"Lee Michaels" leemichaels*nadaspam* at comcast dot net wrote in message
b.com...
I had a computer go down last week. Turns out that the power supply was
clogged with dust and needed to be replaced. It was probably under
powered too, which added to its demise. Talking to some friends, this has
happened to two more people in the last 3 months. All of them multi
monitor machines running some big apps. Regular computers did not seem to
suffer from the same type of problem.

The tech suggested regular cleaning of the interior of the case every two
months. Again, this is probably overkill for most machines, but we have
three examples here of where we probably could have prevented the problems
we had. He suggested a small compressor for this purpose. He had one in
his shop. I have no problem with getting a small compressor to make my
computers happy. It is just that my beloved and other folks working in
the offices would have extreme objections to a noisy, pancake compressor
starting up.

I could probably get by with a can of compressed air. I have a small
vacuum cleaner which will do an OK job cleaning. But I need some
compressed air to get everything really clean. I need something small,
quiet and not scary to tool phobic office workers (or wives). Any
suggestions?

I was thinking of the baby compressors that run artist's air brushes. But
did not think they were powerful enough. Maybe even a fireplace bellows
may work. I looked at a small compressor from Harbor Freight and was
assured that it was very noisy. So that won't work. Maybe I am asking
too much, inexpensive, quiet and effective. Any input from you guys would
be appreciated.

You cannot get away from the noise of most any kind of compressor. We run an
internet business with many computers, I also have a wood shop with a
compressor. To blow out a computer, we either carry it into the workshop and
use the compressor there, it also allows the dirt, fluff and whatever that
blows out to land in the sawdust. To work on a computer in the office, I
connect a couple of 50 foot hoses to the compressor to clear out the
computer. The noise stays in the workshop. You will have to vacuum up all
the crud that blows out so that it doesn't just get sucked back into the
computer.