How To Get Rid Of Dirty Keyboard?
You can experience many problems due to a dirty keyboard. Apart from malfunctioning of the keyboard, the dirt can be dangerous to your health due to harmful bacteria present between the keys. A neat keyboard complements your health too. E-Gunk is the word that has been created by computer experts for the dirt present between the keyboard keys. E-Gunk consists of skin cells, lint, dirt, food residue, and other waste things. Frequently, people uses these dirty keyboards and malfunctioning occurs due to the collection of these dirt particles.
This dirt attracts disease-causing bacteria, life-threatening virus and cockroaches. The following things are responsible for presence of grime, dirt and bacteria on keyboard:
• Dirty Hands – Sweaty, dirty and wet hands are responsible for the rings of dirt present on the keyboard which is shared.
• Liquids – A big e-gunk can arise due to sugar bits and other solid particles that are present in your drinks.
• Dust – The dust particles may get collected in your keyboard if your computer is out in the open to stuff like road dust and vehicle exhaust, and if it is not situated in a well ventilated region.
• Solid Food Particles – Eating of snacks like salted peanuts, fried corn or chocolate chips while using keyboard also leads to e-gunk.
• Dead Skin Cells – Dead skin cells will definitely be present between keyboard keys if you use lot of computer.
Why keyboard should be clean?
• Appearance – People are not interested in using dirty keyboards as they look very unattractive.
• Hygiene – E-gunk and dirt particles promote the growth of dangerous bacteria. Cockroaches are attracted by the food particles on the keyboard and they can lay their eggs between the spaces. Harmful infections and diseases are caused by the pests and bacteria present on the keyboard. Food particles on the keyboard also attract rats and mice. Contagious skin diseases can also occur if the keyboard is shared one.
• Functionality – The keyboard may not respond due to the presence of food particles and large amount of dirt can jam the keys.
Regular Cleaning: Tools you need – To remove the dust particles, periodic cleaning of keyboard is required. Following tools are helpful to clean the keyboard:
• A can of compressed air
• Dry, soft cotton cloths
• Cleaning fluid or isopropyl alcohol
• Cotton buds
Regular Cleaning: Steps
• You should turn off the computer and unplug the keyboard.
• In order to displace the grime, dirt and food particles, you should spray the compressed air between the keyboard keys.
• Gently shake the keyboard while holding it upside down. By doing this the dirt will fall down.
• To clean the sides of the keys, you can use a cotton bud and apply two or three drops of isopropyl alcohol or cleaning fluid on the bud.
• To clean the surface of keyboard you can again use isopropyl alcohol or cleaning fluid and apply it to a soft cloth. If some keys of the keyboard becomes unresponsive then following tools are required for thorough cleaning:
• Soft, dry cotton
• Hand-held vacuum cleanser
• Toothbrush
• Cotton buds
• A can of compressed air
• Paper and pen, or a digital camera
• Cleaning fluid or isopropyl alcohol
• Flat-head screwdriver
Thorough Cleaning: Steps
• You should follow the above four steps first.
• You should draw the structure of the keys or take a picture of keyboard.
• In order to see inside the keyboard, you should gently remove the keys with the help of flat-head screwdriver.
• A hand-held vacuum cleaner with lowest setting should be used to get rid of grime and dirt.
• With the help of toothbrush and cleaning fluid, the keys should be cleaned one by one. It is a time consuming process and requires patience to clean the keyboard.
• You should place them on their respective positions when the keys have dried. You may take the help of the picture or the drawing of keyboard. Although replacing the keys is the most difficult task but once you have achieved it, your keyboard looks appealing and cleaning also helps in preventing contagious and infectious diseases.
