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. After turning off the computer, unplug the power cord to make 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. 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. Dont ever touch the non-serviceable. When you come across labels that say "No serviceable components inside" don't take it as a challenge because its a serious statement. Remember some parts of a computer are just not meant to repaired and this label is usually seen on the power supply which isn't a good idea to try to repair. Replacement is best.

Failure to protect yourself can result to injury and also damage to your computer. The most common accident is loss of data caused by a hard drive crash. Remembering these simple things will help to protect you, your hardware, your software and your precious data.