
You can make those keys shine again with merely a little snatch of campaign. In less than an hour, your laptop ’ s keyboard will be ready for another wave of cookie crumbs, colon drips and french fry seasoning. Your calculator ’ s elementary stimulation tool for getting work done, at least until perceptual computing comes to market, will soon be quick to help you be a efficient as possible .
here are six tips to a clean keyboard and how to keep yours in a near-pristine state of matter :
Don’t Get Your Keyboard Dirty in the First Place
Avoid eating over your keyboard to prevent crumbs from failing beneath the keys. Keep your drinks away to reduce the chance of spill liquids flooding the device. And keep your laptop closed when not in manipulation ( and when you ’ re done for the day ) to minimize dust .
Tap Crumbs Loose, but Don’t Shake Your Laptop
You can remove some crumbs and other debris by gently turning your laptop over and lightly tapping it. Don ’ t shake it or you could damage some of your computer ’ randomness hardware. solid-state laptops and stand-alone keyboards are more durable, but that ’ s no k light for an earthquake-level shake down. For a less-risky crumb removal ( or after the initial handshake ), try using the muggy end of a post-it note on the hard-to-remove specks or a assemble of adhesive videotape .
Get Some Air
Canned atmosphere or dust removal spray — available at function supply stores, cosmopolitan retail stores and even car parts dealers – is your top quick-cleaning agentive role. Used with a micro-straw-like dispenser, you ’ ll be able to easily ( and cautiously ! ) blow debris and debris out from between your keys for removal. Remember to keep the case shot at less than a 40-degree angle, pointed down toward the keyboard, or you ’ ll end up discharging refrigerant .
Read more: 3 Key Steps to a Concrete Floor Refresh
Try a Dust Vac to Clean Keyboard
After you ’ ve blown the debris and debris to one blot — or if you don ’ thyroxine find to have any canned air — consumption a hand vac with a narrow dust fastening to suck up the undesirables. If you ’ re using a stand-alone keyboard, make surely none of your keys are loosen, or you could be hunting for a lost letter inside your dust vac ’ south trickle. For better results, buy a USB vacuum clean that plugs directly into a USB port and comes with a thin keyboard clean attachment .
For Caked-On Grime, Use Screen Wipes
Apply gentle atmospheric pressure to wrest ball of sludge from your keys. Don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate overdo it, or you risk actually peeling the characters off the keys ( unless you ’ re using an older keyboard with buff characters ). You can besides use a topical clean, but spray it onto a soft fabric or wallpaper towel and then clean your keys. Do not spray the cleaner immediately onto the keyboard .
Use Cotton Swabs between the Keys
These can be dry or lightly moistened with a gentle clean. Wipe cautiously and slowly between the keys, and across the tops and bottoms, to remove excess dust.
Read more: 3 Key Steps to a Concrete Floor Refresh
You ’ ll want to run through this clean ritual every 1 to 3 months. If you use more than one keyboard regularly, remember to clean all of them. And of course, always check your owner ’ south manual for model-specific keyboard clean instructions .
A Few Cleaning Don’ts
- Don’t try to remove keys from the keyboard to wash them by hand — especially if you’re using a laptop. Some machines have keys that are designed to be removed for cleaning, but most do not.
- Don’t put your stand-alone keyboard in the dishwasher. Some technicians swear by this method, and your keyboard might live to type another day. Odds are, however, you’ll kill it and have to buy another one. (And if that’s the case, why clean it anyway?)
- Don’t put your laptop in the dishwasher or washing machine in an attempt to clean the keys — unless you really want to lose your data and have to buy another machine.
- Don’t try to dry off a wet keyboard in the clothes dryer, or in the oven — unless you’re bored with the keyboard’s desk-friendly, flat shape.
- Don’t try to clean the keyboard using steel wool, cleaning sponges or spray-on lime and calcium removers — unless you plan to test your memory once all the letters come off the keys.
- Don’t forget to turn your computer off before attempting to clean a keyboard. Today’s machines are just as prone to pressure- and moisture-induced mechanical errors as their 5- or even 10-year-old ancestors were.
This content was in the first place published on the Intel Free Press web site .