cleaning the cpu fan & cpu cooling fins

1. remove the plastic hood/air guide over the CPU to get at the metal fins.
2. make a note of the orientation of the cpu fan (which side has the label out, if it has one). If it doesn't, make note of which direction the arrows point and write it down in a way you can remember later so you can put it back the same way.
3. unscrewing the cpu fan is only necessary if it is the kind of cpu fan that are over a bunch of cpu heatsink fins/grille.
4. unscrew the cpu fan (4 screws usually). write down the orientation of the airflow arrows and which side has the label, if it has one. the label is the easiest indicator of which side is up. you can set that aside.
5. wipe the fan with a plain old terry cloth or dust rag. don't use detergents, a dry dust rag will do, maybe very squeezed out slightly damp rag.
6. with tweezers if you have some, pick out the dirt clods that you can without pushing them into the fins.
7. get an old toothbrush and scoop out of the fins the rest of the dirt clods and gunk in the cpu fins. you might not be able to get it all, but a perfect job is not absolutely necessary. just get what you can without pushing more junk into the fins.
8. if you can, use a crevice tool on your vaccuum to vaccuum out the cpu fins.
9. put the cpu fan back on the way you wrote it down.
10. screw the cpu fan back in, preferably in the same holes and in the same threads. use the same screw thread grooves that are already made. don't use a lot of force - it's bad for the cpu. it is possible with too much force to crack the cpu because it's already under a lot of force - tipping the assembly can do the same thing (pushes too much force on a corner). be as gentle as possible.
11. put back the plastic hood/air guide over the CPU.

clogged laptop fan

take it to an authorized repair shop. with 40+ DIFFERENT screws to keep track of (HP laptop), placement is critical, and sometimes you can end up with extra screws if you are doing it yourself. plus the fact that the case is very hard to take apart and the parts are hard to remove to get at the cpu. it took me and someone else to get the job done, and we ended up with "extra" screws. tell them you have a pet hair problem.

Computer Vaccuums