CPU Fan Question

Yep. Usually there's a piece of plastic that needs to be peeled off first, though. Make sure you do that.
-Brett

Yes to keep you from crushing the cpu core too

Sounds like a pad but they're only really good for one application. If you remove the heatsink again you'd be advised to clear the pad off and use some thermal compound.

<b>Vorsprung durch Dontwerk</b>.....<i>as they say at VIA</i>

If I scratched the grease off in small area of the pad does it need replacing or will it still work fine?

Yeah, you'll probably want to scrape it all off now, clean the heatsink and start over with a fresh layer of thermal paste, preferably some Arctic Silver. On the flip side, it'll run if you don't start over; The thermal pad may melt to fill in the bare spot, but to be safe, you really should start over or else you're at risk for high temps and instablilty.
-Brett

Thanks for the help, I don't want to see my money go down the drain.