The question is purely academic; anyone with even a modicum of PC knowledge would know that cleaning the PC is a thorough and comprehensive job that requires tools that can do it from the outside as well as internally. Of course, this is not to say that you should be taking a rag to the darn thing literally, but the computer, with all its complicated machinery needs the delicate hands of programmed and targeted software to ensure that the matrix, the system, the OS and all the hardware is running properly.



Many tech experts would akin the computer to the human body, with the processor being the brain of the computer and the ever increasing important power unit being the heart. The memory banks are self-explanatory and everything else is just a system in itself, a self-contained virtual world where we place all our work, our memories, our entertainment and our personal lives into.

If you had a migraine, you would not just get a head massage would you? You would get aspirin, the very medication that needs to sort out the pain receptors in the brain, soothe any swelling and bring blood and the chemical reactions necessary to soothe and relax you.

Cleaning the PC from the inside out is very easy and the brilliant thing about this task is that it is no more a chore than clicking open Windows and using the very tools that have been provided inside for you to clean the PC and make sure it is running in top order. One of these tools is the defragment tool, which can be described as the single most important piece of software in the accessories department of your computer.

What it does is take all the fragmented data that has been blown to pieces due to system crashes and general use, piece them together so that Windows does not have to go through the arduous task of actually finding these file fragments, then piecing them together so that it can be launched. Many of us would have hard disks that are more than 90% fragmented, which means you are twiddling your fingers waiting for your favourite program to launch for no reason at all.

And the thing is, defragmenting is so easy - all you need to do is to leave your computer overnight and soon the magic is done. Gains of more than 50% speed have been reported on normal systems, the sort of speed you expect from the system when you spend your money on it. Another great way to clean your computer is to use a free registry cleaner or a system scanner that is available freely and widely online. It fixes a crucial part of the computer - the registry, and faults within this tiny file has been sourced to massive computer slowdowns, Active X and runtime errors and crashes.

However, apart from cleaning up the software components of your computer, you should also check to see if the insides of your CPU case have been gathering dust from its ventilation system, especially if you have been using the same machine for years on end. Dust particles may be unwittingly introduced through the CPU fan and ventilation vents, and after years of neglect, these dust particles may prove to be detrimental to the health of your hardware. Some have even reported a total system meltdown simply because the insides of their computers had been clogged up with so much dust that the hardware components simply overheated and died.

Cleaning your computer from the inside out is a crucial maintenance matter. If you want to maintain your machine for a considerably long time, try to keep a regular schedule to clean the software components (perhaps once every 3 weeks), and occasionally open up your case (once a year should suffice) to carefully clear any dust particles with a vacuum cleaner. If you're not keen on the idea of doing the latter yourself, find a computer technician who can help you do so, albeit at a price.