Typing is a messy business. As a hard-working professional, you have probably gotten something gunky on your hands before clicking and clacking away at your keyboard. When all that muck and residue becomes too much, you’ll have to undertake the most thankless computer task: cleaning your keyboard. Crystal Cleaning suggests four different expert ways on how to clean a computer keyboard.
The good news is that you can do it using tools you’ll find around your house. However, since your keyboard can get sticky and full of debris, it may be necessary to treat it to a deep cleanse with a combination of cleaning methods. That might mean buying a few cheap cleaning supplies. This advice ranges from a simple framework shakedown to removing all the keycaps and the outer shell and bathing certain bits. So whether you’re a novice or at intermediate-enthusiast level, here are some of the most efficient ways to do a keyboard scrub down.
1. Turn It Upside Down and Tap It Out
This first solution may seem a little obvious, but not everyone knows how best to handle their tech peripherals. Turn the keyboard upside down, thump the underside, and shake out all the debris you can.
First, start by unplugging the keyboard from your computer. Then, hold the keyboard up and flip it so the keys face a surface. While you gently pat it, keep it at various angles to get the bulk of the loose stuff out.
If you’re using a keyboard with removable keycaps (mechanical keyboards, especially, tend to feature these), take those off and shake out the keyboard. Tap the underside of the keyboard to ensure that it’s free of anything clinging onto the surface. The final step is to wipe off the surface with a dustpan.
2.Brush Out the Muck
Specially designed keyboard brushes exist in all shapes and sizes to help you sweep out the crumbs, hair, and other forms of crud you’ll find amid your tainted keyboard.
You can also use household replacements, such as a standard toothbrush or a discarded baby-bottle brush, to clean up your keyboard—no fancy, specialized tools necessary. Run the brush through the space between your keys, and your keyboard is as clean as the day you bought it. If the gunk isn’t stuck to the sides of the keys themselves, as is often the case, then you’re golden. However, if so, you may need a stiffer brush. (Toothbrushes are pretty good for dislodging the caked-on stuff.)
3.Blowout Your Keyboard
Canned air is an essential purchase for computer users, as it can blow much of the dust out of your way without much effort. All you have to do is insert the straw-like plastic hose inside the nostril of the can, and you’re ready to blast away. However, you can’t start blowing compressed air across your keyboard casually.
Take some precautions first. Canned air won’t eliminate all of the dirt under the keys. Still, it will blow away everything visible, and the debris will scatter across your desk and floor in a nasty cloud. It’s best to do this outdoors, or perhaps over the bathtub.
Removing the keycaps, if that is possible, will make this practice more effective, so do that first if it’s an option. Just don’t push the straw right up onto the surface you’re blowing on because canned air creates condensation, leaving pools of moisture or frost behind. Experiment, but keep a little distance to prevent harming your keyboard.
Also, another tap-and-shakeout session is worth doing after your air blasting. You’ve probably dislodged debris and pushed it into other places within the keyboard body at this point. These pieces may shake out more quickly now than before.
4.Take the Goo Route
One icky-but-effective way to clean your computer keyboard is to invest in some of the gooey, often bright-colored stuff known as cleaning gel or cleaning gum. (Cyberclean is one widely found brand.)
This jellied adhesive picks up dust and dirt by squeezing between minor cracks of your keyboard (including between the keys) and suctioning up any crumbly bits or dirt it touches. You can reuse the blob until it turns to a dark grey or until you can’t bear to look at or feel it anymore. Be careful, though. Some goo can leave an oily residue behind, a counter-intuitive outcome. You might need to use a pipe cleaner or a cotton bud to soak that up. Also, the gel itself gets dirty, so you have to keep replacing it.
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