how to remove excess thermal compound around die?

[AG73]

My athlon 1ghz processor has way too much thermal compound goop all over the place. I cleaned off the die really well with alchohol and a q tip, and scooped away as much compound off the area surrounding the die. is that good enough? Should I try to really clean off the rest of the CPU, or is cleaning the die good enough? i cleaned the heatsink well also, and am about to put some arctic silver.
thanks
AG

 

[ericboo]

I kept squeezing out too much Artic Silver every time I put the heatsink on, and I found that wiping off as much as possible with a paper towel and then using an eraser gets the extra off.

 

[PCComp]

Try a little WD40. Then, use some alcohol to remove the WD40 residue. Works excellent!!!