Rainy Day Project: Clean Your Laptop

 Materials:

• Solution of 1 part rubbing alcohol and 1 part filtered water-- about 2 oz of each should be enough, so start with that. This solution is great because alcohol is excellent at cutting stickiness and it dries quickly. 
• A lint-free cloth. E-cloth's glass cloth is a good choice.
• Canned/ Compressed Air

Directions:

1. Shut down your laptop. Unplug it from electricity and anything going into ports.
2. Dip the cloth in the solution and squeeze it so that it's damp (not dripping wet). Wipe the outside/case of the laptop. Then open the laptop and clean the screen with a left-right, up-down motion. Don't linger, lazybones, unless you want streaks.
3. Clean the keyboard by blowing in between the keys with canned air, at an angle, to get out old cookie crumbs and other treats of yesteryear. Your computer manual will have info on if and how you can remove keys to get to any serious messes that might be making your keys stick.
4. Moisten the cloth again and wipe down the keyboard keys and touch pad. You can also use a cotton swap to get into nooks and crannies.
5. Use canned air to blow dust from (rather than into) ports and fan vents by blowing at an angle. 
6. Leave your laptop open for a little while to let it air dry.

Tip: Keep your laptop closed, as well as shut down and unplugged (or at least in "sleep" mode) when you're not using it, so that you save energy and can keep the dust bunnies from hopping into it.

Olivia Lane is a Blogger, Green Living Educator, and Health Coach trained at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She's also author of Baking Soda & Bliss: The Healthy & Happy Guide to Green Cleaning.   

 

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