The OneMinute Geek

The Problem:

Who’s cleaning your mouse ball? If you haven’t yet traded up to an optical mouse and are still using the traditional glider mouse, you know exactly what I’m talking about: gunk in the gliders! Flip the mouse upside down, remove the covering and put those fingernails to some good use. But, what about the rest of your computer? How do you keep it clean?

The Solution:

All good things require stewardship. Whether it’s your car or your houseplants, things last longer and retain more value when they are properly cared for. Your computer is no different. It needs regular and ongoing maintenance.

You ever notice all the little critters trying to make their home in your PC? Bugs love the guts of your computer, probably because it’s warm, dry and protected. But there’s food for them there also. We all do a lot of eating in front of our computers. This lets crumbs fall into the nooks and crannies of your keyboard. Also, think of how often you use the keyboard and mouse with less than clean hands. Unfortunately, I’ve seen studies that show the standard office keyboard has more germs than the toilet seat in the office restroom.

Here’s some ways you can keep your computer and peripherals clean.

1. Turn off your computer, the monitor and its peripherals and unplug everything from the wall socket. You don’t want any electricity running through those digital veins while you’re trying to clean them.
2. Take a paper towel, spray Windex or something similar onto the paper towel and wipe your screen clean.
3. Turn the keyboard upside down and give it a few good whacks. Those crumbs I spoke of will avalanche to the floor.
4. Drag your vacuum cleaner over to the area under your workstation and zap those crumbs. Give the keyboard a few good swipes with the vacuum’s nozzle.
5. Point nozzle at the PC case and try to suck up as much dust from the case as you can. You’ll want all those side vents on the case free and clear so air can circulate in and out of your computer and thus cool the components. Remove the case if necessary. Consider getting some canned air from Longs or your favorite computer store and blow the dust out of everything. Vacuum again.
6. Stick your finger in the floppy drive and vacuum that. And if you have the old school (CRT) monitor, vacuum those vents, too. There is no need to vacuum LCD screens.
7. To remove the hardened dirt on your keyboard, monitor and case, take a slightly damp cloth and rub just a drop or two of dishwashing liquid into the cloth. Be sure to wring out any water from the cloth. You don’t want any water to drip into or machine. Use the cloth to clean the keyboard, its keys, the monitor’s casing and the computer case.

If you have kids in the house, computer cleaning is a terrific project for the youngsters. Do it with them. Explain how water and dirt can have a detrimental impact on computers and how computers are tools – not toys – that need to be cared for just like everything else. Have fun!

James Kerr is President/CEO of SuperGeeks, a Hawaii-based computer service and repair company (www.supergeeks.net). Please feel free to send your questions, comments and suggestions to Mr. Kerr. He can be reached at kerr@supergeeks.net and 942-0773.