Gunk Busters!

Cleaning Tips: Grime Fighters

The digital detritus slowing Windows' performance is virtual dirt; the stuff inside your keyboard and mouse, or on the surface of your monitor and optical discs, is the real thing. Here's how to get rid of accumulated material that can literally gum up the works.

Beneath the Keys

The dirt, dust, and crumbs that keyboards pick up so easily make for rough typing. To clean your keyboard, you'll need a can of compressed air (available at any computer store for about $5); a bottle of isopropyl alcohol (about $2 at any drugstore); cotton swabs; and two clean, soft cotton cloths (a cut-up old T-shirt will do).

Unplug the keyboard and bring it outside (or place it on newspaper). Turn it upside down and tap it gently to knock out loose dirt. Then turn it vertical and spray compressed air between the keys. Finally, turn the keyboard upside down, shake it again, and slap the bottom. Repeat this spray-shake-slap routine until nothing comes out.

With the keyboard still unplugged, put some alcohol on one of the cloths and wipe the surface clean. Dip a cotton swab in the alcohol and clean between the keys where the cloth can't reach. Alcohol evaporates pretty quickly, but if necessary dry the keyboard with the other cloth.

Under the Mouse Roller

If your mechanical mouse stops rolling properly, cleaning the inside rollers should make it as good as new. All you need to get back on a roll are a can of compressed air and possibly tweezers.

Unplug the mouse and turn it upside down. You'll see a little plastic disk with a hole in the middle. The roller ball shows through the hole. Turn the disk in the direction indicated by the arrows (counterclockwise on Microsoft mice), remove the disk, and take out the ball.

You'll see two or three rollers inside. Lint and dirt on these rollers are what make your mouse misbehave. Blow some compressed air onto the rollers to loosen the gunk, which tends to clump into big pieces. Then pull the stuff off with your fingers or with tweezers. Clean any surface oils off the ball. Reassemble the mouse.

Between Eyes and Monitor

What's that weird character on your worksheet? Is it a euro? An ampersand in some strange script font? No, it's a little dust ball clinging to your screen. Cleaning a CRT monitor is pretty easy: Just turn off the monitor, slightly moisten a soft cloth with water (never use glass cleaner), rub the screen, and wipe it dry. Removing dirt and grime from an LCD is a bit more complicated. You'll need a microfiber cloth (such as those sold or given away by opticians for cleaning eyeglasses), as well as a few ounces of a mixture that's half water and half isopropyl alcohol. Turn off the monitor (if it's on a notebook, turn off the PC), lightly moisten the cloth with the fluid, and wipe carefully. With both CRTs and LCDs, wait a few minutes after you finish cleaning before turning the monitor back on.

Disc-Washing Machine

A single speck of dirt on the surface of a CD or DVD can interrupt a song, a movie, or a program installation. If wiping the disc gently from the center out with a dry cotton cloth doesn't do the trick, break out the hardware: For cleaning optical discs, try a device such as 3M's $13 Scotch CD and CD-ROM Cleaner (which also cleans DVDs). The hand-cranked device comes with a spray bottle of cleaner. Put a little of the cleaner on your dirty disc, insert the disc (label-side-down) into the device, close the top, and turn the crank five times; then remove the disc, and let it air dry for a minute or so.

Lincoln Spector