Ferm... A few things.. First, just spraying the dust off a cpu should not have harmed it. If anything it will make it run cooler/better. I presume that you didn't start your comp again until after you put new thermal paste on the cpu, reattached the cooling fan and made sure it was working? If so then it should have been fine. In all cases what brand CPU are you running and at what speed? I have a ton of older/still good cpu's lying around here. Mostly AMD, but several Intel also. Might be that if it's just the CPU you can get your comp up and running again for just the cost of a postage stamp. 
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1987 V20 w/1987 150HP Yamaha on a Shoreland'r Trailer
1978 16.5 Airslot w/1996 120HP Force on a Four Winns trailer
1996 V21 w/1993 200HP Mercury on a Shoreline Trailer
All towed by a 5.7L Hemi Durango.
If God didn't have a purpose for us we wouldn't be here, so
Live simply, Love generously, Care deeply, Speak kindly.
(Leave the rest to God) 
Silence, in the face of evil, is itself evil. Not to speak is to speak, not to act is to act. God will not hold us guiltless.
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