Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cleaning and computer

What to do with the Apple II?

niles — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:27:18 -0800

What do I do with several Apple IIs (and a Commodore, and maybe a few other "vintage" comptuers) that I have? Nostalgia has finally given way to practicality, and I need to do something about the basement shelf overflowing with computers older than I am - but I have absolutely no clue how to do it. It seems wasteful to throw out a perfectly working Commodore 64 (in the original packaging!), or any of several models of Apple IIs with boxes of related 5.25" disk software. I read about a team at MIT creating cheap computers out of Apple IIs for developing countries, and while I can't find any further information for them online, donating to a cause like that would be awesome. Short of that, what else can I do to clean out the house? What's the best thing to do with these computers?

Help me rid my computer of clutter for faster performance.

mintchip — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 21:20:22 -0800

Help me rid my computer of clutter for faster performance. My computer says it only has ~7MB free, 35 used. Lately the performance has been less than dazzling...it's quite slow, actually.

Over the past two years I've added a number of programs, but not THAT many. As far as I know I've got MS Office, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, several photo managing programs, printer software, a PDF maker, camera software and some miscellany. (It's annoying that every add-on and peripheral requires installation of another memory hog, but anyway I digress). In any case, I'm unsure of what has used up so much space. I had a lot of images on it but I've moved these to an external drive.

For troubleshooting, I've run two different spyware removal programs (Spybot is one of them) plus CC Cleaner. I've also tried to degfrag, but I haven't noticed any improvements.

How can I figure out what is cluttering up my computer, and then how can I remove it? What steps should I take to get the performance back up? I've tried to remove programs that I don't think I use, but there are several that I don't recognize and I'm afraid to screw something up.

FYI, its a Windows laptop running Vista.

How to exorcise cigarette smells and tar from an iMac?

mattybonez — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:32:26 -0800

How can I clean away cigarette odor and tar buildup from a G3 iMac? I loaned an old iMac to a friend who needed a computer after his house was burgled. The “week or two” loan turned into many months, and I finally got the computer back last night.

When I saw the condition of my previously minty Mac, I was very sad. The keyboard, mouse, and computer are all showing signs of living with chain smokers. There is some tar discoloration in the clear plastic bits, and there is also a very distinct smell. It's strong enough that I can't bring the computer into my house.

I'm planning on taking apart the components and cleaning them up, but wanted to know if anyone had any additional tips or suggestions before I get started. Any idea on cleaning agents that I can use that won't craze the plastic?

Thanks in advance.

automatic keycap cleaining?

ArgentCorvid — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 21:53:47 -0800

What (automatic) methods would you recommend for cleaning grime off the keycaps of a keyboard? The keyboard on my desktop went out the other day. I have a backup I can use, but it's really dirty. I've taken off the keycaps, and cleaned underneath, but I still need to clean the crap off the keys. I really don't feel like scrubbing them off one-by-one.

I have this awesome idea to put them in the washing machine, but am not sure if this will work without damaging them.

If you have a better idea, let me have it!

Cleaning a PC

flyby22 — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 22:39:56 -0800

Looking for good ways to clean out a PC storage before donating. I have some old PCs that I would rather donate than trashing them. What are good procedures and tools to use to clean out disks? Should I leave the OS on ? There may be questionable and personal content lurking around that I would prefer to wipe out. etc. etc.

What to use to clean a computer?

gaelenh — Sun, 26 Jun 2005 12:17:34 -0800

Is there any sort of spray or protective coating that can be used to clean computer? I know WD40 is bad, but is there any similar kind of spray that can be used to clean or coat a computer parts?