At this very moment, dust bunnies may have your PC in a death grip. Germs are certainly gathering atop your mouse and keyboard, ready to assault your immune system. And your screen…well, chances are it has become smudge central. Even great PCs can be dragged down by performance-choking dirt. Fortunately, with a few helpful products and a little effort, you can easily rescue your desktop from all that grunge.
Dislodge physical keyboard detritus with compressed air, then dump it.
Keyboard dirt actually takes two forms. Food crumbs and similar detritus can fall between the keys; leave it alone for too long, and you could wind up with a malfunctioning keyboard. But potentially harmful bacteria can accumulate on the keys themselves, too. Neglecting them may have more serious consequences: making you sick.
To clean out the crumbs, hold your keyboard upside down over a wastebasket and shake it gently. Then hold the keyboard vertically (still over the wastebasket) and use a can of compressed air to spray between the keys. These two actions should dislodge most of the physical grit.
Though plenty of computer-cleaning products are on the market, most are designed to remove only ordinary dust. To obliterate both germs and dirt, antibacterial wipes should do the trick. Make sure your computer is off, then give the surface of the keys a once-over with the cloth.
While you’re at it, give your mouse a thorough wipe-down – it can collect plenty of dirt and finger grime, too.
Monitor-cleaning tips
Turn
A dusty, smudgy monitor may not harbour dangerous bacteria, but it’s none too attractive just the same. In fact, a screen seriously caked with grime is unnecessarily hard on your eyes.
The fix, unsurprisingly, lies in giving your CRT or LCD a good cleaning, but don’t just wipe it with any cleaner you have under the sink. Monitors are delicate equipment and must be cleaned accordingly.
While glass cleaners is suitable for the glass on standard CRTs, never spray it directly on the screen – the liquid could seep under the edges of the monitor bezel and damage the circuitry within. Instead, lightly squirt some on a folded piece of soft cloth or a paper towel, then use that to wipe the glass.
Another option is wipes, which promise nonabrasive cleaning. Whichever method you use, your monitor should be turned off (better to see the dust and smudges you’re trying to remove), and you shouldn’t turn it on again until the screen is dry.
For LCD screens, steer clear of ammonia-based cleaners. Instead, use a soft cloth dampened with plain water. Just make sure the cloth isn’t too wet, otherwise droplets could seep under the bezel and cause damage.
Source: CNet