
How to Clean Your Laptop - mgav
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/26/smarter-living/how-to-clean-your-filthy-disgusting-laptop.html
======
Suspect
Don't eat while using your laptop and you will keep it clean with a dust cloth
and a mist of water. Eat while using your laptop and no vacuum in the world
will be able to suck that disgusting filth from it.

~~~
mistersquid
I often eat while computing for work and personal reasons. Since eating while
using a keyboard is a fact of how I live and work, I use a keyboard condom
when eating or drinking beverages (especially coffee).

Except for my smart phone, I don't really compute in the outdoors.

My go-to provider for keyboard covers is
[http://kbcovers.com](http://kbcovers.com) (no relation except as a satisfied
customer).

As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

~~~
kspy
this made me wonder if they did something like this for vim...which they do!
[https://www.editorskeys.com/products/vi-vim-keyboard-
covers-...](https://www.editorskeys.com/products/vi-vim-keyboard-covers-for-
macbook-imac)

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raithel
I used to work in a laptop repair place.

I found that isopropyl rubbing alcohol can sometimes damage or wear some
exterior rubbers or plastics on laptops.(works great on interior and metal
though!)

The best method I have found to clean exterior of a laptop is the following:

\- Turn off the computer.

Standard:

\- Wipe down exterior, screen and keyboard area with Windex sprayed on a cloth
or use Lysol wipes.

If Heavily soiled:

\- Take a vacuum with small brush attachment and gently suck up stuff under
and around keyboard, in vents and other nooks and crannies.

\- Then use canned air to blow out keyboard and other places. (If it's really
bad, you may need to (if possible) remove the keyboard to really get
everything.)

\- Repeat standard procedure until cloth or cleaning implement does not pick
up any more dirt or grime.

Finally, let the laptop sit for an adequate amount of time to dry off.

~~~
gnicholas
Huh, the article specifically says not to use Windex. You've not found it to
damage the screen?

~~~
djrogers
Given the huge variety of materials and construction for different types of
screens, I don’t think any single answer here would be reliable.

~~~
gnicholas
Good point. I was hoping to get answers from various folks. I'm on a
relatively common MBP, and have only ever used water. That gets it mostly
clean, but not all the way.

The Apple Store folks always give it a good clean when I go in for my weekly
(har har) keyboard cleaning, so I've never had to go past water myself.

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elliottkember
It wouldn't be Hacker News without a few people commenting "let all your stuff
get filthy so your immune system stays on its toes".

~~~
wang_li
Not that a dirty laptop applies, but it’s pretty well supported that a too
clean environment is bad for the developing immune systems of children.

~~~
elliottkember
Sure. This article talks about “cleaning”, not “cleaning excessively”.

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KingMob
Don't do what I did and use a lysol wipe from the bottom of the jar. It had
too much fluid, and damaged the keyboard. Modifier keys were frozen in "on"
position, and I was unable to login. Now that laptop won't even boot.

~~~
overcast
That sounds like basic common sense. I'll also add don't use cleaning fluids
on your monitor / screen. Microfiber and a light mist of water on the rag is
more than sufficient.

~~~
52-6F-62
I use lens cleaner on occasion. If it's good enough for a telescope lens or my
glasses, I'm confident in it working for my monitor.

That and/or Kimwipes. Those things are magic.

[https://www.staples.com/kimwipes/directory_kimwipes](https://www.staples.com/kimwipes/directory_kimwipes)

edit: Dammit. In Canada I can never find them not in bulk, though.

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patorjk
Keeping your tools clean is good hygiene. Additionally, whenever I start
working at a new place I always clean the keyboard. It's amazing how
disgusting they can get. For old keyboards, if you pop off the keys, you'll
find they're typically full of hair, food, and other random debris. People
usually think I'm a weirdo when they see me doing it, but my boss at my
previous project saw how gross my keyboard was when the keys were off, and
went out and got me a new keyboard (in this case it was a desktop keyboard
instead of a laptop).

~~~
mehrdadn
What I wonder about is, if you're not getting sick from it (and the keyboard
is working), then what is the goal of getting a new keyboard due to what's
under the keys of the previous one? Just the unpleasantness of knowing what's
there?

~~~
mikec3010
Eventually it could attract insects or mice. I remember coming into the office
early, lights were off. I felt this _very gentle hair_ on my left hand finger
tips, moved my hand, saw nothing, went back to work. Happened again and I
realized it was a decent sized cockroach! Went right back under the desk and I
never caught it.

~~~
mehrdadn
Haha wow, thanks... now I'm going to freak out every time I feel gentle hair
on my body!! :-)

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bhauer
I appreciate the article's message of simplicity. But still its
recommendations go beyond what I find necessary. I just use a microfiber cloth
with or without a tiny amount of water and my laptop (an original Surface
Book) cleans up just fine. I suppose more would be necessary if I were to
spill stuff on the laptop, but so far I've avoided that mishap.

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imwally
Many moons ago Apple included a nice little microfiber cloth[1] with an
embossed Apple logo on it. Ever since then I have taken extra care to clean my
devices every so often with the same cloth.

[1]
[https://nicolasbottari.com/uploads/_big/apple_cleaning_cloth...](https://nicolasbottari.com/uploads/_big/apple_cleaning_cloth.jpg)

~~~
jason_slack
Wow, I have a show box of these clothes! I just tossed them in when I was
buying devices.

------
pasbesoin
I've had just a drop of water change the appearance of the anti-glare coating
on my T430's matte 1500x900 screen. Once applied _very_ gently with a soaked
soft paper napkin, to remove a new speck on the go because it was irritating
me and also before it dried and "set" on the screen. Once when a drop fell
from my washed and rinsed hands, while reaching for a towel in cramped
quarters on vacation, and rolled partway down the screen before I got to it.

The marks don't show much while I'm using the machine and looking directly at
the screen, unless something particular is displayed at those spots, although
I can see them if I look for them. Quite evident when the screen is off,
particularly if there is any reflectivity (hazy reflectivity, due to the matte
screen).

Because of this, I've become very hesitant to clean it. I'm pretty clean and
careful, so otherwise the screen doesn't really need it. I very gently wipe
away dust with a disposable "Swiffer" type cloth -- although I've started
worrying about the long term effects of minor abrasiveness.

Anyway, I would very much like to clean it and all the more so, my W520's very
nice full HD screen. The latter got some spatter while I had an acute medical
condition of some weeks.

But, with simple water apparently altering the matte coating, I'm very
hesitant.

As for blowing compressed air in the vent holes. I would be worried about
blowing dust and debris to a different location where it does more damage.
And, with desktop machines, I remember the advice making sense to carefully
freeze the motion of fans with a pencil or similar, to keep the compressed air
from torquing or over-revving the fan and excessively stressing its bearings.
I would assume that could apply to laptop fans, as well.

------
pieter_mj
Also clean your smartphone. It builds up more bacteria than a petri dish
laborant could hope for.

~~~
LeoPanthera
Do you have a citation for this? Because it surprises me. Most smartphones are
hard, dry surfaces, which inhibits bacteria growth.

~~~
arosequist
I'm not a scientist, but this paper found "high level bacterial contamination"
of cell phones:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5466825/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5466825/)

Anecdotally, we were recently in the NICU of a children's hospital and they
required washing our hands and cleaning our cell phones before entering. It
doesn't seem too far-fetched that they would have a reason for doing so.

~~~
blowski
David Mitchell, a British comedian, has a great comment on this. Given that
all smartphone users are not dead, it just goes to show how meaningless
studies like that are.

Being around people with compromised immune systems requires different
standards, but day to day, it doesn't seem to matter.

~~~
komali2
I understand the attraction of stories like this, but it's not science.

For all I know, I only got the flu this year because my cell phone is dirty.
Same for my roommate and his sinus infection.

The immune system does its job extraordinarily well, but putting it to work
does take a toll on your body. I suspect we'll have studies linking random
episodes of mini-depression or a bad day at the gym to an immune system in the
middle of a pitched fight against an illness that it eventually wins, meaning
the person doesn't get sick, meaning they attribute the bad day to just a bad
day.

~~~
blowski
You're right that there's no science in David Mitchell's argument, but I'm not
seeing any science here proving that "more bacteria on your phone is bad for
you".

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erikb
If that level of description solves any of your problems you don't really have
problems. It gets interesting when you need to take out keys to get the food
out underneath, or when the air delivery is full of dust. I don't know, having
a split in the screen or something might also yield interesting situations.
But that you should airblow your keyboard before you wipe your screen... if
you can't come up with that yourself you'll experience it once or twice, then
you know.

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Pica_soO
I also found the little plastic raises at F and J to be not durable enough on
laptop keyboards. I had some laptops where they would wear off and you had too
look for the keys every time you started typing.

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gakos
Um... "nasty smells"? How big of a problem is that really? I'd have a hard
time placing my laptop in a bag of kitty litter. Don't doubt that it works
though.

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RobertSmith
The main problem is eating or drinking something when you work on the laptop.
Avoiding this and cleaning the laptop with a soft cloth is enough

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sachinsmc
Tomorrow for sure I'm gonna clean my MacBook Pro

