Tip of the Week: Keep Your Workstation Clean

It’s often said that a clean workspace is a safe workplace. When your workspace is mostly your computer, safety has less to do with it, but that shouldn’t deter you from doing what you can to keep your computer clean. It can help keep it in working order, longer, and is just a sanitary thing to do. Let’s get into why a clean computer is better, and how to go about cleaning your workstation. 

What Difference Does a Clean Workstation Make?

If your computer isn’t properly kept maintained, it can get pretty gross pretty quickly. Not only is technology aesthetically pleasing to look at when it doesn’t have Doritos dust all over it, keeping a clean workstation can help its components to work as they are intended to. It is also much more hygienic and therefore, should be cleaned periodically. Let’s go into some best practices to ensure that your computer equipment is properly cleaned.

How Often Should I Clean My Workstation?

There are a lot of variables that play into how frequently your workstation should be cleaned. While the minimum should be at least once a year, other factors will play into your specific situation. Where that computer is located, for instance, if it’s in the home or in an office or in some other environment, and what conditions are present there can make it prudent to clean it more often.

It only makes sense that things like:

• An industrial environment
• The presence of pets
• Carpeting
• Who typically uses the computer (especially children)

…and numerous other factors would increase the frequency that a computer should be cleaned. So, if it’s been over a year since a computer has been cleaned, it’s time.

Properly Cleaning Your Workstation’s Components

Each piece of your workstation should be cleaned differently to protect them from unintentional damage. Here, we’ll focus on the best practices for a desktop workstation, which differ somewhat from those to clean a laptop.

While we’ll briefly go into the proper way to clean each component, there are a few generic best practices that you should remember as well:

• Do not spray any liquid directly into the computer. Spray a cloth and wipe instead.
• Do not use a vacuum, as it can create a damaging static charge. Use compressed air to blow away any debris.
• Don’t allow fans to spin freely as you are cleaning them, as it could actually damage them.
• Always turn off the computer before you attempt to clean it.

The Case

Cleaning your computer’s case can help assist airflow while also making it look better. Use a lint-free cloth to wipe down the exterior to help minimize dust.

Inside the Case

Keeping the inside of your case clean helps to reduce the internal temperature of the device, ultimately benefiting its operations. Compressed air allows you to clear out debris without risking damage to the internal components of the device. Make sure the device is powered down and unplugged before you do this, and it’s best to have a professional handle it for you.

The Peripherals

There are assorted benefits to cleaning the different accessories that enable you to use your desktop. Keeping the keyboard and mouse clean with a combination of compressed air and diluted rubbing alcohol or some other disinfectant can help keep you healthy, while regularly dusting off your monitor will help promote visibility.

To learn about these practices in more depth, call OnSite I.T. today at (403) 210-2927, and don’t forget to subscribe to our blog for more useful information.