Your laptop computer might be the last thing on your mind when you think of spring cleaning, but there’s a good chance that it’s one of the dirtiest, germiest things in your home. Here’s how to clean a laptop.
I realized the other day when the sun was shining through the living room window as I was working, that my laptop could use a bit of a cleaning. Actually, even if your laptop doesn’t look dirty, it’s a good idea to give it a little sprucing up regularly to keep it running smoothly and to get rid of the germs that you’ve inevitably transferred to the keyboard and track pad when you use it each day. Luckily the basic process for how to clean a laptop is super simple!
How to Clean a Laptop: Gather Your Supplies
You’ll need:
- A vacuum cleaner with a soft brush attachment
- Rubbing alcohol
- Cotton swabs
- A microfibre polishing cloth
- That’s all you need! You can buy specialty products meant for cleaning laptops, but they really aren’t necessary at all.
How to Clean a Laptop: Removing Dust and Debris
The first thing you’ll need to do is to unplug your laptop from the power cord and turn it off.
Next you’ll want to open it up, turn it upside down, and give it a gentle tap a few times to loosen and dislodge anything that has settled between the keys.
Next, take your vacuum with the soft brush attachment and vacuum the keyboard, the hinges, around the trackpad and in the USB ports on the side.
It’s looking better already, isn’t it?
And yes, I do use that brush attachment a lot. It’s looking a little rough isn’t it? Still works just fine though! 🙂
How to Clean a Laptop: Shine it up!
This is the fun part. 🙂
Take one of your cotton swabs and dip it into the rubbing alcohol. It’s important to remember that when you clean a laptop, you should always apply your cleaning solution to the tool you’re using to clean with, not directly to the laptop itself.
Use the cotton swab to gently clean in between all of the keys, around the edges of the trackpad and the tops of the keys as well.
Switch out to new cotton swabs as needed when you see them start to get dirty.
The rubbing alcohol is great for killing germs and also for removing skin oils and other grime that builds up on your laptop over time.
The final step is to clean and polish the screen as well as the outer case of your laptop and you can do both easily with your microfibre cloth.
Wet half of the microfibre cloth very lightly and use it to remove finger prints and smudges from your screen, then dry and polish the screen with the dry part of your cloth.
Close the laptop and do the same to the outer case. You can also follow up by dipping a corner of the cloth into the rubbing alcohol and using that on the outer case as well to remove any germs and oils that may have built up out there.
That’s it! You’re now the proud owner of a clean laptop! Try to do this once a month or so to keep your laptop in great shape. It’s also just really nice to work on a clean laptop, isn’t it?
Don’t forget to pin this for the next time you notice your laptop could use a cleaning!
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Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.