Cleaning your Keyboard

[skrew]

Today in an IT course im doing through school we were discussing the various ways to maintain and clean your computer. We discovered that a public computer has over 400 more germs than a toilet seat and other wonderous facts.

I have decided to clean my standard USB apple keyboard as it is quite dirty and needs a clean. The text described various ways including a vacuum and pulling out the keys and such and I was wondering how the rest of you guys cleaned your keyboard (if at all) and the best method of doing so.

~skrew

[Fenris]

Pull out all the keys, soak in soap water for a couple of hours, vacuum the bed underneath, and then put keys back. Before putting them back, I blow HARD on the underside of each key until there's no water left in the "tube". :)

Then again, you could do it the idiot way: dunk it in the bathtub, and let it dry for a week. ;)

[sealfin]

I'll never clean my keyboard; with the biscuit crumbs it has accumulated over the years, I just need to shake it above my mouth to have an emergency ration pack...

[aarku]

I disassemble everything and blast it with warm water in the bathtub, circuits and all. Then after it dries I piece it all together and resume using it.

For a more minor cleaning I just get a cotton cloth wet with something like Windex or isopropyl alcohol and proceed to scrub the surface.

-Jon

[Tools10]

I actually use a special brush to clean my keyboard(big brush for the top of the keys, small one between the keys).
Since I've never managed to get any food between the keys(only various drinks) I've never had the need for anything more advanced, tough once you get some sticky drink in the keyboard there is no choice but a more complete clean-up.

[Zwilnik]

I call in the specialist health hazard disposal team and buy a new keyboard.

[PowerMacX]

I wonder what would (eventually) be the right procedure for a MacBook keyboard. :\

Not a problem *right now* but I have no idea about this.

[lightbringer]

Today in an IT course im doing through school we were discussing the various ways to maintain and clean your computer. We discovered that a public computer has over 400 more germs than a toilet seat and other wonderous facts.

Well...a toilet seat isn't wet or warm (usually), and your butt isn't a good carrier. Saying your toilet seat is one of the cleaniest places in your house has some truth to it.

I'd be (and I am, slightly) concerned with your mouth (a warm, wet, mess) and your hands (since they touch everything). Hence keyboards are concern, though much less so if it's just you using it (of course we clean our keyboards mainly for the filfth and spillage factors). In a school environment, you really need to clean areas that all those curious hands keep coming into contact with.

[kelvin]

For those of you suggesting water dunking your keyboards, I seriously hope you are joking. Even if not, shame on you for suggesting it.

For those of you who want to clean your gear without shorting it, go get some air duster. The tetrafluoroethane kind.

[LaRue]

For those of you suggesting water dunking your keyboards, I seriously hope you are joking. Even if not, shame on you for suggesting it.
The water dunk method works great. You just have to remember to completely dry each piece before putting it back together and plugging it in. That is why there are hairdryers.

[AnotherJake]

Soaking your keyboard in water of any kind is just plain stoopid. Duh. That being said, I've done it and it worked just fine. I admit it. I wouldn't recommend it though. Water always causes corrosion in circuitry, even if it is dried quickly. Circuitry doesn't like corrosion. You can draw your own conclusions from there.

Isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) is usually considered safe to use on circuitry and electronics equipment in general, and it is a good degreaser, and it is also a fantastic antiseptic.

[Skorche]

This reminds me of a gross public keyboard story.

There was this guy that I knew only as the anime club president, who spent a lot of time in the CSCI lab. He was eating peanuts by putting the entire thing in his mouth, and pulling the shells out with his fingers. He usually wiped them on his shirt though, so they were probably pretty clean... If that wasn't bad enough he also sneezed directly into the keyboard, and proceeded to smear down the monitor and keyboards with his hands.

I never used that computer again...

[aarku]

It's a keyboard, not a super computer.

I haven't killed a keyboard yet. Enjoy your germs :p

-Jon

[aarku]

The water dunk method works great. You just have to remember to completely dry each piece before putting it back together and plugging it in. That is why there are hairdryers.
To clarify for the audience, Mrs. Czeck, you take apart the keyboard and then dunk/powerwash the pieces. Otherwise I don't see how you could get the water dried out of there in a timely fashion. (Baking it in the oven, perhaps?)

-Jon

[AnotherJake]

(Baking it in the oven, perhaps?)
I've heard of someone using a dishwasher on the dry cycle (pretty much just an oven on low really). I just used an air compressor and partial disassembly.

[edit [DISCLAIMER]] oh yeah, again, not recommended unless you're willing to possibly brick a keyboard...

[Najdorf]

I use pineapple. Pineapple juice that's it, you just pour some on top. Then buy a new keyboard. (actually it was a friend that did it to me >:(

[kelvin]

Seriously, given enough oxidation (water will oxidize the circuitry), your keyboard will short out. The only questions are when and will it short your computer through the USB. The keyboard is $15 to replace, your fried mobo on the other hand...

[Skorche]

Although USB does have over-current protection.

Najdorf: I prefer dropping an Orange soda next to my desk so that a nice geyser shoots up onto my laptop. It only took 10-ish hours of cleaning to get all the stickyness out of the keys. It was worth it though when the computer died 3 months later of an unrelated problem though...