When performing maintenance on a computer its important that you ground yourself in order to avoid static discharge into the parts of the computer. The best way to do this is by way of
An anti static wrist strap
an anti static wrist strap. These can be bought at most computer supply stores or here at amazon.com. Ant anti static wrist strap is placed around your wrist and the other end of the strap is clipped to the frame of the computer tower equalizing the electrical potential between you and the computer.
Many seasoned computer technicians do not use anti-static wrist straps, as computer failure rarely happens do to static discharge as a result of computer maintenance. People should however be aware that much of the damage resulting from static discharge may result in inconsistent or delayed hardware failure that may not be visible until well after maintenance has been performed, thus it is preferable to ground yourself using an antistatic wrist strap.
Anti-static wrist straps can be purchased for $10 or under and using them may be a hassle, but in the end it could save you 100’s of dollars in the off chance a static discharge does happen. If you do not have an anti-static wrist strap you can ground yourself before working on the computer by touching a metal part of the tower beforehand, but this will not keep you at the same electrical potential as the computer during the entire maintenance procedure and should only be used when an anti-static wrist strap is unavailable.