My computer has been making this really loud whirring sound.  At the same time, the mouse would freeze and everything would come to a dead stop. This would happen very often, I would say every one or two minutes, depending on what I was trying to accomplish.

I had a feeling it was dust in the heat sink or fan area.  So I promised myself before I got on the computer for the day that I'd wrestle it from its nesting place and bring it out and see if I was right.

I was right all right.  I'm almost embarrassed for you to see just how bad it was. Essentially, my computer's heat sink and other venting areas were wearing fur coats made from dust bunnies. In the image below, I have pointed an arrow to the only visible portion of the heat sink. It is made from aluminum and is silver colored.

I know that one little speck of dust can wreak havoc with a computer's electronics, so this is pretty much a disastrous situation for my computer.

Luckily my hubby has this awesome air compressor tool and I spent a good 15 minutes blowing air through the computer's innards – otherwise I would have needed to use about 3 or 4 cans of compressed air!  It is all clean now, and back at home.

No more loud whirring and freezing of the mouse!

I told you it was dusty in Arizona.   😉  Even my boss, who has the cleanest house of anyone I know has a layer of dust on her microwave two days after she cleans the entire house.

Have you given your computer a dusting lately?