Mouse and Keyboard Care

Hey UE forum and welcome to my 5th guide, about Keyboard and Mouse Care.

Section 1- Introduction

Section 2- Cleaning & Maintaining Your Keyboard

Section 3- Cleaning & Maintaining Your Mouse

Section 4- Other Tips

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Section 1- Introduction

As well all know, the Keyboard and Mouse are two very important pieces of hardware for our computer. At times, they can become dirty, or dysfunctional, and this quick guide is going to help you avoid those times.

Section 2- Cleaning & Maintaining your Keyboard

Over time, keyboards can become very dusty and sticky, it's natural. People use their keyboards every time they use the computer, so of course there's going to be a little bit of natural buildup now and then.

Here's when you should probably start wanting to clean your keyboard:


You may have noticed this on one of your computers or any computer you have used. This stuff is basically dust and grime, which is made up mostly of the people who use the computer! It's dried skin, hair, and perspiration molecules that are the most common things that form the dust on your keyboard.

Problems caused by dust and grime:
-Sticky Keys: Keys that won't come up or go down properly. Very frustrating.
-Buildup and obstruction of dust molecules: basically, there's so much junk under your keyboard that it's hard to type
-Allergies: I just know this from personal experience, because I have dust allergies. My keyboard was actually making me sneeze before I started regularly cleaning it.
-Spread of disease: Every time you type, you are spreading germs from your sweat, hair, and skin all over the keyboard. Now, the next person who uses the computer is going to get those germs. Not always a big problem, ie you don't have to scrub down the computer at the library, but every once and a while, especially on a computer that lots of people use, it's good to spray it with some disinfectant. - Don't want that swine flu D:

How to keep your keyboard clean, functional & healthy:
-CLEAN your keyboard if it's dirty, before it becomes dysfunctional. Here's a product that does this perfectly:

Keyboard vacuum. Now, there are cheaper, disposable versions of this too, that simply spray air onto your keyboard. You can find these at Staples, etc.
-Don't leave open drinks and runny food around your keyboard! This stuff will absolutely ruin it. If you care about your keyboard, be careful with the food you leave around it. I've seen keyboards ruined by an innocent diet coke D:
- If keys are dusty, wipe them off with lens cleaner and a tissue

- You can also use a conventional dust buster or vacuum cleaner on your dusty keyboard if you can't be bothered to buy a cleaner.

So, if you see that your keyboard is looking pretty grimy right now, why not clean it? It'll look nicer, be healthier, and won't break as easily.

Section 3- Cleaning & Maintaining Your Mouse

There's basically two types of mice that are commonly used now. There's the ball socket mouse:


And the electric sensor mouse:


To clean a ball and socket mouse:
-First, examine the mouse. Is it running smoothly? Does it stop sometimes in the middle of the screen? Does it have dust/grime on it?
If so...
- You can use a keyboard cleaner, dust buster, or vacuum cleaner to get dust out of the right and left clickers. You can also just blow on it or shake it.
-If it's not running smoothly, here's what you do:
1.Turn your mouse upside down.
2. There should be a round rubber ball visible on the bottom with a ring with grips around it, like so:

3. Go ahead and put your fingers on the grips and turn in the direction that the arrows turn. The ring should come off, and the rubber ball should come out:

4. Now, check for dust on the ball, or in the gears of the socket that you took the ball out of. Take it out with your fingers, or blow on it, or use a dust buster to get it out:

5. Now, put the ball back in, put the ring back on the socket, and turn the opposite way. Your mouse should now move faster!

For a electric sensor mouse, you can't do this, but dust isn't going to get caught because there's no ball or socket. To clean a sensor mouse, just blow on it, use a dust buster, or lightly scrub lens cleaner on the surface.


Section 4- Other Tips

-If you have a keyboard case or holder, use it! It'll keep dust and grime off of your keyboard.
-You can also hold your keyboard upside down and shake it to get dust out.
-As I said before, be very careful with liquids, because they do not mix with a keyboard. If your computer survives it, it will be a PAIN to clean.
-For ball and socket cleaning, check your ball and socket maybe once a month, or whenever it feels like it's moving slower.

That's about it, thanks for reading my guide! Hope I helped you a bit. Give some feedback

 

Niced Guide. I Like alot Of your guides .

 

Thanks for that feedback mate:noworry:

 

Cheers, i'm always getting crap stuck between the keys on my keyboard. But what i do is ever so often just get a pen and prise off all the keys on the keyboard and then use an extension on my hoover to clean it out, then wipe it down with a damp cloth