According to research by the IT company CBT Nuggets, your laptop keyboard can carry 20,000 times more bacteria than your toilet seat. With most of your work, school, socializing, and entertainment now taking place online, you’re probably using your laptop more than ever before.
Whether you’re dealing with crumbs, dust, fingerprints, pet hair or sticky residue, you should be able to clean your keys with materials that are already around. And if you share a device with other members of your household, you can also prevent the spread of germs. It will only take a few minutes out of your day and your keyboard will look brand new.
Here’s what you need to do.
To close
Before you start, turn off your computer. You don’t want to accidentally press a hotkey combination that causes disaster. Also unplug it to reduce the risk of short-circuiting something if moisture gets inside. And be sure to back up everything important in case something goes horribly wrong. (This is of course good practice whether you clean your keyboard or not.)
Photo: Tom Warren / Moyens I/O
Get rid of crumbs
Turn your laptop upside down and let them fall to remove the biggest crumbs, dust or other debris that gets into your keys. Tap the bottom of the case to remove stubborn particles. You can also press cleaning slime that sticks to the gaps between your keys and collects the debris.
If that doesn’t get everything, give the keyboard one more time to vacuum. Make sure you use a small plugin and the lowest power setting. (The last thing you want is to suck on one of the keyboard keys.) If you have a small vacuum cleaner, even better.
You can also use a can of compressed air. Spray the air in a zigzag pattern so you don’t miss any nooks and crannies, and be sure to hit all sides of each key. If you don’t have compressed air, you can try another air blower (like a blow dryer). can’t blow air directly under the keyboard keys; may damage sensitive electronic components.
If you’ve done all this and you still have some crud under your keys, you may need to remove the keys. Whether you can do this will depend on your laptop model. In some cases, it won’t be possible to do without breaking the keys and you’ll want to speak to a professional. If you need to remove your keyboard keys, refer to your laptop model and follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
Disinfect and remove stains
Then clean the surface of the keyboard to remove germs, smudges and stains. First, wipe everything down with a disinfectant cloth. Avoid wipes that contain bleach. If you don’t have a tissue, a soft cloth with some alcohol may also work. Erase the keycaps and the spaces between them one at a time to make sure you get every point.
Do not use a dripping wet cloth as you want to prevent any liquid from getting under the keys. If necessary, wring out your wipes before use. can’t Spray water or any cleaning liquid directly on the keyboard.
Then, go over everything with a damp cloth (again: damp, drip-free). Ideally, you will want to use a microfiber cloth. If not, another cloth is fine. Try to avoid anything abrasive that could scratch the keys, such as paper towels.
Finally, dry the area with another soft cloth. Here it goes – all clean!
