The Older Geek

Keyboards take a beating; at least, mine does. Between my incessant daily pounding of the keys, the cat walking across the board, and the daily doses of dust (my house is very dusty) and extraneous lunch menu crumbs– it’s a wonder that my poor keyboard still works as well as it does. One of the most annoying things when typing is to hear a *crunch* when you press the keys. Gah!

There are a few different ways to clean your computer keyboard. Take your pick. Obviously, cleaning your keyboard without removing the keys is less invasive that removing them, so go at your own risk. It helps to take a photo of the keyboard setup before you start removing any keys. This is so you won’t forget where each key belongs when it is replaced.

Here are a few things you’ll need for the job:

Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol
Medicine dropper (optional)
Q-tips
Vacuum cleaner with brush attachment or narrow nozzle extension
Jewelry screwdriver (flat head)
Clean rags or paper towels

Note: Always unplug your computer keyboard before cleaning. And ALWAYS unplug you laptop and remove the battery when working on it or cleaning it!

One more thing to mention before we get started: most of the keys on a keyboard are relatively easy to remove and replace. However, the larger keys, such as the spacebar and large “Enter” keys may be a lot trickier. It may be best to leave the larger keys intact, and vacuum around them once the other keys have been removed.

Clean Your Keyboard Without Removing Keys

1. Unplug the keyboard.

2. Dip the medicine dropper into the isopropyl rubbing alcohol bottle; fill the dropper. Squirt a small amount onto your rag or paper towel. The towel should be somewhat damp, but not dripping wet.

3. Rub the keyboard keys with the damp towel. Allow to dry.

4. Use the vacuum brush or narrow nozzle extension to vacuum the keyboard, taking care to get in between the keys. If you have a super-suction vacuum, be careful not to suction up any keys!

Clean Your Keyboard By Removing Keys

Note: Due to the immense variety of keyboards, this tutorial is merely a guide. If your keyboard is very old or if you are unsure about removing keys, I advise you to go with extreme caution, or skip this part.

1. Take your jewelry screwdriver and carefully lift up a corner of a key (or, you may use a fingernail if they are long enough). Be very careful not to scratch the keyboard housing, or mar the key. Grab the key and gently pull it out of the socket. The underside of the key has small plastic tabs that hold it in place on delicate plastic clips; you want to unsnap the tabs from the clips.

2. With the key removed, you can see the clips and scissor-like lever used to hold the key in place. This lever is removable, but because it is made of plastic (and not so durable, in my opinion), I recommend that you leave it in place.

3. With the key(s) removed, use the brush extension on the vacuum cleaner to suction up any dust or crumbs. Be wary of loose parts, and check before you vacuum the board.

4. Douse the Q-tip with isopropyl rubbing alcohol (again, do not saturate the Q-tip so that it drips into the keyboard!), and gently rub the lever, the rubber cushion, and under the lever. You can wash under the lever if you with one hand use the screwdriver to lift the mechanism, and use the other hand to rub the Q-tip underneath.

5. Replace the key(s). They snap on the same way you removed them. You may need to jiggle or press one corner of the key, and then the other side, to force the tabs onto the clips. Press firmly. You will hear it snap in place. Test the key to ensure it is in proper position.

Another alternative is to skip the Q-tip and isopropyl rubbing alcohol, and just pick out lint or crud with a toothpick; or, you can simply vacuum.

Some keyboards use more tabs and more clips to hold keys in place. Prying apart the key from my old Micron notebook took some work.

This keyboard also has the scissors/lever type of connectors. I removed the lever for this key; see the ball of lint underneath. Again, I do not recommend removing the lever; you can easily lift it up and vacuum underneath if you need to.

Removing the Keyboard Panel From the Laptop

There is one more way for cleaning your laptop keyboard, and that is removing the entire keyboard panel from the laptop. There are far too many different kinds of laptops and keyboards for me to address this in great detail.

A laptop keyboard panel is connected three ways to the laptop itself:

1. With screws, usually located at the top portion of the keyboard.
2. With tabs, usually located all around the keyboard perimeter.
3. With a ribbon cable with pins on the end, which plug into the electronics board inside the laptop.

Most laptop keyboards require that you first remove the laptop bezel to access the keyboard screws. The bezel is the narrow panel situated above the keyboard; mine have the power buttons and speakers incorporated into the bezel. Once you figure out how to remove the bezel, the rest of the job is easy. You can check your manufacturer for specific instructions on how to remove the bezel and to locate the screws for the keyboard.

After you have unscrewed the keyboard from the laptop, lift the top end up at a slight angle, and pull the keyboard out from the laptop. Unplug the cable from the electronics board. Remember how it was inserted, because you will need to replace it exactly as it was.

Now that the keyboard panel has been removed, you can clean it to your heart’s desire. Replace the panel in the same way you removed it.

One little tip: if your keyboard panel is malfunctioning or you break it while cleaning, you can get a replacement panel very inexpensively. I have seen replacement panels at Amazon and computer parts stores for $20 to $40 dollars. Be sure to check with your manufacturer so that you get the precise panel for your laptop.

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