i feel scared opening my pc how do i overcome the FEAR..do i just do it *touch metal before i do* or do i wait until im ready..im ready but i have a feeling im gonna bugout when i open the side panel..what are you afraid will happen

why do you need to open?Why not ask someone with experience to help?Maybe a haloadult?Halo kid , do You Post on Gamefaqs? Halo Forum? i think i might have met you Before

But anyway every ones a bit Afraid there First time ^.^

But you just have to get in there and Be Careful, try not to touch raw Metal Bits , hold the PCB's buy the Edges, maybe go to the Library and get a book on PC maintenance for Beginners

The whole Touching Metal Thing is to Earth your Self and make sure you not holding a charge, it a good idea, but the thing you touch has to be earthed or it wont work, if you want to some thing to touch try a radiator.halokid33 ...... ok , let clear up this phobia you seem to have ......... It's one thing to be cautious when opening up a pc ( desktop ) and it's quite another to be paranoid about it . The biggest concern is that if the person opening up the case of the pc , has a static buildup in their body , that they may inadvertantly discharge that static buildup through the sensitive components....possibly rendering them useless ........ So to prevent this , there are several thing one can do .
You can purchase a grounding bracelet if you will that you attach to your wrist and the other end is grounded .......... and you wear this whilst your working on the pc ........ OR ..........
You would shut down the pc ......... remove all the cables from the back , with the exception of the main power cable ..........( which contains a good solid ground connection and must be LEFT plugged into the wall recepticle ) remove the side cover ........ now before touching anything inside , place your hand on the bare metal portion of the frame ........ ( this will drain off any static buildup in you ) ..leave your hand on the frame for a few seconds and then proceed to do whatever it was you planned on doing . Always try and handle things like the sticks of ram and any of the cards , by the ENDS so your not touching the chips or the contacts.
Another word of caution , some of the components , have locking devices on them ......... For example , the ram sockets and the CPU SOCKET .... so dont just grab on and yank ......... or you may find to your horror that you have pulled a dimm slot right out of the mobo ............ and most imortant ...if your not sure what to do ....ask first .......

DL65 And don't do like these guys:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rigRYAXFGqoand remember some words of wisdom..."if it doest want to go in/out nicely, DONT FORCE IT!!"