Opening your personal computer to clean up hardware or check some of the components can be dangerous to its health. Motherboards and components such as memory, video cards, sound cards, and hard drives all contain small Integrated Circuits which are very susceptible to Static Electricity. Static Electricity is the spark you see when you touch a doorknob after walking across the floor. The problem with static electricity is if you touch a component in your computer when your body is charged up then there is what is known as an Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) across the components. ESD causes pitting of the surfaces of the components which may not cause an immediate failure but can lead to failure in the long term and cost a lot of money in replacement costs. Below are some precautions to follow as well as tips to remember when working on your computer.

1. Unplug your computer when working on the inside or well known inside of central processing unit (CPU). You must unplug the power cord to ensure that there is no power to the motherboard.

2. Capacitors inside the computer can store an electric charge for a short period of time after turning off and unplugging the computer so it is wise to wait a few minutes after disconnecting the power plug before actually opening the PC case.

3. Use a grounded wrist strap before handling computer components such as the video card, memory, hard disk, and etc. if you do not have one, touch both of your hands to a safely grounded object or to a metal object, such as the power supply case to prevent a discharge from your body to the component.

4. Try not to touch the chips, wires, capacitors or circuitry by holding circuit boards by the edges to avoid static discharge damage.

5. Place components on a grounded anti-static pad or on the bag that came with the components whenever the components are separated from the system to prevent static discharge. Remember, avoid dropping your hard disk because cylinder of the hard disk is very sensitive and it may never work again if dropped.

6. Some parts are labeled as “No Serviceable Components Inside” which is not a challenge but a warning because they contain high voltage components which could cause you to hurt yourself if touched. Not all parts of a computer are meant to be repaired such as the power supply. If you determine that a part labeled “No Serviceable Components Inside”, then be smart and just replace it.

Remember that you are responsible for protecting yourself from injuries and from causing damage to your computer. A common incident is loss of stored data due to a hard drive crash. These are some simple things to remember that will protect you, your computer and most of all the data stored on your computer.