Clean
Keyboard
Have you been
noticing a lot of dust and dirt (or maybe even some food pieces)
stuck between the keys on your keyboard? Has it been bothering you?
Would you like to clean it all out? If so, just follow these four
steps for basic keyboard cleaning and you'll have your keyboard
looking shiny and new again in no time!
First of all,
you'll want to turn off your computer and unplug your keyboard.
1.) Turn your
keyboard over and try to shake out any dust, dirt, food, etc.
particles that you can.
2.) It is
suggested to get a can of compressed air and spray it over the keys
to remove any extra debris that may be lying in between the cracks.
Compressed air should be available at any computer or photo store.
Also, you can read here for some tips on buying the right kind of
canned air.
3.) Take a
slightly damp cloth and run it over the keys to remove any
fingerprints and any other dirt that might be settling in on your
keys.
4.) Take your
vacuum's dusting brush attachment and set it on a low mode. Just run
it over the keyboard to make sure all remaining particles of dust,
dirt, food, etc. are removed.
Now, if you
need to do a more serious cleaning because you have sticky keys or
your keyboard is just so filthy, you can't stand it, take caution
and follow the rest of these steps (continued from the steps
mentioned above).
First, make
sure you keep track of where the keys are placed on your keyboard so
that you're able to put them back on in the right order. You may
want to draw yourself a picture of some sort to keep track of them
as well.
Now, using a
small screwdriver, carefully remove all of the smaller keys. You're
not going to want to take off the larger keys, like the Space bar,
Shift, Enter or Tab, because those are extremely difficult to get
back on.
Next, go back
to using your compressed air to clean out all of the leftover dirt
that is refusing to budge. If you have any stains underneath the
keys, use the damp cloth like before to get rid of those as well.
Once you've got it cleaned like you want it, put the keys back in
their places. Each of them should snap right back on, but be careful
while doing this. Also, test each key as you go, just to make sure
they're working. When you're all finished, plug your keyboard back
in and try out all of the keys to make sure everything is back to
normal and working the way you want it to.
Note: Please
remember that the second set of steps should only be used if your
keyboard is extremely dirty or clogged. You need to take special
precaution when using those methods.