Comments on: How to Clean a Laptop Keyboard

By: Random person

Random person — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 21:48:24 +0000

Ok I was in a hurry when trying to clean my laptops keyboard and didn’t turn it off before using a can of air to spray the keys. And now all the keys on the left side of the f key do not work except the shift and windows key. Is there anything I can do to fix it?

By: Jo

Jo — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 18:27:11 +0000

I was surprised on prying off my notebook keys just to find the major culprit apart from the normal crumbs and wine stains, were eyelashes!

By: Heather

Heather — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 18:49:00 +0000

I used a toothpick to really get around and under the keys. It got a lot of the hair out and just other gunk.

By: Angie

Angie — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 02:40:27 +0000

Seriously, you can get one for $5! I never used one since I thought it would interfere with my typing but if you get one that is molded to the keys, its perfect. I learned the hard way after spilling drinks and my baby vomited on my keyboard. Not easy pulling apart a keyboard. If you drink, eat, or are just plain careless around your keyboard, trust me, a silicone keyboard skin is the way to go. Just Google it.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 22:18:38 +0000

When the cat’s away… aughhh. My children secretly used my laptop while I was away for the evening and all would have gone well except they spilled hot chocolate onto my prized possession! It was fortunate that I arrived home literally less than 10 minutes after the accident. I immediately unplugged the laptop, removed the battery and turned the entire thing upside over a bed of white rice. I had to position the laptop using pillows (be creative) so as not to damage the screen while making sure the keyboard was pressed against the rice. 48-hours later… my laptop was back in working order! Thanks to rice which is great at absorbing liquid. I’m going to now follow some of the other tips listed to further clean my laptop. I’d heard this trick when I accidentally dropped by cell phone in a glass of water. It worked in both instances!

By: Kelso

Kelso — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 14:44:32 +0000

I would not suggest to go ripping off keyboard keys like the article suggests. It is very easy to break these fragile keys if you don’t know what you’re doing. You’ll end up paying a pretty penny for some new pieces of plastic.

By: Somebody

Somebody — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 03:38:02 +0000

William, I think cans of compressed air are cheaper than air compressors, don’t you?

By: Chantl

Chantl — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 06:22:45 +0000

Before you dismantle anything, take a picture of it so you remember how to put it back together!

By: Denine

Denine — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:39:53 +0000

My youngest daughter spilled Kool-aid by accident all over my lap top…my neighbor came over took my lap apart and told me soak my keyboard in distilled water. Now my keyboard doesn’t work at all. Is my keyboard ruined??

By: Sam

Sam — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:46:27 +0000

It just came to me and I haven’t tried it yet but a good idea might be to use one of those Always wipes that come on the top of menstrual pads or that you can buy separately. You could just wipe your keyboard down with that, they don’t shed lint (if they did while you were using them for their original purpose then you could get an infection) and they smell pretty good too. Just a thought.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 12:18:44 +0000

I was seeing my laptop getting dirty but didn’t have the courage to open up all the keys. So I used a tooth brush to dust away the dirt, then a cotton bud dipped in a very dilute solution of soap water to rub between the keys, then a cotton cloth dipped in the same solution to wipe off the top, and now I’m not ashamed to take my laptop to meetings!!!

By: William

William — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 02:39:32 +0000

If you don’t want to fork over the money for a can of compressed air, just use an air compressor. I also take isopropyl alcohol and a few q-tips and wipe between keys on my (rather dated and second-hand from a person I don’t even know) laptop.

By: T.R.

T.R. — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:27:19 +0000

I have a white laptop, so it is very difficult not to have any kind of dust at the end of the month. One day I just experiment using rubber, a simple piece of rubber, and used it all around the keyboard. And it worked, the rubber cleaned all the surface. With the keys, I use a vacuum cleaner and a paint brush.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:09:35 +0000

My Dad spilled a partial cup of tea on his keyboard, which unfortunately had both cream and sugar in it. He was quick enough to turn the laptop upside down so very little if any of the liquid seeped inside the case, however after drying several keys were stuck.

My solution was to take a baking sheet and add just enough rubbing alcohol to cover the keyboard completely. I then let the keyboard soak for about 15 minutes, while every few minutes giving the keyboard a good swish back in forth in the alcohol. I then rinsed the keyboard in very hot water, and let dry overnight.

Placed the keyboard back in the laptop, and all was well. Hope this helps somebody.

Mike

By: B J Turner

B J Turner — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:32:00 +0000

Baby wipes work great too for cleaning the laptop. Just damp enough and no lint.

By: F. L. Merkowitz

F. L. Merkowitz — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 01:29:29 +0000

To clean any keyboard:

1: Turn off PC/remove batteries if portable.
2: Vacuum between the keys.
3: Either use 91% isopropyl alcohol or “Magnetic Head Cleaner” spray. Pour or spray onto paper towel until saturated (don’t be chintzy).
4: Turn keyboard/portable upside down (to prevent runoff from entering keyboard/portable). Hold upside down in air.
5: Wipe keys thoroughly in every direction until clean.
6: Place keyboard/portable upside down on clean double layer of paper towels for an hour (to make sure all the alcohol has evaporated) before powering up/replacing batteries.

By: Alice

Alice — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:37:51 +0000

I find a paintbrush between the keys tidies it up a bit.

By: Jim

Jim — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 15:03:47 +0000

I don’t use an expensive, “optical mouse.” the old fashioned connected one still work fine, plus, I don’t have to worry about the batteries going dead at a critical time or finding it at the bottom of the fish tank.

I have my tower on a 3″ high raised platform that offers space under it to hold my “Speedstream” monitor, so I use a (15 cent) non-electronic spring clip to hold the mouse cable up, out of the way. 78 year old guys like money saving and practical gadgets like this. It’s not just winning, it’s how you play the game.

By: David

David — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 14:50:03 +0000

You could also lay a piece of plastic wrap (i.e., Saran wrap) over the keyboard. Tape it down on the outside edges if you want. Just be sure not to cover any air vents.

By: Jim

Jim — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 14:28:13 +0000

If you check with one of your electrical engineers, I think you’ll find the keyboard operates on very low voltage and does not represent a shock hazard to people, although the key board itself may not be as fortunate.

(It is always better to have a dirty laptop than to shock yourself or ruin your machine during the cleaning process.)