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Many of us face the real threat of losing power occasionally due to things completely beyond our control. Here where we live nasty electrical storms are commonplace and when they come through we can lose power for hours at a time. Then there are idiots who like to drive their cars into power poles and once again we can be without power for hours.

But one type of outage that we all face from time to time is when our Internet Service Provider goes down. Just like the power, the outages can last for hours at a time and they can certainly be just as frustrating.

Of course we can all work off-line and go on building sites and galleries or writing blog entries but the longer the outage goes on the more likely we are to reach a point where we really do need to be online. So is that time to sit back and become frustrated while you wait for the connection to return?

Well you can do that if you like but there are more productive things to do with your time and one of those things you can be doing is a little preventative maintenance on your computer. While I certainly wouldn't recommend that you do anything major there are one or two minor things you could do - like inspection and cleaning - to ensure that your computer is in good shape.

The first thing you should do is shut down your computer, turn the power off and unplug it from the wall socket. Then pull the box out so that you can see the back of the machine and identify all the air vents where the fans inside the box pull air in to keep it cool.

More than likely you're going to find a lot of dust and fluff in those vents but don't go rushing out to the closet to find the vacuum cleaner. Instead just use your fingers to remove all that crap that's stuck in the vents.

If you have an older box and you've never done it before then it's going to take a little while but don't stop till you have got those vents clean. Once they are clean it's time to open up the box and look inside.

Once again, don't go looking for the vacuum cleaner and this time you won't be using your fingers either. One other thing you won't be doing while you're inside the box is fiddling with any of the connections.

All the plugs and sockets inside a computer, including those on the motherboard, are designed to connect solidly. They don't work loose and you don't need to fiddle with them to make sure they're connected so don't touch them.

What you should be looking at though is all the dirt that has accumulated inside the box. All that rubbish in there can ignite and destroy your machine ... and the house as well. So you really do need to clean the inside of your box out from time to time.

Look inside the machine and spot all the places that dirt accumulates. It will be on fans, between the fins of the heat sinks and down in all the hard-to-get-at nooks and crannies.

Now I've already said that you shouldn't use a vacuum cleaner but there are other things that you might be tempted to use to scrape out that dirt. Don't use anything sharp because one slip and you could do irreparable damage to your computer.

Instead, if you have some, use canned air to blow the dirt out and don't stop till you do have it all out. If you don't have any canned air then find a big, soft, paint brush and gently brush all that dirt out. Take your time and be sure to look under the motherboard and in all those hidden spaces on the floor of the box.

Also be prepared for signs of unwanted visitors that might have taken up residence in the box. Mice in particular love the inside of computer cases because it's nice and warm. You would be surprised at what small spaces these rodents can squeeze through and mice are a common problem in computers in most areas.

If you do find signs of mice then be prepared to replace your motherboard sooner rather than later. Mouse urine will eat away the tracks on a motherboard very quickly and it only takes one fine track to be destroyed and your motherboard is useless.

Cleaning your computer may be one of the least glamorous tasks for an adult webmaster but it's something that you should do from time to time and when you can't connect to the Internet is an ideal time to get down and do some cleaning.