If youre going to open up your personal computer case to check some computer hardware components or clean up the hardware you must take the precautions listed. Computer motherboards and components, such as the sound card, video card, and memory, contain very delicate Integrated Circuit (IC) chips. It is necessary to protect computers against damage from static electricity. A brief explanation of static is its a major contributing factor in the breakdown of computers. Eliminating the damage from ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) can save a lot of money. Here are some things you must remember and precautions to follow whenever you work on your computer.

1. Unplug the power cord to the computer before opening the case to work inside of it. With the cord unplugged you are sure there is no power to the motherboard.

2. Capacitors can still store electric charges for a short time from the when you turned off the power switch, so it is wise to make to wait a few minutes after pulling the plug before working on your PC.

3. Get a grounded wrist strap from an electronics supply house and connect it to a ground before handling the parts, such as memory, video card, modem, hard drive, etc, inside your computer. If a grounded wrist strap is not available then touch a safely grounded object such as a metal pipe to discharge any static electricity that may have built up on your body.

4. Hold components by both edges and try not to touch the IC chips, leads, capacitors, or circuitry as these are miniature electronic components and may be damaged.

5. Use a grounded anti-static pad or the bag the component came in to place the components on and prevent static discharge when they are removed from the computer. Avoid dropping your hard drive as it is heavy and will most likely stop working 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.

Keep in mind that failure to protect yourself can cause injuries and it can also damage your computer and the most common accident is erasing stored data (due to hard drive crash). These are simple things to remember to protect yourself, software, hardware, and most important to protect our precious stored data on our computer.