You know you’re not meant to eat or drink around your computer.
But the reality is that most people do, which is why you have to keep clearing crumbs from underneath your keys.
And the same applies for those greasy marks on your keycaps.
What we’re going to cover today is how you can get rid of grease fast on your keyboard, using products that you likely have in your home.
How does your keyboard get greasy?
There are three possible causes:
- Your skin produces natural oils which are then transferred to your keys. These oils are produced in tiny amounts but it can build up over time. Having greasy fingers doesn’t mean you have poor hygiene though.
- You’re eating greasy foods around your computer and some of them is being accidentally transferred to your keyboard
- Your keyboard is located in a room where airborne grease settles on your keycaps e.g. a kitchen.
Most keyboards are prone to grease and stains, mostly because of the material used to construct them.
Regardless of the actual cause the truth is that over time the more you use your laptop the greasier your keys are going to get.
Oh and if your personal hygiene habits aren’t very good the following steps will need to be repeated on a weekly basis.
How to clean a greasy keyboard
What you’ll need:
You’ll want to start with a microfiber cloth, some rubbing alcohol, and a few cotton balls. You may want to dilute the alcohol to be gentle on materials (especially your mouse pad, adding a few drops of water to it.
What to do:
Step 1: Disconnect
This might be a huge case of stating the blindingly obvious, but the first step is to shut your computer down safely and then disconnect your keyboard from it if you’re using a wired keyboard.
If you’re using a wireless keyboard make sure to remove its internal batteries.
The reason for doing this is that it’s pretty easy to cause an electronic short in a keyboard while cleaning it if the keyboard’s PCB (Printed Circuit Board) is powered on at the time.
Step 2: Turn it upside down
Start by grabbing your keyboard and flipping it upside down, doing so to start shaking any crumbs out.
Tap each side gently a few times to make sure all is loosened up and flip it back over for a quick clean.
Step 3: Dampen a cotton ball
Grab your alcohol and dip your cotton ball in your diluted alcohol, squeezing out the excess so you don’t have alcohol dripping all over the place.
Step 4: Start wiping
Take the cotton ball and swipe it across the keyboard, letting it dry before taking a look. You may want to repeat the process a few times, especially if it was caked up with oil and gunk over a period of several months.
In the worst cases there will be a physical layer of grease mixed with dead human skin cells coating your keycaps and the keyboard case itself.
Step 5: Dry it off
After you’ve given your keyboard a good wipe, grab your microfiber cloth and gently rub it over the keys to make sure that everything has been thoroughly dried.
Step 6: Let it sit
You may want to give your keyboard a few minutes to dry off, allowing it to get some air before you turn it on and start using it again.
Allow at least 5 minutes for your keyboard to “air dry” naturally.
Keyboard spot cleaning tips
If you notice that there are still some grease patches or spots on your keyboard after cleaning it’s time to take a deeper dive into cleaning.
You can spot clean your keyboard by grabbing a Q-tip and getting all those tiny spaces between the keys.
Something I tested recently to clean all the crud from between my keyboard keys is some “slime” cleaning gel.
I thought it was a bit of a novelty item but it actually works really well for cleaning unwanted gunk from those unreachable places on a keyboard.
Things to avoid
Your PC is valuable to you and it cost you more than a few bucks to buy.
Keeping it clean is part of keeping it working well, so make sure you’re not doing anything that could cause permanent damage to it.
Stay away from calcium removers
While calcium and lime removers may be great for cutting grease in the kitchen of the shower, it’s likely far too harsh for something sensitive like keyboards.
Don’t use a dishwasher
You may have seen some computer users on the web placing their keyboards into the dishwasher.
As crazy as it sounds, there are some followers of this trend that swear it works, though the risks totally outweigh the benefits.
Your chances of damaging your keyboard while it’s in the dishwasher are quite high, so it’s better to give this particular “tip” a hard pass.
Don’t use concentrated Isopropyl alcohol
Concentrated alcohol is a strong product that could wind up eating away at the plastic on your keyboard.
This is why you should steer clear of it, only adding non-concentrated, diluted alcohol to your cotton swab when cleansing your keys.
Wrapping things up
So there you have our guide to cleaning grease from your keyboard.
You can cut down on the amount of grease that makes it onto your key caps by not eating greasy foods (fried chicken and pizza…we’re looking at you here) when using your computer.
But if you can’t stop yourself from doing that then your next best bet is to establish a monthly keyboard de-greasing routine and then stick to it.
