pctalk50,

You will find guidelines here.

Denny,

i am considering the purchase of a pc vacuum. Would this be a good way?

I don't know, but I have 4 PCs, the oldest six years old, the only thing I ever cleaned was the display screen, keyboards and when I had mechnical mice I cleaned them also.  When I worked a Verizon, I had the same PC for 2 1/2 years never cleaned anything, we were not even able to open the case.  Prior to that I was administrator on a small Sun network, cleaned nothing, except the outside cases.   Som people do wipe down the outside of a PC when they doing general dusting, but thar is all.  Question do you really want the general public openning the PC's case and putting their hands into it? 

ms debbie,

use canned air, you can find this item at any office outlet such as office max.  follow the directions to the "T".  i was an electronic tech for a steel mill and part of our job was to maintain inside cpu house work.  also as the years go by you can also pull your cards and use a pencil eraser to buff and shine the connectors.  it always worked well for us.  just take your time and do a good job.

take care,

jdd

I have lots of friends who clean out the inside of their computers, for one thing the dust gets in there and makes your hardrive and CPU over heat. I just use a small vacuum, as long as your not stupid, like not wearing wool socks and rubbing them on the carpet before you clean out the inside you should be fine.