If there are any true propeller heads in the audience please correct me, but this is my understanding. Removing the motherboard battery will clear the temporary data stored in the CMOS chip. For instance, if a previous user had set the computer to boot to the hard drive before the floppy drive, it might default back to the factory setting of booting to the floppy drive first. The password will be wiped out.
If someone has updated the BIOS since purchase, I'm not sure whether those updates will be lost if the battery is removed. I don't think so, since BIOS updates are "firmware" updates, and firmware doesn't need power to store information.
ESD is electro-static discharge. If you walk around on carpet in sock feet and then reach into your computer and grab a RAM module you've probably just made a very expensive mistake.
When I'm working on my computer I:
1. Unplug it.
2. Open the case.
3. Touch a BARE METAL (unpainted) part of the computer case. This will equalize the charge between myself and my computer. ESD occurs when two objects have a different amount of charge and the electrons go flowing to equalize it.
4. Periodically touch bare metal just in case I've somehow gathered a charge moving around. They actually sell a little wrist strap that connects your skin to the case through a wire, so that you don't have to keep touching it, but if you touch metal every minute or so you'll be fine.
The location of your motherboard battery varies from board to board. You may have to do some research online to find out where it's supposed to be, assuming you can't find it with your eyeballs. It will probably look like a flat, circular battery held in place by a metal clip.
Please don't do anything I've talked about until a geek corrects me
