Clean that keyboard!

Because nobody wants ‘Qwerty Tummy’

As the end of the year approaches and you’re still eating the leftovers, it’s a good idea to bring the New Year with a fresh approach. So how about that computer you’re using? It’s a busy machine that labours and toils for you all year round. It needs some TLC every now and then, so how about you treat your computer (and yourself in the process) by giving it bit of a clean?

In particular, let’s have a look at your keyboard. Studies in Britain found that office keyboards were “dirtier than toilet seats”. Our home keyboards certainty shouldn’t be getting that bad and some of us do clean ours regularly. A simple wipe over with some disinfectant once a month at least is more than enough for a home computer, but that just cleans the surface. Even if you’re not one to eat at your desk, your keyboard will slowly fill with all manner of nasty things including hair and dead skin. Pets make it worse with the abundance of pet hair that might float around your house. Last weekend I pulled my keyboard apart to clean the guts well and truly. I’ve had this keyboard a little over a year now, so this is a years worth of build up.

Pretty rank, right? It was also a big job and took about three hours to clean completely, but in the end it’s worth it. Not only is your keyboard much more hygienic, but you may even get a little bit of performance out of it. All that debris can often cause stuck or ‘mushy’ keys, especially in mechanical keyboards. Before we get into cleaning, you need to check the best way to clean yours. Most keyboards allow you to simply pop the keys off with a knife or screwdriver, but I have had keyboards that require full dismantling to clean effectively. Either way, you’re going to need to know how your keyboard comes apart.

To give my keyboard a decent clean, I used the following:

- Alcohol hand sanitiser or disinfectant wipes

- Cotton buds

- Large hard bristle paintbrush

- Small bristle paintbrush

- Clean, lint-free wash cloth

- Flat-head screwdriver or butterknife

I don’t recommend using tissues as these leave particles. I also don’t like air compressors as I’ve found they don’t work that well and may even blow the debris deeper into the keyboard.

First of all, you’re going to want to pry all those keys off to get to the guts of your keyboard. I wiped every key all over with the cloth as I took them out and put them aside. It’s a good idea to put them in the order you took them off in so you can remember where each one went. With the larger keys, they’ll have bars to stabilise them and you need to clean these well and remove the sticky residue that often coats them.

Tip up your keyboard and use the hard bristle brush to clear out all the debris. I keep the brush in by desk at all times to periodically brush hair off my keyboard throughout the year. Use the soft brush to get into the corners and use the cotton tips dipped in alcohol sanitiser to clean anything that’s stuck there. Don’t forget to wipe the body of your keyboard while you’re at it. Then replace the keys, giving them a quick wipe of alcohol sanitiser before you put them back.

It’s really an easy job and it can take some time, but the feeling of having a fresh clean keyboard is worth the effort and you only really need to do it once a year. Just remember to periodically wipe over your keyboard with some disinfectant at least once a month or use cotton buds to clean between keys if you want a deeper clean. Knowing it’s not going to make you sick any time soon is a reward in itself.