remove as much as possible if you can disconnect it. also the plastic stickers like where the wifi cards and ram are they will shrivel up and melt. as for the blue pad copper shims will do. i just butchered a piece off of some other laptop heatsink. then trimmed it to fit you have to watch out for not touching other components or the top cover. i think about a 1" square fit's but dont quote me on that one it's been over a year i had to redo my mobo.