Computer Maintenance & Care

Cleaning Your Peripherals

Now that the case is all taken care of, it can be reassembled.  Make sure you check that all the internal connections are securely plugged in before setting it aside.

The two most important and most used peripherals are your mouse and keyboard.  Before you start, make sure they are unplugged from the back of the computer.  You can start by cleaning off fingerprints, grease and grime with a cloth dampened with isopropyl alcohol.

The mouse is often easiest to tackle, so that will be first on the cleaning list.  Ball mice require a little more maintenance than their optical counterparts.  Unscrew the ring on the bottom holding the ball in, and remove both.  Inside, you will see three plastic rollers.  The two that are at 90-degree angles from one another control the mouse’s X and Y-axis movements.  If you’ve been noticing that the mouse has been behaving erratically, gunk that has been accumulating on the rollers has been the cause it.  Scrape off all the rollers and wipe them down with a Q-Tip soaked in isopropyl alcohol, for a good measure.  You may want to give the ball a wipe down as well.

As for optical mice, simply take a Q-Tip soaked in isopropyl alcohol and clean off the small lens and plastic light spreader.

If you have a mouse with a scroll button, gunk sometimes gets stuck to the sides of the wheel.  You can scrape it off with a small screwdriver, toothpick, or some other small item.  If that fails, and you’re feeling adventurous, you can take the mouse apart by unscrewing the screws holding it together and attacking the wheel with a Q-Tip.  If you happen to have a mouse that is transparent, also attack interior plastic with a Q-Tip.  Note that by taking anything apart, most likely, the warranty will become void.

Now that your mouse is squeaky clean, time to take care of the keyboard.  First, turn it upside down and give it a few good shakes to get any of the loose crumbs and whatnot out of it.  Still holding it upside down, let it have a few good blasts of air.  If you are having problems typing with it, such as letters not appearing on the screen when the key is pressed, or seeing multiple letters appear when only one key is pressed, give it a few more good shakes and blasts of air to dislodge any staples, paperclips, or dust bunnies.  If all else fails, unscrew the keyboard and take it apart.  Make sure the keys are face down, otherwise you may spend the next hour or so putting the keys back in order and picking up their springy rubber contacts off the floor.  Once you have it apart, clean off the circuit board with a cloth dampened with isopropyl alcohol.

If you don’t want to take the keyboard apart, another cleaning method is to stick it in the dishwasher for a warm rinse cycle.  Make sure you wrap up the trailing cable before you stick it in the dishwasher do it doesn’t get caught on anything.  Let it dry after washing for at least 24 hours before using it.  This is ideal, especially if you have spilled a drink on your keyboard.

The next major component to clean is your monitor.  If you have an LCD, there’s not much to it.  First, use a vacuum cleaner or air can to get rid of the excess dust.  If you do use an air can, make sure you blow across the vents, rather than into them.  Next, just take a cloth dampened with isopropyl alcohol and gently rub the screen, so as to not damage any underlying components.  As for the monitor’s case body, you can use Windex.  Be careful of the vents; you don’t want Windex leaking into your monitor’s circuitry.  If you need to clean near the vents, it’s best if you spay a paper towel with Windex first, then wipe.  Your best bet is to just use the Windex for cleaning the grime and smudges on the body of the casing.  The same goes for a CRT.  Windex and a paper towel can be used on the CRT’s screen, since it is glass and not as fragile as an LCD.

If you have any camera lenses that need cleaning, use a cloth or Q-Tip with isopropyl alcohol.  If you have any scanners, use Windex and a paper towel on the glass.  If you have any external drives or external audio devices, Windex and a paper towel are fine.  Make sure you unplug them first.  For speakers, you may want to try using a vacuum and/or air can.  Don’t blast the air can directly onto the speaker cones, for it may damage them.

That should more or less cover your peripherals.  Before plugging everything in again, there is one last thing to address.  Check your surge protector’s warning indicator (if you don’t have a surge protector, it is highly recommended that you do).  Surge protectors will continue to provide power to all the devices plugged into it, even after its surge protection capabilities have been compromised by a voltage spike.  If your area has frequent power outages, it is a good idea to check your surge protector’s warning indicator regularly.  If your surge protector doesn’t have some sort of warning indicator, it should be replaced with one that does.  After all, it’s just one of many things that helps keep your computer safe.