How often do you.....

KmH · Mar 22, 2011

Do PM (preventative maintanence) on your image editing computer(s).

I PM my image editing work station, and other computers, quarterly.

I take the cover off my work station computer case and:

remove, clean, and inspect, the CPU cooling fan blades, case exhaust fan blades, video card and it's fan blades.
clean the CPU heat sink.
remove, blow out the power supply, and clean it's cooling fan blades.
blow dust out of the rest of the computer case.
re-assemble
clean the inside of the case cover
replace the cover
wipe the outside of the case with a damp cloth

RauschPhotography · Mar 22, 2011

My boyfriend's kind of a techie, and I trust him much more than I do when it comes to tinkering with that stuff---So once every three months or so he'll get around to it :sexywink:

480sparky · Mar 22, 2011

Quarterly for me. I also do a second total hard drive/external had drive back-up at the same time.

Overread · Mar 22, 2011

Not half as often as I should - mostly because it all occurs under the cover - that and I don't have a vacuum cleaner (at least at the digs I'm in - just no point having one to clean one room... which is mostly vinyl flooring anyway.) So typically it only gets a light blow if I happen to have a need to lift the hood off.

Drake · Mar 22, 2011

Once every 2-3 months or so. My editing rig isn't actually a wonder of modern technology so I just have to if I want it to last another year. But I am having problems with the last thing on your list though... :er:

PhotoWrangler · Mar 22, 2011

Shouldda bought a Mac....

KmH · Mar 22, 2011

Why? Is self-cleaning why Apples computers are so over priced?

Has anyone here ever studied the history of Apple, as a company?

PhotoWrangler · Mar 22, 2011

KmH said:
Why? Is self-cleaning why Apples computers are so over priced?

Yep. They have a magical time machine feature too.

Mike_E · Mar 22, 2011

ChristopherCoy said:
KmH said:

Why? Is self-cleaning why Apples computers are so over priced?

Click to expand...

Yep. They have a magical time machine feature too.

That's because they grow magic mushrooms on the dirt that collects when people think that they clean themselves.

Weekly AV/spyware/malware scan, and a take down and clean out every couple of months (I have an organic burglary prevention system i.e. German Sheppard and a junk yard dog

).

Forkie · Mar 22, 2011

KmH said:
Do PM (preventative maintanence) on your image editing computer(s).

I PM my image editing work station, and other computers, quarterly.

I take the cover off my work station computer case and:

remove, clean, and inspect, the CPU cooling fan blades, case exhaust fan blades, video card and it's fan blades.

clean the CPU heat sink.

remove, blow out the power supply, and clean it's cooling fan blades.

blow dust out of the rest of the computer case.

re-assemble

clean the inside of the case cover

replace the cover

wipe the outside of the case with a damp cloth

I've never done any of this with any computer I've ever owned, ever.

Edit: Actually, I've wiped the dust of the screen a few times.

EckoZero · Mar 23, 2011

Forkie said:
Edit: Actually, I've wiped the dust of the screen a few times.

You've beaten me there.
That said, when I was at school I was part of the Tech Team which was basically a name for geeks who didn't want to be outside during the lunch hour and had to go around and perform Basic Maintenance (read: open parts cleaning) on the computers.

I always looked at them and said "Man, I wonder if my computer gets that bad... I should have a look when I get home"

I never, ever did

RockstarPhotography · Mar 23, 2011

I back up weekly to external hard drive, then pretty much nothing except wiping down the computer and screen from time to time.

Macbook pro 15"

Paul D. Van Hoy II · Mar 25, 2011

I leave my stations running continuously and I have a cat, so dust, cat hair, and pet dander force me to maintenance (clean) my consoles every 4-6 weeks.

I find this is good practice for any system Apple or PC.

Additional maintenance includes backing up all image and computer files to a Raided drive set that also has its own backup.

Paul

lyonsroar · Mar 25, 2011

I'm sort of responsible for 23 public computers + 6 staff computers at a library. They never get cleaned. EVER. If tthey're lucky the keyboard gets blown out once a month.

One time I has aspirations to clean all 6 staff computers inside and out. I got through 4 OK, and on the 5th one when I put the cover back on and tried to start it up, something went wrong and it wouldn't boot. It was a coincidence not caused by the cleaning. Got yelled at by the big wigs downtown for attempting to do preventative mainence. OK then, never again.

My own machine I usually blow out every month, but my dogs aren't in my room so no dog hair to worry about. It'd be different if it was on the min floor with the two corgis. No sir.

c.cloudwalker · Mar 25, 2011

Not only have I never opened a computer to clean its guts but I was a heavy smoker (of the 2 packs a day persuasion) until not so long ago and, rarely used AC in the same room as the darn machines because I hate AC. From what techie friends have told me, these are big no-nos, yet I have never lost a computer or HD except a windows machine :lol: