#209 Spring Cleaning

Every April on the blog we have an article on spring cleaning your tech equipment.  For some strange reason people don't associate cleanliness with their electronics.  Just buy it, use it and it will be OK is the attitude.  Cleaning your tech stuff will prolong their life, prevent the spreading of, ahem germs(disease), and will make them just work better.  You've been warned!

Lets start with tablet PCs.  The ease of use in a tablet goes back to us using fingers on the screen.  Think about that for a while.  Yes you should regularly clean your tablet class.  NO you should not use Windex or any other liquid spray on cleaner.  You definitely don't need an iclean or iwash product.  A simple microfiber cloth will work.  Just dampen the cloth (wring out all the water) and wipe across your screen.  Microfiber cloths can be washed and used for years.  They cost under $2 per cloth and you can get them by the dozen if you don't like to wash.  Google Microfiber cloth for some online purchase option.

Once you have your microfiber cloth you can also use it on your PC monitor or LCD/LED display of your laptop.  Just do the cleaning with the unit turned off for safety.  You can also see the smudges better when everything is turned off.

Your keyboard is your next keeper of vast amounts of dirt.  With the PC turned off, unplug your keyboard, take it outside and gently turn it upside down and shake it.  Lots of stuff (cheeze-it crumbs???) will move on out.  You can then use a can of compressed air (available at Wallyworld or any dollar store) to get the hard to reach gunk.  After the shake and spray you can use alcohol wipes or a q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol to disinfect the keys themselves.  Make sure its dry before plugging it back in.

Mice get alot of hand play so clean them regularly.  With the PC turned off, unplug the mouse, and wipe it with Alcohol wipes or a paper towel with rubbing alcohol on it.  DO NOT DIRECTLY SPRAY your mouse.  Again let dry before plugging back in.

You can use your compressed air spray to also spray around your CPU box to get the dust bunnies out of the way.  If you are real ambitious you can open your PC case and get the bunnies out of their also.  Very gently please.  You don't want to get ANYTHING WET in your PC Case.

For Laptops you can clean the keyboard similarly as the PC keyboard.  Just make sure the Laptop is off and you don't get ANY moisture in between the keys.

Printers need to have the paper dust and ink/toner debris cleaned out of them periodically.  Compressed air is your friend.  Just open where ever you put the ink/toner in, remove the toner/ink and gently spray.  Wipe down the exterior of the printer with your microfiber cloth or an alcohol wipe to keep it looking new.

Happy Cleaning!