Trying To Clean Inside My MacPro

I used to office and live in a condominium where all of my neighbours smoked. Unfortunately, the building was not designed to support smokers, which resulted in my condo/office becoming deeply saturated in smoke residue. This included my MacPro.

Presently, I'm moving into a new, smoke free, environment where I've taken on the overwhelming task of cleaning every square centimeter of every single item I own. I began with my MacPro, inside of which I cautiously used small finger cloths and q-tips, soaked in bleach, followed by a damp cloth/water rinse.

Unfortunately, even after many days and countless hours of cleaning, the overwhelming stench of cigarette and clove residue remains.

This is most likely because I couldn't get into to every part of the MacPro without disassembling everything.

Does anyone have some guidance for what I might try next? I'm wondering if there is a group I should know of when it comes to in-depth computer cleansing.

I'd be grateful for any and all advice,

John

My advice: Don't overdo it. Nicotine tar and smells are very difficult to purge from electronic items. You don't want to cause damage to your Mac Pro by using strong cleaners such as bleach or CLR. I used to have a TV - Stereo repair side job besides my regular job as a computer tech and repair person for the US Govt. We could always tell when the customer who brought in a TV or Stereo for repair was a smoker.

(We had big red signs all over the main frame computer rooms: No Smoking, eating, drinking allowed.)

Forget about it. There are just too many "nooks & crannies" inside of a computer to be able to properly clean the odor/residue from cigarette smoke. About all you can hope for is the constant flow of cooling air that is circulated as the computer is used (internal fans)...and maybe over time the odor gets less & less.

If you try to clean it too much...you may end up damaging something...which could be $$$ to replace.

So your two choices may be:

1. A bad smelling but operational computer.
2. A bad smelling non-operational computer.

- Nick

honestly i wouldn't worry about the machine getting a little dirty and i am sorry to say nicotine and tar gets all over everything with smokers its gross