Okay, before we start, there is no judgment here, we are all people with dirty little claws. Who among us hasn’t dropped the occasional crunch or crumbs on our keyboard? With that in mind, you might be wondering how to clean your keyboard without damaging anything, and we’re here to help!
Keeping your keyboard clean is essential not only to keeping your desk looking stylish, but also to keeping it working properly. Taking the time to clean your keyboard regularly may sound like a chore, but what can I say, it’s nothing compared to trying to figure out how to respond to your boss’s email with your spacebar.
Fortunately, keeping your keyboard clean is easy enough once you know the basics.
How to clean your keyboard
Basic Keyboard Cleaning
Before we get started, let’s make sure you disconnect your keyboard, you don’t want to accidentally start typing.vvvghv hgjjjtvv v vyy’ to your game chat; Your Warzone team will think you’ve lost the plan. If your keyboard is wired, make sure it is unplugged; and if you’re wireless, turn it off.
Take your keyboard out or hold it over a trash can, then turn it over and tap the edges. This should remove the buildup of dirt, dust and hair and start loosening. You may need to gently shake the keyboard in different directions and at different angles to remove the majority.
You can use a soft, dry cloth on the surface of the keyboard to remove any dirt or dust, or anything with a little isopropyl alcohol (IAP) on it will dry quickly.
Quick tips
- Disconnect the wired keyboard
- Turn off the wireless keyboard
- Take it outside or in a trash can and keep it upside down
- Tap, shake, rotate to remove as much dirt and dust as possible
- Use a soft dry cloth or isopropyl alcohol on the surface.
Medium Power Keyboard Cleaning
If you’ve shaken everything you can and wiped off as much as you can from the surface, but still need to do more, there are a few items we can use before we start thinking about taking your keyboard apart. Again, before starting with any of these, disconnect a wired keyboard or turn off the wireless one.
You can use a can of compressed air to clean the dirt between the keys. Take the keyboard out again, hold the can at an angle and blow through the grooves. Work systematically around the keyboard until you blow off any dirt or dust.
Alternatively, a small, low-powered table vacuum can be used to suck up dust between the keys, making sure it has a brush attachment to prevent any damage to the keyboard. Before you start working with a vacuum cleaner, be sure to check that all your keys are in place, you don’t want to have to root for your ESC key in a dust bag.
Deep Keyboard Cleaning
It can take some time to completely clean your keyboard, so make sure you have a spare keyboard for time or essential tasks while it’s drying. As before, be sure to disconnect your keyboard by removing or closing your keyboard. The important thing is now, before you do anything, take a nice, clear photo of the surface of your keyboard on your mobile – you’ll thank us later for that.
Prepare a bowl with warm soapy water and a small brush, a toothbrush is a pretty good choice. Let’s get a towel. Now gently remove one of your keys, the first one is the hardest because you may not have much room to pry. You will find a knife or flathead screwdriver useful, but remember to be careful.
Soak your keys one by one in soapy water, then remove them one by one, brush clean and rinse. Lay it on the towel to start drying. Drying can take some time, but it’s important to make sure it’s completely dry before reassembling. This is where the photo you took earlier works on your phone, imagine trying to remember where they went!
Quick tips
- Disconnect the wired keyboard
- Turn off the wireless keyboard
- Take a photo of your keyboard before you start
- Gently lift the keys and clean them with a brush in a bowl of soapy water.
- Put it on a towel and let it dry
- Reassemble using your photo as a guide.
If all that cleaning work doesn’t work, you might want to check out some. best gaming keyboards or one of these best wireless gaming keyboards. Or if you’re feeling really cool, check out one of these. best hot swappable keyboard if you’re gaming for a little more customization.
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