Cleaning CPU and electrostatic discharge

[Slampig]

Hello there.
 

I recently burned my CPU and i want to replace it now. (Already posted a thread about that lol). I just ordered a new i7 but i'm a little bit insecure working in the PC. It's not the first time i've put in a new GPU, RAM or something like that but i never placed a CPU.
My question is what is the best way to clean the CPU and the cooler before putting on new thermal paste? Can i clean it with alcohol or something? And do i need to worry about ESD depending on what kind of towel i use?
And how about the general risk of ESD? i'm planning to work on a parquet floor (wood) and to have a PSU connected to the wall and touch it from time to time. Is this enough to be onthe safe side?

Thanks for your replies and sorry for my english i'm not american.

[gojira]

Rubbing alcohol (92%-99%) will do the trick. Just make sure not to use too much so it doesn't drip on the motherboard and possibly ruin something. As for building a system on wood, that will do just fine. Remember that wood is a poor conductive material so you can't possibly create a electrostatic charge in your system. As for your power supply, just don't open it. 

[Chessel]

99% isopropyl alcohol w/ toilet paper, then use a lint free cloth with isopropyl alcohol just to clean up.

[W-L]

-SNIP-

 

For cleaning the CPU using some >70% isopropyl alcohol is the best bet, as for ESD since you are not actually contacting the pins on the back with the papertowel you shouldn't have any issues with ESD. When building PC's many recommend an anti-static bracelet but you can do it in a work place with no carpet and just discharge yourself every so often. I've done it before for building all my system and not had anything occur with ESD before, usually extremely sensitive/expensive equipment is the ones you really want to worry about ESD.

[blackadder]

Get a esd bracelet or touch your psu with it off but plugged in