Well, what an interesting few weeks we’ve had! As I write this article we still have, in Spain, another 9 days of official lockdown to go so when this month’s magazine hits your screens I don’t yet know if we are all allowed out to play or not. Either way I sincerely hope that you’ve all been affected as little as possible due to both the virus and the social effects of the enforced restrictions placed on us.
I thought this month I would look at ways in which you can keep your computer as physically clean and virus free as possible, keyboards and mice, in particular, are breeding grounds for germs, especially if you have a number of people in the household using the same computer.
The best advice in terms of keyboard hygiene is, after you’ve turned off the computer, to firstly turn them upside down and gently shake them to dislodge any larger pieces of dirt or remnants of last week’s biscuit that you ate whilst reading the news! If you have any compressed air then this is a good (non-liquid) way to blow out between the keys but do be careful if you use the cans upside down they tend to get very cold and can create water vapour.
Next is to use a damp (not wet) cloth to clean the top of the keys and the mouse all over. I’ve used antiseptic wet wipes before (just wring them out a little before you use them to ensure that they have no droplets of liquid that can get inside). If you have it then rubbing alcohol is a good alternative but don’t pour it directly onto the devices of course.
Once you’ve cleaned everything then leave the keyboard and mouse to fully dry off before turning on the computer again and given that you’ve been touching a dirty keyboard and mouse, go off and wash your hands (remember, happy birthday twice haha!)
You can use the same method for cleaning your monitor, you don’t need to turn it upside down of course but you can blow out any grime in the corners and use a damp (not wet of course) cloth to gently rub the surface making sure that you don’t get any excess liquid inside the screen and of course don’t close the screen or turn on the computer until it’s perfectly dry.