It's not difficult to do, but keeping a clean Mac can help it run smoother, and keep you from getting sick as well. Here are a few ways you can keep your Mac looking new and fresh.
Clean that keyboard
Clean your Mac keyboard. When certain Mac keyboard keys aren't working, it could be caused by dust and other junk underneath them. This is likely if you have a habit of eating while using your Mac. Cleaning out under the keys could solve the problem. Hold your MacBook or Mac keyboard vertically, preferably at a 75º angle. Update 2020-03-06: Released Keyboard Cleaner 64 bit, Notarized for Catalina. Update 2018-08-02: Released Keyboard Cleaner 64 bit, compatible with future versions of Mac OS X. Update 2011-07-01: Submitted Keyboard Cleaner to the Mac App Store, pending review (we got declined, boo!). If your apple or mac keyboard gets grimy, and you are having a tough time cleaning it - watch this simple video and solve the problem quickly.
It's fair to say that the dirtiest part of your Mac is its keyboard. Even if you wash your hands every time you sit down to type, the keyboard collects the germs and sweat from your fingers, and the dust in your room or office. This can make for sticky keys and transfer viruses, or worse.
Aqw bot for mac 2018. First, unplug your keyboard from your computer or, in the case of a wireless keyboard, remove its batteries. (If you're cleaning a laptop keyboard, shut down the computer and unplug the power adapter.) Blow out the dust and, if necessary, vacuum the space between the keys (or under them, depending on the type of keyboard you have).
Next, clean your keys with disinfecting wipes. (Apple recommends Lysol and Clorox Kitchen disinfecting wipes.) Since the alcohol evaporates, there's no risk of liquid damaging the keyboard. Still, make sure to squeeze out sopping wipes.
If you don't have wipes, put a drop of standard dishwashing detergent in a glass of water. Soak a soft cloth in this concoction and then wring it out until it's barely damp. Now wipe the cloth over the keys to get rid of the grime. Rinse the detergent out of your cloth, wring it out, and then finish up by wiping your keyboard off again. Be very careful not to get water under the keys. You should do this regularly, to make sure that no germs fester under your fingers.
Prevent the keyboard from getting dirty
If cleaning your keyboard proves a mighty chore, or if you have a new one you want to protect from pet hair, cookie crumbs, and the like, you might want to use a keyboard protector, such as the iSkin ProTouch, a silicone keyboard protector that's easy to wash (about $20). An even thinner option for MacBooks is the Moshi ClearGuard.
Get rid of dust
While most Macs today are designed so you can't open them, the Mac Pro remains the one model that's easy to get inside. Unfortunately, because of the way it's designed, it also collects a lot of dust. I had a pre-2013 Mac Pro (the original 'cheesegrater' case) for several years, and found I had to clean it every few months.
It's okay to vacuum the outside of your computer with a standard vacuum, but you want to avoid using it on the inside of your Mac because of the possibility that static electricity from the vacuum could zap its electronics. Instead, purchase a vacuum specifically designed for electronic components or use a battery-powered vacuum. Alternatively, haul the computer outside and blow the dust out with compressed air.
I open my Mac Pro—after turning it off, of course—and vacuum out dust from some parts of it, notably the CPU and RAM areas. Slide out the hard drives and you can get further inside the Mac Pro and get dust out of the nooks and crannies. I use a can of compressed air can help get dust out of the tightest corners.
Other Macs are harder to remove dust from. The iMac, for example, has inputs below the display and a large exhaust at the top, behind the display. If you have a powerful vacuum cleaner, you can suck some dust out of the bottom, but it's not easy, and probably won't help much.
The Mac mini doesn't seem to collect a lot of dust, but you can open the round bottom cover and check inside to see if there's an accumulation of dust, pet hair or anything else that your vacuum can remove.
Clean the screen
I keep a microfiber cloth—the kind you use to clean eyeglasses—handy to clean my Apple display. Apple recommends that you use a soft, slightly damp, lint-free cloth to clean screens more thoroughly.
I've never used any special monitor cleaning solutions on my Macs, though if you spill something on your laptop, for example, and get something really icky on its screen, you may need to go that route. You can buy many kinds of monitor wipes, pre-treated with appropriate cleaning solutions, and these might be worth keeping around in case of a disaster. Check iKlear and RadTech for options.
Clean behind the screen
I had an iMac that went for service and when it returned, I thought it had a dead pixel. Looking closely, though, I realized that there was a bit of dust behind the screen; actually, between the display's plastic cover and the actual display. To my surprise, on older iMacs, it was easy to remove the front cover to clean this out. Note that this can only be done on iMacs before 2013. iMacs after 2013 have a laminated screen.
Find a suction cup, at least a couple of inches wide. Press it onto the black bezel near the top of the display. (Don't worry, you can wipe off any marks from the suction cup later.) Pull gently, and you'll find that the plastic cover of the display comes right off; it's held onto your Mac or your display by magnets. Clean off the inside of this cover, with a soft cloth, and put it back in place starting from the bottom edge, then let the magnets do their work. You can watch a helpful video of this process here. Colt serial number lookup.
While you don't need to be obsessive about cleaning your Mac, these simple tips can help you spruce it up regularly—that's an especially good idea if you have a laptop that you tote around wherever you go.
[Editor's note: This article originally posted in 2013.]
Typing on a sticky keyboard can be very frustrating. You make typos, you can't type in passwords and some become so stuck you can't press them at all. As part of maintaining your computer and laptop, you should clean your keyboard regularly. If you don't, you will let dirt build up and you will end up with sticky keys. Similarly, if you drink when working, spilled soda on a laptop keyboard causes sticky keys. Many suggest removing all the keys to clean a mechanical keyboard, but there are ways to do it without this labor intensive method.
Keep reading here at oneHOWTO for more about how to clean a computer or laptop keyboard without removing the keys. There are different ways to fix sticky keys, so see which is the best one for you.
How to clean a sticky USB keyboard without removing the keys
A mechanical desktop computer keyboard is easier to clean as it can be disconnected from the USB port. Cleaning a laptop keyboard is a little trickier, so we show you how to do that below. Unplugging a mechanical USB keyboard allows us to handle it with more ease and move it around, which is not the case with a laptop or MAC. Follow these tips on how to clean a mechanical keyboard:
- Turn it over: the easiest method of cleaning a mechanical keyboard is to flip it over and shake it lightly. This should force all of the crumbs, food scraps, lint, etc. inside of the keyboard to fall out. After turning it over, you can wipe it with a damp cloth to remove any remaining dust.
- Vacuum the keyboard: you can clean a mechanical keyboard using a small keyboard vacuum. If you don't have one, you can use a small sofa vacuum on its lowest power program to suck up any dust remnants.
- Brush between the keys: if your keyboard is not very dirty, you can dust it with a keyboard cleaning brush. You can also opt to wipe it lightly with a microfiber cloth.
- Use an air spray: you can find aerosols with just air inside designed to clean hard to reach places. They are ideal for cleaning keyboards without removing the keys as you can just put the nozzle in the spaces between them. The force of the air should remove any loose dirt, although it may not be effective with dried on stains such as spilled soda.
- Clean the keyboard with alcohol: the above keyboard cleaning methods are effective if your keyboard is not very dirty and has loose dirt. However, they are not always the best with sticky keys. You can use isopropyl to get rid of grease on a sticky keyboard. Apply the alcohol (diluted in a little water) onto a cloth or cotton swab and carefully clean each key individually. This is the best cleaning method when it comes to effectively disinfecting a keyboard. Dip a cotton bud in the solution to clean between the keys.
- Antibacterial wipe: one of the most effective ways to clean soda spills or other sticky keys on a keyboard is to use an antibacterial wipe. It won't be wet enough to damage the keyboard, but you can press down on the keys and use it to get in between them and remove stains effectively.
For more, we recommend reading our article where discuss how to clean a computer screen.
How to clean a laptop keyboard without removing the keys
Cleaning a laptop or laptop keyboard is more or less the same as cleaning a mechanical keyboard. However, the keys are usually much flatter and harder to get in between. This means you likely won't be able to shake the dirt clean. Cleaning dirt particles with compressed air will also be trickier, although you should give it a try.
Although difficult, you can clean a laptop keyboard without removing the keys. You may need to employ a little more patience.
Firstly, turn the laptop off a remove it from the mains adaptor. Lightly moisten a toothpick with water and remove any obvious dirt particles between the keys. As soon as you've finished doing this, make sure to dry off any moisture with a dry cloth to avoid computer damage. Don't forget to do this before plugging it in again, otherwise you could short the machine.
You can also clean your laptop keyboard by removing the keycap with a wire keycap puller tool. Be careful when choosing this option as it means you will have to then replace the keycap.
How to clean a sticky keyboard: from inside
Unfortunately, the above methods don't always work. This is especially the case if you have spilled soda or another liquid which has seeped under the keys. In these cases, it is very difficult to get rid of the sticky substances. You may have to remove all the keys one by one. It is labor intensive, but it is also one of the most effective ways of cleaning a keyboard.
The best way to do it is clean the keyboard from the inside, especially in the case of a mechanical keyboard. In laptops this is more complicated because you'll have to open the laptop, which is not recommended if you've never done it before.
How to clean a mechanical keyboard from the inside
- Unplug the USB plug.
- Take off the back part of the keyboard with a screwdriver (make sure not to lose the screws!).
- Remove the keys, place them in a strainer and rinse with water. Make sure you dry keycap individually after.
- Clean the empty faceplate lightly with little isopropyl alcohol and water and dry well.
- Replace the dry keys.
- Close the keyboard again and screw well.
For any doubts, you can also consult a laptop technician at your local tech store.
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For more tech cleaning tips and tech related hygiene, you may be interested in reading how to protect skin from technology.
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