“Cleaning your computer and your computer components and peripherals helps keep the components and computer in good working condition and helps keep the computers from spreading germs. To the right is an example image of how dirty the inside of your computer case can get. This example is a dirty computer case fan.Depending on the environment that your computer operates in determines how often you should clean your computer case. The below list is our recommendation and may change depending upon your computer’s environment.

• User who does not smoke and has no pets - Clean the computer every five months.
• User who does not smoke and has pets - Clean the computer every four months.
• User who smokes but has no pets - Clean the computer every three months.
• User who smokes and has pets - Clean the computer every two months. (more…)

“It turns out that your computer keyboard could put a host of potentially harmful bacteria — including E. coli and staph — quite literally at your fingertips.

Sure, it may sound like a hypochondriac’s excuse to stay away from the office. But a growing body of research suggests that computer mice and keyboards are, in fact, prime real estate for germs.

It’s a phenomenon most recently illustrated by tests at a typical office environment in the United Kingdom. A consumer advocacy group commissioned the tests in which British microbiologist James Francis took a swab to 33 keyboards, a toilet seat and a toilet door handle at the publication’s London office in January.

Francis then tested the swabs to see what nasty germs he managed to pick up. He found that four of the keyboards tested were potential health hazards — and one had levels of germs five times higher than that found on the toilet seat.

While the results of this simple test cannot necessarily be applied to the rest of the computer keyboards in the United Kingdom — or in this country, for that matter — the findings are in line with a considerable body of research suggesting that our daily routines put us in near constant contact with potentially dangerous germs. (more…)