Best Way to Clean Your Keyboard (If You Don’t Have Compressed Air)
My keyboard, like yours, gets very dirty. From working on it and traveling with it to eating food on its precious surface, debris accumulates among its keys. Still, I don’t have a can of compressed air or a keyboard cleaning kit on hand. To remedy this situation, I spent some time researching quick and easy ways to clean my keyboard and found what worked best for me.
Clean your keyboard with a simple toothbrush
After much searching, I discovered that there are two commonly recommended methods for cleaning keyboard crevices in the absence of compressed air: one involves using an old toothbrush, and the other involves using a small, soft brush, such as a makeup brush. I have both of these items on hand, but I realize that a good portion of people won’t have easy access to a makeup brush, so I opted for a toothbrush.
I was concerned that if I got the toothbrush a little wet it would damage the keyboard, but after reading more, I learned that hard debris like crumbs and dirt can be easily removed with dry bristles. I will only need to wet the brush if I get any sticky spots.
First things first: turn off your computer and unplug the charger. I also put down a paper towel to catch any dirt. I started out thinking that I could just quickly run a toothbrush across the keyboard and the bristles would catch and dislodge dirt, but that’s not the case; I had to go row by row, angling the brush so that the bristles were taut and the tip buried in the tiny spaces around each key. This took longer than I expected and each row required several strokes of the brush to get all the crumbs off. It worked, though: crumbs started to accumulate in the gaps between the key slots, and I was able to wipe them off with a paper towel.
Unfortunately, this didn’t work as well as I had hoped. I finally had to wet the bristles a little and try again. I applied five drops to my brush. (Yes, I did the math. I live to serve my readers.) Then I shook it a little and felt it to make sure it was a little wet. I then repeated the process of dragging the tip over the rows and more dirt became noticeable. After collecting a few piles of debris, I wrapped my toothbrush in a damp cloth and swiped it upward. It looked much better, but when I turned the computer back on, the keyboard backlight showed a few crumbs that had not been removed. I cleaned them with a dry brush, which was much easier with the light coming from behind the keys, and laid them on a paper towel.
Conclusions on cleaning the keyboard
Overall it turned out great, although it took more time and work than I expected. It requires precision, patience and focus, but it is time well spent.
In telling this story, Lifehacker editor-in-chief Megan Walbert told me that she uses a Q-tip for everyday keyboard care. She says that with regular use, it can remove dust from around the keys, preventing debris from getting into the cracks and requiring more effort to remove. Consider keeping a few Q-tips on hand for cleaning stains between sessions using a toothbrush (or canned air if necessary).