Keyboard cleaning

What does HP recommend using to clean and disinfect a notebook keyboard? I've just been wiping mine down with a cloth but I would like to disinfect it once in a while too.

 

Did you know that a keyboard has over 6 times as many germs as a toilet seat? I'd use some simple green or any type of soft disinfectant. Dust off makes a disinfecting and cleaning computer spray that I use, you can get it at your local besbuy.

 

I do all of the following at one time or another.

1) Blow the livin daylights out of the keyboard with an air compressor.

2) Wipe down with a very damp rag and dry off.

3) Go in between the keys with a wet artist brush and/or wet pipe cleaner, holding one key down, while getting the keys around it.

4) Using one of those "Shark" styled steam blowing cleaners, I "shark the livin daylights out of it", by blowing bunches of steam into it (kills germs too!).

5) I dry it via freeze drying. You can blow highly compressed liquid "air" from a upside down can of "air". As it evaporates, it will take the water with it. FWIW, this is my preferred method for drying electronics, as using heat can actually add moisture. Figure it this way... Your skin cracks on a cold winter day due to the low humitity, since cold air cannot hold much moisture. Warm air on the other hand holds tons of moisture, so in effect, when you use heat to dry something, you are actually adding moisture. Want to remove moisture? Turn on the air conditioner (but beware of codensing). A high tech clothes dryer recently hit the market that uses refridgearation instead of heat to dry clothes. Its supposed to be a lot more efficient (and better for your clothes)...

6) Replace the keyboard every now and then. I picked up a bunch of OEM keyboard for way cheap ($8?) on eBay, out of China.

Ok, so you probably think I am crazy, however, I will mention that every day, I commonly spill ashes, coffee, tea, yogurt, and cream cheese on my keyboards. and have maintained a lot of laptop this way (30 or more) over the years, and never had any problems.

I even once steam cleaned a neighbors Dell laptop that had a ton of A1 steak sauce that had spilled on it and dried for over a year.

Joe

 

Whatever you do, do not, for the love of god and all that is holy, remove the keys themselves. Removing keys on laptop keyboards is a very bad idea. I did it on my laptops (an Asus F8Sa), and the keyboard went from a solid meh to pure craptasticness.

That's cause toilet seats don't generally have a lot of germs. Germs like dark, moist and warm places. A toilet seat is a cold and mostly dry place, out in the open. 6x of a little is still a little.

 

Cloth/paper towel/kleenex soaked with a little hydrogen peroxide here. Nontoxic, cheap and reasonably effective.

 

I just use some of that anti-bacterial multi-surface cleaner you get in supermarkets, it`s a clear liquid, just spray a bit on a clean cloth and wipe.

 

Definately ensure you spray whatever you use on the rag, adn not the keyboard! That goes for cleaning your screen as well, I've seen too many LCD and TV dissassemblies that I could tell that the user sprayed the screen, it drips down inside the bottom and corrodes, etc.

 

Hmmm this is a good idea.. I will try this the next time I clean my keyboard.

 

1) Pop the keyboard module out or flip the notebook upside down then blow and shake. Watch all the crap fall out.

2) Wipe the whole notebook down with hospital grade disinfectant (except for screen).

I also use methylated spirits/denatured alcohol in a spray bottle, it has 101 uses.

 

to get the oily greasy grime off the laptop i just use dish soap on a sponge. i put some in a bowl, add water, and use the sponge to create suds. then i take the moist sponge and lightly wipe the surfaces. afterwards, i take a papertowel and wipe everything down. repeat if necessary.

i dont do ths often, because i like to maintain my clean keyboard by keeping my hands clean. maybe i'm OCD (it does run in the family)

 

i remember there was this hp website which shows a video guide to take out every single component of your laptop, including your keyboard, so that u can clean it up. i cant find that website so anyone out there who remembers it can post it up? thanks in advance

 

See the Main HP sticky. Its called HP media services library > Choose your notebook > FRU Replace.

EDIT: Just realized HP removed their media services library for some reason

 

Just use isoprophyl alchol w/ a microfiber cloth.

 

Will any of these bleach or discolor a black keyboard? I know it sounds stupid but I'd hate to do something and have my keyboard (a built-in laptop one too) become ruined. Especially the hydrogen peroxide one comes to mind because I know that can bleach skin & hair.

 

I don't think plastics today can get discolored from those chemicals, I may be wrong, be I believe discoloration from that stuff, happened because of a fire retardent was used to be applied to the mixture of plastics, why some people's SNES are yellowish after a couple years of exposure to the sun, and I think bleach can do that too. Hydrogen peroxide shouldn't either, after a while it just turns to water as it loses it's oxygen, which is what suffocates anaerobic bacteria, but I don't think it can cause discoloration.

Paper towel and alcohol here. You can never really, truel disinfect it unless you were to use an autoclave or something that that degree, but that would probably destroy it as well. Saw someone mention hydrogen peroxide, that only works on anaerobic bacteria, thus only getting half of what you're after, and perhaps nothing as there most likely isn't much anaerobic bacteria out in the open usually (usually in low [O2] environments like soil is where they're found). As much as I know, hospitals use alcohol prep pads to disinfect skin before giving a shot. This only goes as far as pushing bacteria and other nasties to the side, so the target site is clean, but the surrounding is not. Only way alcohol would work well is if you were to use a lot of it, which might not be good for plastic. I'd recommend a paper towel because its disposable, and therefore you wouldn't be smearing dead/living germs back onto your keyboard, vs a microfiber cloth you probably usually use. Of course good ol' soap (probably antibacterial soap) and water solution probably works best, but for quick fixes, alcohol probably might be a better suit. Hope that helps.

 

I've taken apart my keyboard for a desktop before and soaked it in soapy water (took out the electrical components beforehand), but I wasn't sure what to do with a laptop keyboard. I'll try some alcohol & a paper towel, sounds cheap and pretty effective. Thanks guys.

 

I just hope nobody's keyboard melts