There are numerous reasons you might have to clean your computer keyboard. Snacking while computing causes most keyboard gunk. Drops of soda, even small ones, will dry into sticky spots that will attract dust, lint, and pet hair like magnets. You’ll find, after a bit of snacking, greasy deposits will appear on the keys and the mouse pad. Even if you don’t snack while you compute, there’s always hand cream, pet hair, and skin cells, and that’s only a few of the nasty little things that can accumulate. Ewww.
If you have only a few grubby keys, it’s possible to clean them in place by lightly wetting a round cotton pad (sold for removing makeup) with dish detergent or rubbing alcohol. Don’t get the pad so wet that pressure forces liquid out of it to drip in between the keys. Some keyboards are well sealed against liquids, but most are not.
If you’ve been using the same keyboard for years, you may be forced to apply some time and elbow grease. Cleaning a really nasty keyboard is best done one key at a time, by removing the key top. On nearly all keyboards (especially the better ones), the key tops are held in place by friction only, and by pulling upward on a key top you can remove it from the keyboard entirely. Since the key top is just a piece of molded plastic, you can scrub it under running water with soap and a Scotch-Brite pad.
The trick, of course, is pulling the key tops when there’s no room to get your fingers around or underneath them. In the ‘80s and early ‘90s, many high-end keyboards came with a small tool designed to make pulling key caps easy. These days, they usually just pop off.
Here are some tips on cleaning keyboard key tops:
Pull them and clean them one at a time. If you pull them all at once, you run the risk of losing a key top or putting them back in the wrong position.
Dry them thoroughly before putting them back. Blow loose water droplets from the underside of the key top, and pass it by a hair dryer for a few seconds.
After you pull a key top, inspect the area around the exposed key switch for cracker crumbs, pet hair, and dust.
Remove any visible gunk with tweezers. Blowing will only force it under adjacent keys!
Avoid letting liquids (like soapy water) fall in between keys or onto exposed key switches while cleaning the keyboard. This will shorten the life of the keyboard, especially in damp climates, where slow-drying fluids allow mold to grow.
Note that some cheap keyboards do not have removable key tops. If you pull firmly on a key top and it won’t come loose, don’t force it or you may rip the key switch right out of the circuit board, ruining the keyboard completely.
For more information on "degunking your PC" read my article: The Degunking 12-Step Program – Get Your PC and Your Office in Tip Top Shape.
