyfarr, on 10/11/2007, -22/+8DO NOT USE THE SUCTION ON A VACUUM!! you do not want to get the vacuum tip that close to the pc. the force of the air on the plastic or metal tip of the vacuum causes static to build up on the vacuum head. use one of the types of vacuums that can be reversed into a blower. then you can keep the tip away and blow out the dirt.
        • unreg, on 10/11/2007, -4/+19You are fairly naive, aren't you?

        • mtheoryx83, on 10/11/2007, -4/+19How would static build up from suction, but not from air blowing out?
          • championchap, on 10/11/2007, -2/+7It does build up blowing out too.
            But blowing you can keep the static charged end further away from the board.
        • Ashkc88, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8That's why you use electronics vacuums, although they are quite expensive.
    • samuelcotterall, on 10/11/2007, -0/+38I know it's not 'the done thing' - but a vacuum hose has never done my computer any harm.
    • tektalk, on 10/11/2007, -11/+1Amen to that, compressed air would be lunch saver in this case.
    • eaasness, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8I bought an air compressor just to clean out the computers I work on! Something like this has other uses around the house too.

      http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=215898-71025-VPA0000101&lpage=none
      • TimboTheGreat, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6We use compressed air to remove dust from machines at work. You just have to be careful you don't spin up any fans faster than they normally go as iIt can damage them. Also, at close proximity, compressed air can remove electrical components (e.g. capacitors) right off the motherboard!
        • eaasness, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3True True! I do use it at a distance. Thanks for mentioning that though.
        • TRENT310, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Oh. But I still like using air to make fans go reaaaaaaally fast and then watch the Fan RPM Tachometer go nuts. :)
        • Harri448, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1You won't damage any fans doing that.
      • T3rry, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Not to mention canned air is dampened to cut down on static electricity, which can damage componenets, a feature that air compressors lack.
      • prammy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Sometimes compressed air alone does not do the trick. I routinely clean my computer every 6-8 months, primarily because a. I have carpets and b. my desktop is on all day long.
        Normally I use compressed air + contact cleaner for circuitboards if the board is very dusty. I have found out that cleaning out the contacts on memory slots/chips ends up fixing memory previously thought to be bad.
      • danklogix, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Like?
    • Reedan, on 10/11/2007, -0/+63Forget compressed air, this needs a leaf blower
    • Ramzy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Yep. Nothing better. I bought myself a little compressor a few months ago. Huge time and money saver (Don't have to keep on buying canned air).
    • sexybobo, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3have to watch out with air compressors. we had one at the school districts IT office were i worked for a while. would get lots of water build up inside. would have to always remember to spray the air for a while b4 using on a pc.
      • TRENT310, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5That's why you're supposed to open the water drain valve every day.
    • jsebrech, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0If it's your own hardware, don't let it get to the point where it needs compressed air.

      Mount a metal mesh filter in the lower front of the PC backed by an intake fan (so all air coming into the case passes through the filter). These filters keep out pretty much all dust, even in dusty environments (had a PC in an attic for years that was grimy on the outside but clean on the inside). To keep the airflow going just clean it once a year under the tap. It's nice for hardware lifetime as well (at least speaking from personal experience).

      For example: http://www.pccasegear.com/prod506.htm
    • th3heretic, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I use my air compressor which has about 2-3x the psi of a can of air. Works INSANELY well and is free (not counting the tiny amount of electricity used)
  • Speedy7, on 10/11/2007, -1/+37i think he'd better pay for my lunch as well...
  • seemorebutts, on 10/11/2007, -33/+404Reminds me of a Nun's vagina
    • grape8pe, on 10/11/2007, -8/+45That's just gross!
    • Ramble, on 10/11/2007, -7/+56That's awesome. Digg this man up.
    • FrozenGonad, on 10/11/2007, -7/+113How many Nuns' vaginas have you seen, you naughty boy...
      • spudnic, on 10/11/2007, -2/+63I think one would be enough
      • gregdogum, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8Well his name is seemorebutts, so not sure how many Nun's Vags he's seen but I'm sure he's seen plenty of their butts
      • celkin, on 10/11/2007, -2/+133
      • chuckyc130, on 10/11/2007, -4/+2666
    • obeezy, on 10/11/2007, -12/+4hahahahhaha. hilarious bro'
    • meez, on 10/11/2007, -4/+55[obligatory comment about this being "digg" and therefore no one on digg has seen a vagina]
    • ragmaster, on 10/11/2007, -12/+2haha. thats a pissa
    • habubu, on 10/11/2007, -16/+4Pictures?
    • Sohosoutherner, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1Well, given that his name is seemorebutt's, i'm not very surprised that he's seen quite the few nuns' vaginas. But much kudos for the funnyness.
    • roberthead, on 10/11/2007, -9/+2Are you feeling threatened by the fact that some women are celibate?
      Do you believe the function of a woman is to make her vagina available for your pleasure?

      How exactly is that funny?
      • chunkymonkey04, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Ummm...yes
      • Nereus90, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Stop trying to get on women's good sides you horse's ass, it was a joke.
    • iChaz, on 10/11/2007, -2/+0bahrilliant!
  • icepick314, on 10/11/2007, -14/+3good lord...looks like innards of a mummified corpse....
  • SikHeadTom, on 10/11/2007, -5/+64Most people today don't even know how to open up the computer!
    • spudnic, on 10/11/2007, -2/+19I think they are more likely to today than in the past, they're not the crazy expensive things everyone was scared of as much any more
      • Mothrog, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1You have to remember, though, that in the past most people using computers were people with technical backgrounds. Now nearly everyone has a PC. I think technical people would be more likely to crack their computer open/know what they're doing then the average Joe.
    • mtheoryx83, on 10/11/2007, -0/+13It would be nice if different manufacturers would standardize on a case-opening design. If you've had to work on numerous different computers (like in a lab environment at a university), it's annoying that every fricking case has a different opening mechanism.
    • mancat, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1Imagine that big fat latino woman in your office that's always yelling when she talks and smells like fried chicken. Do you really think she's gonna open her computer?
    • scojerroc, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Ah, the good old days when people knew how to open up their computers...
  • yabannna, on 10/11/2007, -11/+6"Warning, CPU temperature too high"
    • ToadLeg, on 10/11/2007, -1/+14yea I keep getting popups that say that...common error message

      /sarcasm
      • yabannna, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0my bios used to say it before i pulled off the fan above the cpu and vacuumed the CPU/heat sink. now no problems!
      • mtonak, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3My ASUS motherboard actually said errors aloud when I started having problems with my power supply.
        http://youtube.com/watch?v=768AKmohgbI
        • cryan28, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Yeah, I have an ASUS board like that as well, it's saying "System Failed CPU Test."
        • cryan28, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0Double post =(
  • Purplicios, on 10/11/2007, -10/+0This album is the unlisted picasa album.
  • LukyJay, on 10/11/2007, -16/+5I clean mine monthly. It doesnt even have its case put on.
    • daroot, on 10/11/2007, -1/+16so your airflow is broken ;)
      • Swordplough, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Hah..haven't known that. :D
        I keep my case off as well, 'cos I thought that i would help it keep a bit cooler. Guess I better put it on.
        Thanks for the tip. :)
    • buddyfarr, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2@daroot - exactly. LukyJay needs a class on pc cooling and airflow. leaving the case off the pc breaks the airflow design and can make the dead heat spots even worse than they were with the case on.
  • bakkouz, on 10/11/2007, -17/+7sucks for the fans.
    but, how does a story with 48 diggs hit the front page?
    • apescissors, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7I think it has to get those 48 diggs really quickly. So someone with 50ish friends that digg all their submitted stories? I'm not certain though....
    • ToadLeg, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Digg rates each person's digg differently, depending on a bunch of secret factors like how the person rates other articles and how friendly the person is to the person who submitted the article.
  • whatthe515, on 10/11/2007, -11/+1wow....this is intense. I've never thought of this. Thanks for the article!
  • Snappysnap, on 10/11/2007, -10/+1Well, that's what these old computers from the 18th Century look like inside.
  • Grimshaw9, on 10/11/2007, -1/+164How the hell did a spider manage to make a web in there... and what the hell was it thinking.
    • Predater, on 10/11/2007, -4/+178The spider wanted to use the net
      • joeydoo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+63"The spider wanted to use the" ..... "web"......?

        Works better.
      • eaasness, on 10/11/2007, -3/+16Come on, why didn't you go for the easier joke and just say "The spider wanted to us the WEB"
        • soogy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+13Enough with the puns already. Jeez, you guys are worse than Apple's Mighty Mouse.
        • TastyLamp, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9Or every single digger that makes iPuns.
      • M4v3R, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2OMG, I've just laughed out loud...
    • longzheng, on 10/11/2007, -5/+21It wanted to capture some packets.
      Mmmmmm, tasty packets.
      • Akronos, on 10/11/2007, -1/+12No, it was hungry and wanted to eat some chips.
      • KyleMistry, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3It just wanted a little bit.

        Only a byte or two.
        • ricerfuel, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2just a few kernels of whatever was left..
    • Archon810, on 10/11/2007, -2/+85It was probably thinking something along the lines of, "*****, how the hell did I get in here and more importantly, how the ***** do I get out of here, with all those fans the escape looks dangerous, might as well settle in here for the time being". Or it could be thinking, 'one of these days someone is going to open this case, take pictures, and the whole world will digg my spiderweb'.
      • eaasness, on 10/11/2007, -2/+20SOME PIG
        • madpie, on 10/11/2007, -0/+17I'm quite sure I'm the only digger ever to say "Dug for the Charlotte's Web reference." But dug just the same.
    • sam991, on 10/11/2007, -1/+95Google's spiders have to start somewhere.
    • jakash, on 10/11/2007, -0/+34"You should thank the spider for keeping your PC safe from bugs."
    • Fighter2a, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5I'm glad I expanded this comment, made me laugh.
    • Nereus90, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Holy crap, I couldn't stop laughing...this thread is great.
    • Johntp, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1to play its personalized version of solitaire
  • GhostSniper, on 10/11/2007, -7/+1Ugh!

    That's the worst I've seen -- And I've seen some pretty bad 'puters!
  • rafmaister, on 10/11/2007, -9/+0I do clean my comp, dust can really slow down ur machine
    • richardiscool, on 10/11/2007, -3/+12lol im dust and im in ur cpu stealin all ur cycles
    • mtheoryx83, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8Just like adding vinyl flame stickers and a ridiculous aluminum spoiler can add horsepower to a honda civic?
      • ricerfuel, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Go faster stripes increase HP by 10% and the colour red gives it 2HP.
  • apescissors, on 10/11/2007, -9/+6Jesus ***** christ. My PC had a clean last week and I was ashamed of the insides but it was no where near as sick as that! And I haven't had the side of the case on for about a year!
  • Ecl1pse, on 10/11/2007, -3/+28That's a particularly grim example but unfortunately not uncommon in my experience. The worst I had was a smokers PC. Brown crumbly nicotine and tar laden dust everywhere. Drifts of the stuff had formed against components and I extracted about 4grams of it from the CPU fan and heat sink. I bagged it up and returned it with the PC to him as a memento. He was astonished to say the least.

    One friend even found an apple core and an empty packet of crisps (US: chips) in the case.
    • krunchyfrog, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4I got to fix a smoker's PC too lately. The video card's fan was litterally stuck in nicotine and tar, and it was really hard to spin it by hand. It cost him a can of CO2 and a new video card fan. And I told him to place the PC on the ground, instead of on the desk.
    • Snarfy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5I used to work with a blind programmer. His home computer stopped working one day, and one of my co-workers went over there to fix it. Both he and his wife were blind, and had seeing-eye dogs. There were no working lights in the place. The place was completely filthy, covered in dust and dog hair. Once the computer was found and opened, it was easy to see why it stopped working. It was completely packed full of dog hair.

      • conna, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4I got you beat. Computer on floor. Stupid nasty male cat makes use of the case to mark his territory. Puddle of stinky, sticky piss/resin. I have seen the same thing happen but with a dog but cat urine is 100 times more potent.
        I would take dust over pet piss any day.
      • scojerroc, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Blind programmer? I feel sorry for that guy, thinking about the response he gets when he tells people what he does for a living. If I were him, I'd just lie.
    • BrainInAJar, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I use all UNIX/RISC machines. the last time I cleaned my computer out was when the service processor threw a fault and refused to boot because the CPU fan had stopped... I opened it up & the CPU was a huge cake of dust ( the machine's about 6 or 7 years old ). a can of air later & it worked just fine
    • member57, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1The worst chain smokers PC I worked on, she played hours of online poker and such. She placed her ashtray right in front of the front fan intake because it whisked the smoke away for her... The front fan actually had a build up of tar, dust, etc on it, it would do a rotation and stick for a second then another rotation stick again. The computer was crashing because the CPU fan and heatsink was completely gunked up. The computer would actually run about 10-15 minutes, I guess the extra mass acted like a heat sink for a short time. I didn't clean, I replaced....
  • Damien79, on 10/11/2007, -6/+5That old piece of crap deserves to be covered in cobwebs
    • ToadLeg, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5wtf does that mean? don't just type nonsense...
    • alphgeek, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8He means that computer is of the stone age variety. I think I see Indiana Jones in there.
  • zybch, on 10/11/2007, -5/+2I maintain several computers used for layout and automated sandblasting at a stonemasons. Ever 6 months I get out there industrial heavy duty air compressor and clean out their PCs, and in 6 months time they look just as bad (if not worse) than the ones shown in those pictures (minus the spider webs).

    Also, according to the pics, the motherboard is a Sony. When did they start doing desktop PCs?
    • buddyfarr, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0yep, had the same issue at a steel plant in southern indiana. it would get that bad in less than 3 months. just wonder what was getting into the employee's lungs.
    • ogre2112, on 10/11/2007, -0/+11Sony Vaio desktops have shipped for years.
  • lonegunuk2k7, on 10/11/2007, -3/+10always vacuum your pc every six months please people I hate having to do it especially if you smoke
    • AlanHolcome, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Is there any danger of damaging somthin because of static-elec from the vacuum? I'm about due to do mine.

      ..and yeah about the smoker's computer. When I smoked I took My machine to get fixed and the guy showed Me the inside. wow. I wooda never thought so much tar and crap got collected in there. It gummed-up the fan and caused the problem.
      This was before i was confident enuff to go in there and fix (ruin) things up for Myself
      • BigFloppy, on 10/11/2007, -1/+12And if you think how much of that crap gets over your computer, just imagine what it's doing to your lungs!
  • callumj, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3I've found dead blowflies in the bottom of mine, tonnes of them. That's what happens when you live in a rental house!
    • BenPresland, on 10/11/2007, -0/+15Flies don't like to die in computers of a home owner?
      • callumj, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4The rental house is very old and there are many holes in the ground.
  • beaner2011, on 10/11/2007, -0/+19Spiders like low airflow / quiet machines.
    Compressed air is your best friend... if you like being covered in dust. Put a Hoover on it then hit it with canned air for inaccessible places.
    • buddyfarr, on 10/11/2007, -6/+1then you can replace your pc sooner because of the static electric shocks that the pc receives from the tip of the vacuum. ESD class anyone? (Electro Static Discharge).

      sweet, when I clicked on SUBMIT COMMENT red letters appeared above the comment box stating THE FORCE IS STRONG WITH YOU, PLEASE WAIT A FEW MINUTES BEFORE COMMENTING AGAIN. nice, with the new comment system you CAN'T comment.
      • mtheoryx83, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I've had that happen. Usually just copy what you wrote, refresh the page, and try again. Seems to work.
      • Branden, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7Your COMMENT is really ANNOYING to READ.
  • Crasoum, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2I actually have a bench on my porch, with a plug in air compressor to clean computers -just- like that.
    No fuss, just blow it off, take it inside, and continue.
    • stephenwq, on 10/11/2007, -0/+18"No fuss, just blow it off, take it inside, and continue."
      Thats what she said.
    • s1mph0ny, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I've used an air compressor for the same purpose. It's usually hard to not get sick afterwards though, the dust tends to go everywhere.
  • rushiku, on 10/11/2007, -1/+59I have a server in the basement that I suspect looks like this...brb
    • theoverlord, on 10/11/2007, -0/+39it's been ~47 minutes as of my post. should we call for help or just write him off?
      • mtheoryx83, on 10/11/2007, -2/+25Poor guy's probably hangin in a spiderweb down there.
    • rushiku, on 10/11/2007, -1/+26Back

      Funniest thing, I don't recall if I cleaned it or not...

      I remember a large spider, which said "This is not the dust you're looking for", then...nothing
  • revital9, on 10/11/2007, -5/+3Are those... cobwebs??? Damn it, people are disgusting. I wonder what their house looks like.
  • t2t2, on 10/11/2007, -0/+38Report inappropriate content -> Reason: Computer abuse
  • Junkyarddawg, on 10/11/2007, -0/+10I've seen many computers like that. Old machines who've been humming away in some office or shop for ten years look like that inside - no-one cares for them, they're constantly switched on, and they, unlike most private computers, get old enough before being replaced to accumulate that much crud.
  • outgun, on 10/11/2007, -4/+1What a slob. Take a bath computer.
    • buddyfarr, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0funny!! I had a customer bring in her computer because it stopped working....just after she washed it in the bathtub because it was dirty.
  • drsox, on 10/11/2007, -3/+8Ive seen worse
    • 1Stoner, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1yup, Ive seen the air guides on a P2 so cloged it stoped the fan from spining
  • HumanRecall, on 10/11/2007, -8/+3I have a SFF( small form factor ) Fragbox Pro case http://media.gear.ign.com/media/567/567995/img_1776117.html

    Everyone 3 months or so mostly to clean my GeForce 7950 agp card fan and fan blower( taking out heat ).
    2 side panels and can or compressed air and i'm back i action in under 5 mins :)

    I'm guessing this guy smoked ?
    • dippyskoodlez, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6nah, thats just normal dust. Probably a house where people go in and out often.

      Smoke dust is normally yellow ish, sticky, and really ***** nasty.
      • ogre2112, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Yea smoker's dust is a lot different looking. It's usually dark brown, and it doesn't really blow off.

    • bentleyprior, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Nice Fragbox, Falcon Northwest FTW
  • Peter89, on 10/11/2007, -1/+14I'm the only person in my group of friends who you could call "Tech-savvy" and I had to install a wireless card in my friend's desktop.

    God....just....God. The computer is older than I am and I think some of the dust in there is too.
  • soundex, on 10/11/2007, -2/+9Take it outside and use a leaf blower.
  • willi, on 10/11/2007, -0/+19Well, people don't clean inside of the computer because they are afraid that it will break the warranty if they open it.
    • Rezatron, on 10/11/2007, -0/+10People are stupid.
      • alexforcefive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7Or possibly convinced by the "warranty void if removed" sticker you get on the cases of some pre-built PCs
        • mtheoryx83, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Do they also leave the annoying "do not remove" tags on their couches and mattresses?
    • nate488, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1Little do people know, this is only relevant to macs.
    • yabannna, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1i never heard something as stupid as that.
    • s1mph0ny, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2That's why you peel off the sticker before you take the case off, no broken seal.
      • baronbliss4, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1They use holographic or silvery stickers that leave residue on the case and never match up when you close the case and try to reapply the sticker. People are stupid though.
    • Suplyndmnd, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Sadly, i've had people tell me this when asked to fix their PC. "Will this void my warranty? Cant you replace my modem without opening my case?"

      And on topic, I clean my PC today. First of the month and all.
    • t3hprogrammer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Dell tells you how to open your case and remove or install individual components in their user's manual. So I don't see why it would void your warranty if they how to do it.
  • obeezy, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Something lives in that thing dude.
    • SpyDerMann, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Just watch out for the things that come out from the eggs... and careful with the acid blood.
  • 1337otter, on 10/11/2007, -2/+13HAHAHAHA, you think that's bad, I work in a computer store, and I used to volunteer at a computer recycling place, I've seen computers that you can't see into. I've opened up computers and found nachos, I've opened up computers and found pills of X!!
    • ogre2112, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5Umm.. wouldn't you only know that if you took the pills?

      So do you often just pop random pills you find in PC cases?
      • nate488, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7pfft, where have you been. People have been 'tower popping' for ages.
    • egrumling, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4And don't hide the weed behind the TV if the cable guy is coming over.
  • Scott_T, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Please, that's nothing. I had one come in for repairs that had a family of dead roaches living under the heatsink. The rest of the inside of the case was as bad as you'd expect it to be.
    • mcraze123, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0Yea, I have to agree with you the roach infested computers are the worst.. Now they really make you want to loose your lunch. I had one laptop that smelled so bad you couldn't even get near it, once I got the keyboard off, I noticed a pile of dead roaches laying on the motherboard... I put it back together and charged him for my pain and suffering.
    • MedHead, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7Dead roaches still living in a computer?! You really *can't* kill those things, can you?
    • InSectWar, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Man im glad i live an area where there are no roaches.
  • crobinso, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7I've fixed worse.
    • vertinox, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Yeah. A smoker's computer is far worse.
  • skapaneas, on 10/11/2007, -3/+0this is like the inside of my computer
  • MikeonTV, on 10/11/2007, -8/+1Her buys Sony computers. He is obviously a dumbass.
  • thestorey, on 10/11/2007, -2/+13once a week. Gotta keep it looking nice for the ladies.
    • xxNIRVANAxx, on 10/11/2007, -0/+29Your mom and her friends don't care how your computer looks.
    • s1mph0ny, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1@xx: well they do if it's all plexiglass like mine. But yeah, once a week is obsessive. Do you take it in the shower with you too?
  • gorac369, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8haha reminds me of this one http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_slideshow46.htm
  • Garfunkel, on 10/11/2007, -6/+1i don't believe it, if the motherboards PSB had that much ***** on it it would have shorted out long ago...
    • Junkyarddawg, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3No, dust doesn't short things out. It only clogs the heatsinks, but old computers didn't generate all that much heat so they can take a lot of dust buildup before they overheat. I've seen and cleaned many computers which were as bad as the one in the link - or worse.
    • mcraze123, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0I think you mean PCB (printed circuit board)... and dust just causes insulation and heat build up.
  • jhoskins98, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4I have seen worse. One computer came in from a construction site and had about a quarter inch of mud/dust on everything. Had to use two cans of air to get it to the point you could even tell what was what inside.
  • druboni, on 10/11/2007, -2/+0sweet jebus, that looked like my roommates computer, he came to me complaining that his computer was crashing, check the temps and they were about 260 degrees F, looked inside the case and there was about that much dust inside it
  • tektalk, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6There was a photo on digg a while back that had an image of a computer on it's side. And there was a thick coat of dust covering everything on the interior, from mother board to video card, to hard drive, all of it was caked in the disgusting grey stuff.
    And along with the story came several comments telling of cockroaches and eggs being laid in various places in the computer, needless to say, I learned that neglecting to clean your computer can lead to really disgusting results.
    • ogre2112, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Yea I had a repair once where the PSU was infested with small roaches. The machine was in our shop overnight and therefor infested all our workbenches with the nasty things too. We kept finding them for weeks until they died off. (No food source, we don't have crumbs or anything)
  • khfn, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2Um, I doubt it would have been running for that much longer.
  • RST1123, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7All I see is the reason that people think they need to buy a new computer every couple years.
    • fjf314, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1It's hard to beat that "If it doesn't work, throw it out and buy a new one" mentality. Of course, like someone already mentioned, most people seem to be horrified by the idea of opening their cases. There were a few people I knew in college that did everything possible to avoid opening their computers, even when those computers weren't working and tech support was telling them to do it.
  • VSKBadCRC, on 10/11/2007, -1/+14I've cleaned worse, lots worse. I've seen machines that would make this machine look clean enough to eat off of.

    Try cleaning a heavy smoker's computer with hardwood floors.
    • furto, on 10/11/2007, -1/+20i would imagine that hardwood floors are not the best cleaning tool....

      ...jks
      • rushiku, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Actually, they're not as bad as you'd think, but heavy? Man!
    • speedyrev, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Hardwood floors + a pet. :(
      • ScottDaMan, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3So you use hardwood floors and a pet to clean your computer?
    • Cyberbladewolf, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Want to make it worse? If they live in an older home with a dirt and rock basement, and have hardwood floors and a pet (Lets just say a St. Bernard and 2 cats) The computer can look like the one in the picture in less then a week.
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