It’s a tedious task you've been putting off for what could be years. But the moment has come: You're going to clean your computer[1] inside and out. That means scrubbing down those keys and wiping the fossilized fingerprints off your screen. It also means deleting all the files you secretly downloaded when you were trying to figure out how to make a GIF, and finally tidying up your feeds on social media[2].
You Will Need
- A microfiber cloth
- Soft cloths for cleaning (don't use paper towels)
- Isopropyl alcohol
- Can of compressed air
- Q-tips
- An hour or two
Exterior Cleaning
Before doing anything, you need to turn off your device. Unplug it as well. This is the most important step. If you don't follow it you could do some serious damage to the hardware.
Take a soft cloth (a microfiber cloth is recommended), slightly dampen it with water and start scrubbing. Be careful when going around ports, you don't want any liquid getting in there.
Screen
Start cleaning the screen by wiping it down with a dry cloth. Go from corner to corner.
Next, take the cloth and dampen it with some water. If you don't think plain old water will get the job done, you could make a cleaning solution with 50 percent vinegar and 50 percent water. But don't use cleaning solutions! In fact there are a lot of "don'ts" when cleaning computers, so it's best just to follow these instructions. Speaking of which, don't drench the cloth. If it's dripping wet, you overdid it.
Run the cloth over the screen. If you want to wipe in a...