What do I do?

[Halbo]

Hello, I have just taken off my fan and noticed some thermal paste down the side near the processor socket (https://imgur.com/a/DLjzY)

 

Can this cause serious damage and what should I do to fix it?

[kb5zue]

Make sure the machine is off, get yourself a cotton ball with some denatured alcohol on it and rub it off.  It will be fine, the alcohol will clean it up like brand new.

[Halbo]

43 minutes ago, kb5zue said:

Make sure the machine is off, get yourself a cotton ball with some denatured alcohol on it and rub it off.  It will be fine, the alcohol will clean it up like brand new.

Thanks for the response, I will have to go buy some tommorow morning as I don't have any available at the moment, do you think it will be acceptable to use for one night? Or is it quite a large risk?

[davyre89]

10 minutes ago, Halbo said:

do you think it will be acceptable to use for one night? Or is it quite a large risk?

You should be fine.  In fact, most thermal paste are non conductive. You may also let us know what thermal paste you're using so we could give you a 100% answer.