Clean your keyboard quickly and easily

Late-night snacks and drinks are often close at hand when typing away on our computers, but crumbs and spills can lead to an incredibly dirty keyboard.

Stop to examine your keyboard every once in a while, it is probably covered in grease, sticky stains and a coat of dust. That’s not all; it’s a fact that your keyboard has more bacteria on it than your toilet seat!

When its’ time to sanitize your keyboard and get rid of that nasty grime, all you need to do is follow these few easy steps.

Remove Loose Debris

® First of all, shut down your computer or unplug your keyboard.
® Turn the keyboard upside down and shake it to remove any loose dirt. If you have a can of compressed air you can spray it between the keys as well.

Clean the Keys

®Dip a cotton swab into some gentle rubbing alcohol and brush it in the area surrounding each key. You may need to use a lot of swabs if your keyboard is really dirty.
® Dip a cloth into the rubbing alcohol and brush it along the top and over all the surfaces of the keyboard, make sure to scrub in the areas you use the most.
® Use a dry cloth to remove dust and polish the keyboard afterwards.
® Then plug your keyboard back in.

If your keyboard looks like a toxic waste zone then you may need to do a more thorough industrial-strength cleaning.

Remove and Clean the Keys

® Most keyboards are designed to allow you to remove the keys with a blunt tool. All you have to do is place the tool under the corner of the key and clip it off.
® Once you have removed the keys, you can wash each one individually with water and soap to remove all the dirt.
® After you’ve washed the keys, dry them and place them on a towel to make sure they are completely dry.

Clean the Keyboard Trenches

® With your keys removed, you will have access to the area underneath. Blow out this area with compressed air, or even a gentle vacuum.
® Dip a cloth into rubbing alcohol and wipe it along the inner surfaces.

Rebuild the Keyboard

® When the keys are completely dry, clip them back into place. If you have forgotten where each key goes, you can always google “keyboard map”.
® Give everything one last wipe with a dry cloth.
® Then plug your keyboard back in.

After cleaning your keyboard turn on your computer to make sure everything is working properly, but try not to do this with a greasy snack in your hand!

Need some IT assistance? Simply contact The Computer Guyz at one of our branches in Cape Town or Centurion.