How to give your gadgets a spring cleaning

Spring is in the air, but germs are lurking in your gadgets. After all, it’s been a long winter of slurping soup and crumbling crackers over your keyboard, welcoming bacteria to get cozy in the places where you frequently place your fingertips. Studies have shown that infection-causing E-coli, Staphylococcus aureus, dirt, and fecal matter are hanging out on your tech devices. Unsettling, isn’t it? It’s time to embrace your inner germaphobe and scrub down those electronics. Below are tips on how to do away with screen smudge, crumby keyboards, and other sorts of grime clinging to your everyday devices.

Smartphone and tablet

In today’s tech heavy world, chances are you’ve taken your smartphone or tablet into less-than-sanitary conditions, such as to the bathroom. Before exiting, you wash your hands, but then pick up your phone or tablet, along with all of the germs that have attached to it. Because of scenarios such as this, it’s become a fact that mobile phones tend to carry 10 times the amount of bacteria than the average toilet seat.

With that said, it’s time to get your devices sparkling. To clean a phone or tablet that does not have a screen protector, you must be extra careful, since it might have an oleophobic (fingerprint-resistant) coating that could come off. The gentlest way to clean the device is to take distilled water, a microfiber cloth, and cotton swabs, and wipe it down, while using the cotton swabs to clean around the crevices.

If your device has a screen protector, gather isopropyl alcohol, distilled water, a spray bottle, and a microfiber cloth. Pour one part alcohol and one part water into the bottle and spritz your phone with a tiny bit of the solution, and wipe it clean with the microfiber cloth.

Also note that if possible, remove your device's battery before cleaning.

If you’d like to keep your phone clean on a daily basis, keep wipes such as Wireless Wipes handy.

Laptop

If you often travel with your laptop, it sure has been given the opportunity to pick up some nasty unwanted visitors. To clean it, first turn it upside-down and gently shake out the keyboard to rid it of the largest and most obvious dirt and crumbs. Then grab a can of compressed air and give the spaces beneath the keys a blast.

Next, make sure your laptop is not plugged in, and remove the battery. Dampen a microfiber cleaning cloth and go over all of the plastic or metal surfaces. To clean the screen, use a product made for the job, such as the Belkin LCD Display Cleaner, along with a microfiber cloth that will prevent streaks that other cleaners can leave behind.

Desktop

To wipe away the gunk that’s accumulated on your computer monitor’s screen, use a soft cloth dampened with distilled water or the same display cleaner you’d use on a laptop. As for the plastic parts around it, spritz on some window cleaner or water and wash it away with a cloth. The same goes for your tower.

Since you’ve probably gotten into the habit of eating over your keyboard, shake your keyboard out over a trash can, and use a can of compressed air to shoot out any crumbs or dirt that may be lurking under the keys. Then get a damp cloth and go over the keys with it, and use a cotton swab to clean between the crevices. If your keyboard is particularly messy, mix a solution of one part isopropyl alcohol to one part water and use it on the cloth and cotton swabs as you clean.

Because your mouse spends its time cruising across your desk, it can track plenty of dirt. Use the same half-alcohol and half-water solution and dab it on a cotton swab, then run it over the feet of the mouse and through any cracks and crevices. Go over the cord and the body of the mouse with a cloth dampened in the same cleaning solution.

Fitness tracker

A good fitness tracker can get you to sweat, but that also means it gets sweaty, too. Because it’s meant to join you in your exercise routine, fitness trackers can stand a bit of moisture. To clean it, mix together some dish detergent and water and go over it with the solution using a soft cloth. Follow up with a cloth dampened with water and it should be good as new.