Tips and Tricks for cleaning your laptop keyboard keys

We clean all around our house- we sanitize door knobs, faucets, the kitchen sink…  How many of us clean our keyboards on our laptops?  My guess is not too many of us actually complete this task.  Fortunately, it’s easy and can be done without damaging your computer, not to mention that it is a quick cleaning task that can be done weekly.

• First, turn off your laptop and unplug the power cable. 
• To clean between the keys you can use compressed air to blow debris such as hair, crumbs and dust from under the keys.  Be careful not to damage the key caps or hardware underneath.  If you don’t have access to a can of compressed air or an air compressor you can use tape for the job!  You can gently slide a short strip of tape between the keys. 
• Next, take a cleaning solution (see below) and a Q-tip (or soft cloth) and gently rub over key caps to remove oil, germs and stains.  If needed dry with a soft cloth.  While you are at it, you can wipe the mouse touchpad and casing with your cleaning solution for good measure. 

*Cleaning solutions:

• One drop of mild dish soap to one quart of water. 
• Equal parts distilled white vinegar to water (this is a great disinfectant). 
• Rubbing alcohol
• Note: Ammonia is not a good idea for this task as it may remove the printed characters on key caps.