Removing Thermal Grease from CPU

hey guys, I cleaned my CPU and heatsink using a cloth or paper-towel I forget which with a little bit of water to remove thermal grease. I've read around that you shouldn't use water. But I got all the grease off of it, all I did was just rub the top of the CPU, it looks nice and shiny like new, I don't think the water could have done any damage to it since it was on top of the CPU metal block thing not near the pins or anything. but a wierd thing I noticed, on the sides of the CPU metal block starting near the top of the metal block part it looks like there is some sort of corrosion, when I was cleaning it off, its not smooth a little rough. It seemed that the thermal grease corroded it or something I never touched the sides with water only the top. Should I be concerned?

Also I made a stupid mistake of pulling the CPU out of the socket because the damn heatsink got stuck to the CPU, and maybe 2 pins looks like it bended just a micro-millimeter, nothing serious at all at least I don't think so. I mean it looks like the pins will still fit in the socket thats how little the pins were bent. But is there need for concern?

Try this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100010

I use 99% alcohol, coffee filter, and a qtip. Wrap the filter over the qtip to get tough spots. Coffee filter doesnt leave tiny paper particles like paper towels. I have always heard that water is not good for doing this for various reasons.

I just use rubbing alcohol. Other chemicals (even water) is fine, but it makes it a little easier to use alcohol.

Get some sterile swabs, the ones your arm is wiped with before getting an injection. They're coated in Isopropanol (Alcohol), it's a solvent and it evaporates quickly so it eliminates the chance of having conductive liquid getting into your CPU.

Acitone (nail varnish remover) is a stronger solvent than IPA and takes longer to evaporate, it can also strip the laquer from the surface of a PCB so you really have to be careful with it (and it stinks :p ).

I'd never recommend water for cleaning electronics, unless you can dry properly afterwards. If you do need to dry wet components, turn your oven to 50C and leave it for a few hours (12 would be best). If your oven doesn't go as low as 50 then DO NOT use it to dry computer parts.

I use rubbing alcohol wipes to clean my CPUs.

Also my phenom II came with one pin that was bent 90 degrees (!!!!), but I've had bent pins before and I slowly, carefully bent it back and it works fine, just don't bend your pins too much, eventually they snap off.