Phase Four :: Polishing your Peripherals

Keyboard

Hold the keyboard at a 90 degree angle, take the canned air and blow all the dust off. Then wipe down the keyboard with a paper towel or two.

Longer Method

The long method includes popping off the keys, blowing the dust out while vacuuming, wiping down with paper towels and making sure you unstuck everyone of those stuck keys. Good luck!

Mouse, Mouse Pad & Joystick

The mouse should need nothing more than a good wipe down. If it needs anything else, defer to the crowbar. You can do this easily with a paper towel and a little bit of glass cleaner. If something is stuck or doesn't seem to be coming off, rub with more pressure and for longer, but do not apply more glass cleaner than is necessary to wet the paper towel. Excess fluid could enter the mouse and render it useless.

Monitor

CRT - Glass cleaner and a paper towel will solve all your woes. Give the top and sides a good wipe down
LCD - Use the glass cleaner on the plastic, but for the screen use the Isopropyl Alcohol. Anything else will damage the screen.

Phase 5 :: The Cleanup and Prevention

Now is the time to throw away all the used disposable stuff. Bring your computer back over to its normal place. Connect all the cables and power back up. Put away your mom’s cleaning supplies.

Now let’s cover some prevention steps so that mom doesn’t have to buy stock in cleaning supply companies.

• Filters: These bad boys should be installed on any intake fans you have. These will keep the dust out and the air in. Now the dust will accumulate outside the case around the filter, but the glory of it is you only have to wipe that part off.
• Keep the case elevated. Nothing is a better provider of dust than carpet. So why would you put your computer on the carpet. Put it on your desk to at least on top of some books. This should keep the dust sucking to a minimum.
• Try not to eat around your computer or if you do keep a towel or something nearby to wipe you hands off. This will keep grease and crumbs from getting on or in your keyboard.
• Do not turn your vacuum from suck to blow while you have your computer open.

To make the job quicker next time you should add thumbscrews to your setup and filters to your fans. Should make things go a lot easier.