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More Spring Cleaning: Cleaning your Keyboard

Nasty, Dirty Keyboard!
Morguefile by By Alvimann
Snack crumbs, a layer of dust, dirty fingers... take a glance down at your keyboard and you will know right away that it needs a cleaning. Unless you have a washable keyboard, it will be beneficial and necessary to clean your keyboard with a little more finesse .

What you will need: Can of compressed air or keyboard vacuum, melamime foam (brand name Magic Eraser or an off brand sponge eraser), cotton swabs (Q-Tip brand name is best as the cotton is secure) and some  isopropyl alcohol. Do not use ethyl-based rubbing alcohol. Lint-free cloth.

  1.  Disconnect your keyboard from your computer. If you are not using a USB keyboard, shut down the computer first before disconnecting the keyboard.
  2.  Shake the keyboard upside down to get as much out as possible.
  3. Vacuum or use compressed air (while keyboard is upside down) to remove as much dust and crumbs as possible.  You can also use your hairdryer (NO HEAT) to blow the crumbs if you don't have compressed air.
  4. Wet the eraser sponge with water or isopropyl alcohol then squeeze/wring it out as much as possible. You should not be able to get any liquid out of the sponge. It will fry your keyboard to get liquid under the keys. This is critical so you don't mess up the electronics. Use this to clean off the keys. Be VERY gentle or you could erase the letters.
  5.  Now use the swabs and alcohol to get in between and around the keys. Again, make sure you squeeze out the liquid before touching the keyboard.
  6. Wipe with a lint-free cloth. 
  7. Let the keyboard sit, upside down, for a while just to be sure it is very dry before reconnecting the keyboard to the computer.
Happy cleaning! ☺


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