I was going to say, "I've had worse." But maybe not!
That's pretty bad.

Couldn't imagine doing that with a "Can" of air - you'd freeze your fingers off - after the fifth can.

Oh hey, I guess I can go pick up my computer now! I didn't see it in the video so I'll just have to ask if they fixed the cup holder too.

>> ^Sagemind:

I was going to say, "I've had worse." But maybe not!
That's pretty bad.


I thought mine were bad.

The inside of the front panel is still clogged with dust. Of course the entire system has a fine layer of dust coating it still. Clean that also, and with a couple of hours of reformatting, finding old drivers and installing a billion windows xp updates, you'll have a brand new Pentium 4 2.2Ghz system you can sell for $50!

>> ^rkone:

The inside of the front panel is still clogged with dust. Of course the entire system has a fine layer of dust coating it still. Clean that also, and with a couple of hours of reformatting, finding old drivers and installing a billion windows xp updates, you'll have a brand new Pentium 4 2.2Ghz system you can sell for $50!


$50?
$20 -- if you're lucky.

That was strangely satisfying.

Damn, were they using it as an urn?? I don't think that's where Grandpa goes.

P4 aren't worth cleaning anymore.

I need to see if I can get one of those guns for my airbrush compressor!

Better to start with a vacuum to get the loose shit, rather than blowing particles into new places.. but not as fun to watch. this is how they cleaned the computers at the autobody shop i detailed at.

Jeez what do my lungs pick up?!

I can't even imagine what the condition of the place this computer lived in must have been in =oO

I have seen worse. Usually they come from houses that have 5+ pets, and the PC is sitting directly on the flooor (usually a thick carpet), and the computer hasn't been opened or cleaned once in it's 8+ years that it existed. The hardware probably still works, but I can guarantee it has several viruses.

And there are lots of things you could still do with a P4- run a webserver, or fileserver for backups, etc. Just put Linux or BSD on it. I agree that you aren't going to sell it for $50, because I'm sure there are many other places one could get them for free.

>> ^spawnflagger:

I have seen worse. Usually they come from houses that have 5+ pets, and the PC is sitting directly on the flooor (usually a thick carpet), and the computer hasn't been opened or cleaned once in it's 8+ years that it existed.


Yup, me too. Exactly what you described, but they were also a regular pipe smoker. The components were coated with a layer of sticky yellow tar which the dust and cat hairs also got impregnated with. Made air-duster cans almost useless.

I had to use tweezers to get the bulk of the cat hair out the way, then remove the hard-drive and plug it into another PC via an external cable to recover the data.

Where'd they find that? Ground zero?

>> ^notarobot:

This is thy I use a mac?


So that you can't open it and clean it without being certified?

It will surprise you how quickly your pc will accumulate dust, hair, and fuzzies like this one did. Best scenario is the overall lifetime of the pc will be diminished (heat is a computer killer) and worse case is a short circuit in the box catches the nasties on fire and your house burns down.

If you do (and you should) want to clean out the dust then I suggest using canned air or a camera dust blower. Vacuum cleaners can build up a static charge that will wreck the computer if you aren't careful. The compressed air like these guys use is awesome for filling tires but there always seems to be water (condensation?) in the take that comes out when you use it.

This is just my advice based on personal experience so think of it as law take it with a grain of salt, I am sure others have had better luck but I wouldn't take the risk.

More info:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/283255-31-safe-vacuum

http://www.howtogeek.com/57870/ask-how-to-geek-why-you-should-never-vacuum-your-pc-converting-books-for-the-kindle-and-controlling-multiple-computers-
with-one-keyboard/

I bought a small air compressor for exactly this purpose, but now prefer using a leaf blower. Much faster. I have seen some bad ones, full of dust, pet hair, nasty smoke residue, and spiders. Many people see their computers as an appliance, like a toaster. They want it to turn on and just work, ignorant of what is needed at a minimum to keep it running well. But even a toaster needs the crumb tray emptied once in a while. Unfortunately, it's only when a fan dies or a heatsink gets completely clogged that they notice it "acting funny", "locking up", "making funny noises", or they "think it has a virus". "Oh, and by the way, one of the fans used to make lots of noise, but I figured it must have fixed itself because I don't hear it anymore".

I've got stories.

>> ^critical_d:

It will surprise you how quickly your pc will accumulate dust, hair, and fuzzies like this one did. Best scenario is the overall lifetime of the pc will be diminished (heat is a computer killer) and worse case is a short circuit in the box catches the nasties on fire and your house burns down.
If you do (and you should) want to clean out the dust then I suggest using canned air or a camera dust blower. Vacuum cleaners can build up a static charge that will wreck the computer if you aren't careful. The compressed air like these guys use is awesome for filling tires but there always seems to be water (condensation?) in the take that comes out when you use it.
This is just my advice based on personal experience so think of it as law take it with a grain of salt, I am sure others have had better luck but I wouldn't take the risk.
More info:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/283255-31-safe-vacuum
http://www.howtogeek.com/57870/ask-how-to-geek-why-you-should-never-vacuum-your-pc-converting-books-for-the-kindle-and-controlling-multiple-co
mputers-
with-one-keyboard/


It's more weird that SOME old computers are fairly clean inside even in the same place!

That's not dust man, those are spores.

I've actually seen worse too, at an internship I worked ages ago. Those were ancient boxes (even at that time) used in industrial settings. Mind you I can see how those accumulated so much dust, they were so old they really didn't have fans, (just heat sinks, if that), or they were terminals.

If my computer ever got that dirty I'd just run it through the dishwasher.

Then, within 3-5 days FedEx would deliver me a nice, clean one.

Computer for sale, like new!

What does dust have to do wıth viruses?>> ^spawnflagger:

I have seen worse. Usually they come from houses that have 5+ pets, and the PC is sitting directly on the flooor (usually a thick carpet), and the computer hasn't been opened or cleaned once in it's 8+ years that it existed. The hardware probably still works, but I can guarantee it has several viruses.
And there are lots of things you could still do with a P4- run a webserver, or fileserver for backups, etc. Just put Linux or BSD on it. I agree that you aren't going to sell it for $50, because I'm sure there are many other places one could get them for free.

Just that the typical user who does zero regular maintenance also believes that antivirus software with 3-year old definitions is still effective. And is likely to click Allow for any random "Do you want to run this .exe?" they download from the internet. (and they probably don't change the oil in their vehicle at the recommended intervals either)

>> ^messenger:

What does dust have to do wıth viruses?>> ^spawnflagger:
I have seen worse. Usually they come from houses that have 5+ pets, and the PC is sitting directly on the flooor (usually a thick carpet), and the computer hasn't been opened or cleaned once in it's 8+ years that it existed. The hardware probably still works, but I can guarantee it has several viruses.
And there are lots of things you could still do with a P4- run a webserver, or fileserver for backups, etc. Just put Linux or BSD on it. I agree that you aren't going to sell it for $50, because I'm sure there are many other places one could get them for free.

I ditched canned air for this.... I use this now:
http://www.amazon.com/Metro-Vacuum-ED500-500-Watt-Electric/dp/B001J4ZOAW

MUCHO better

My PC's full of filth too. Different kind.

Meh. Warranty's over. I do what I want. Teh internets is one hell of a teacher. >> ^bmacs27:

>> ^notarobot:
This is thy I use a mac?

So that you can't open it and clean it without being certified?

>> ^offsetSammy:
My PC's full of filth too. Different kind.


QFT