Between TVs, computers, tablets and phones, we spend a lot of our days looking at screens. And I can’t tolerate staring at a dirty screen. While glass touchscreen devices are the easiest to clean, usually getting away with a quick rub on your pants or shirt, laptops and TVs can be very tricky. Of course the best way is to not get it dirty in the first place, but between kids, sneezes and rude-screen-touchers, it happens. Here’s how I clean mine.
I start with two lint-free microfiber cleaning cloths; one damp one dry. First I wipe in circular motion with the damp cloth until I’m confident that I’ve removed all the grime and fingerprints. Then I quickly follow up and dry it with the dry one. On large screens like a TV, it can be necessary to use both cloths at the same time, else parts of the screen might air dry before you get to it, which will leave water spots.
Although I’m happy with the results, I’m curious if I’m doing it the hard way. So how do you clean your screens?
I got a few spray bottles of some cleaner stuff in a multipack from Costco, which came with microfiber cloths. I also had some left over from one of the overpriced solutions the Apple Store sells – or at least sold a few years back. I think the directions for one of them was to use vertical motions, not circular… but maybe I imagined that.
You ever try water to see how it compares to the cleaner? Ever worry about runoff getting inside?
You didn’t mention it, but make sure you use distilled water as tap and bottled water can leave a nasty residue.
Other than that I clean my screens the same way. DLP are notorious for getting smears from chemical cleaners and I don’t have many glass screens. In that case I often just use distilled water and a microfiber cloth.
I suspect the residue from tap water is dependent an the area. I’ve never noticed any, but it might be that I just dry it off quick enough.
Never tried water. At least one something I own said never use water. But I can’t remember which device or TV it was. Then again, in looking at the ingredients of one of my Costo CleanScreen bottles (after having two nephews and a niece visit yesterday and fingerprint up our big TV and iMac), the primary ingredient is “deionized water” – go figure. 🙂