Don't Let Your Computer Bite The Dust!

Dust! Have you ever opened up your computer and noticed a
healthy sheet of dust dwelling inside? Well, if you live on Maui
you probably know the dust I'm talking about. The reddish cloud
that disperses into the air when you blow on it is genuine Maui
dust! So why should this dust concern you, and what can you do
about it?

Normal dust finds its way to every surface. Not even the fans,
floppy disks, hard disks, and circuitry of our computers are
safe from it. Dust on a computer fan isn't necessarily
catastrophic but if you notice the fan has trouble spinning it's
time to replace it. Floppy drives are very vulnerable to dust
because of their exposed nature. You may notice strange errors
or an outright failure of your floppy drive if it is damaged.
Hard drives are not nearly as forgiving as floppy drives. They
are built and sealed in a static and dust free environment but
after years of use it is possible for a grain of dust to find
its way inside the protective shell. Once inside the dust can
easily send the read/write mechanism to its demise by crashing
it into the data section of the disk spinning at up to 10,000
RPM. Unfortunately this destroys both your hard disk and its
data, and sometimes beyond repair! Now that we have covered
normal dust lets discuss Maui's dust.

Everyone knows that Maui's weather is unique, but did you know
our dust is equally unique? Maui's dust is heavily concentrated
with iron. Iron is a conductive, corrosive substance. Once it
collects on electronic components it eventually corrodes through
the circuitry's protective coating and then through the wires
themselves. Unfortunately due to today's advanced micro
soldering techniques this type of damage is not repairable. The
entire board must be replaced! I've seen a vast amount of
computers bite the dust while working here on Maui. It's an
unfortunate but avoidable event. So how can you protect your
computer from dust here on Maui?

First, do not use a vacuum cleaner to clean you computer! The
tiny dust particles that pass over the plastic nozzle of your
vacuum build a static charge. If the static discharges on your
computer (known as an ESD or Electro Static Discharge) you are
sure to destroy something. The best way to clean your computer
is to use compressed air that you can purchase from Costco or
any hardware store. The air will blow the dust away without
creating any harmful static. Another way to prevent dust from
getting to your computer is to cover it while it is turned off.
Those are the simplest ways to protect your computer from Maui
dust and it will help extend the life of your computer.

About the author:
For more information about keeping your computer clean and
running properly, check out my maui computer repair site!