DataVac

[Carol]

Carol wrote:
> > Does anyone know anything about PC vacuums? I want to remove the dust inside my PC case without just blowing it around the room. I understand that DataVac makes a small, inexpensive vacuum cleaner that won't cause static or demagnetize any components. Does anyone have one and are they worth the price? (I can get online one for under twenty dollars before shipping; I haven't checked local stores yet.) Any other brand that's just as good?
> 
Ali responded:
> <snip> I've done everything to my laptops/harddrives/etc from using the air cans to PC vacs to actual vacs.  The BEST (for me) has always been using the compressed air and then vacuuming up the nasty dirt webs flying out.  I own a (or maybe 3) PC vacuum and they've always been left in various locales because they were so useless that, in a rush, I only remember to grab the can of air.  Your mileage may vary, but for serious cleaning, compressed air may not be cheap (and ain't that a hoot that we're paying for air), but it's worth the $6.  (Although maybe if I were more obsessed about cleaning and do it more than once every few months, the PC vacs might not seem so under-powered.)
> 
> Also, you can pick up good PC vacs for around $10/$15, too.  No need to spend the $20 if you're willing to look around a bit.
>
Carol responds:
Thanks, Ali. I'm tempted to take it outside and clean it there using the canned air, but then there's the hassle of hooking everything up again so that the cords aren't all tangled. Last time I did that, to take the PC in for a check-up (it was still under warranty), the speakers stopped working! Admittedly, they were old, but it had no trouble recognizing them before. I had to get new ones that I don't like as well, but they're sufficient for my needs. I suppose the alternative is to clean it in my room (with the keyboard covered) and hold up a vacuum cleaner at the same time. I'm afraid I have something like ten months worth of dust in there, so it won't be pretty!

Carol, also wondering if it would be worth the trouble to buy a computer cover for nights when I leave the windows open--as in November through April, emphatically not June!