Dust, hairballs, spilled liquids, static electricity, cigarette smoke — these are just a few of the many environmental hazards that can kill PCs and send them to the support desk or repair shop for fixing or possibly recycling.
I wrote on this subject awhile back here on how to preserve your PCs, laptops, and servers against such hazards
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Watch your surroundings
Keep the computer and its area clean. For example, don’t trim your fingernails by the keyboard, and don’t eat over your laptop.
2. Avoid any obstructions
Don’t block up your computer’s ventilation. If you lay a laptop on a soft surface, such as a bed or couch, it can easily overheat and be damaged. Don’t pack stuff in and around your desktop.
3. Clean the ventilation
Clean the ventilation system. Canned air is your laptop’s friend. Blow it backwards through the ventilation system to clean it.
4. Watch out for liquids
Be cautious with liquids. I’ve seen lots of nice laptops killed by liquid spills. No, you can’t clean it out, but until you get it to somebody who can, towel it off, and put it in a bag with dry rice. Rice is a desiccant, which means it draws water out of stuff.
5. handle cords carefully
Be careful with cords. The first and last inch of a cord is where the most stress happens, and where it usually fails.
6. Label your power adapters
Don’t mix up power adapters. Just because it’ll fit, doesn’t mean it’ll work. It may even damage something, or cause a fire.