EMERGENCY! Please Help!

OC Community, ive been having problems with my motherboard all day and have been swapping the cpu back and forth between motherboards before determining one of them was dead.

However a new problem has occurred and i have no idea how to approach it. Thermal Paste ( Arctic 5 ) from the processor was spread over the side of the processor barely and upon lifting the processor out of the socket as delicately as possible some of the thermal paste got on the pins on the motherboard and on the back of the processor itself.

Now im not exactly sure but the last i read is that the pins on 775 boards are extremely delicate which is why i dont know how to go about cleaning it. As far as the processor is concerned sicne theres no pins on it i think a cotton swab or napkin or tshirt would be adequate for cleaning off the thermal paste since theres nothing really there to damage right? ( Please correct me if im wrong )

But as far as the socket, would a soft bristled non-used toothbrush work?

Cleaning a socket 775 CPU should be not problem as long as you don't static shock it. So don't wear wool socks and shuffle across the carpet. The pins on the motherboard will be harder. Not really sure what to do, but you sure don't want to bend 'em.