How to Clean a Laptop Screen With Household Products

If you are like me, your laptop screen gets dirty, smeared, gunky, and full of fingerprints. And thats not even all.

But how to clean it without ruining your laptop? Surely there is something in your home that can clean it properly and wont damage the screen.

Yes there is, and this instructable will show you what to use.

Step 1 What you need

• Vinegar or Isopropyl alcohol (Rubbing alcohol) (I am using Isopropyl Alcohol, but the mixture amounts are the same for them both)
• Distilled water
• A soft cotton cloth (a terry towel)
• 1 bottle sprayer

Notes/Warnings

NEVER drink isopropyl alcohol. You will get sick and have to have your stomach pumped or have activated charcoal administered.

Do not use paper towels, they are made with wood fiber and can scratch the LCD screen. Not even 100% Recycled. Just Dont.

Avoid using products such as Windex because these contain ammonia and it can degrade the LCD panel.

Using a lint-free microfiber cloth is best, an "old T-shirt" or other soft cloth can introduce dust and lint which may be detrimental to the computer itself.

If in doubt, test a small area of screen first.

Comments

[ressing1]

Using the Salting Out method leaves some salt in the alcohol. This may not work well for cleaning LCDs.

[jqfive]

i dont know about vinegar and alchohol, i rather stick to clean distilled water and a nice soft 100 percent cotton cloth. it works for me .

[carrierpilot1357]

does it matter if the screen is matte or glossy?

[Cmos4081]

Never do this with the LCD monitor or Laptop on. Always power them off first!

[agis68]

Alcohol like the ethyl alcohol...can damage some kind of surfaces that react to alcohol. Surfaces like that are rubber keys and classic keyboards. Why? because underneath the keyboard has graphite as contacts. The graphite with Alcohol is diluted and makes a mug that makes keys after some days to stick like glue....(forgive my bad English) Isopropyl Alcohol might be ok, but always use it with gloves and respiratory filter because the fumes are lethal. The best ever to clean your PC or Laptop is worm water (30-35 C) with a soft cotton cloth. No clean paper from the kitchen because contains pieces of glass to maintain hard work. A piece of cotton or from cloth is ok....and remember the TFT screens doesn't like much pressure....

[laminterious]

Where do you come by the information that the fumes of isoprophyl are lethal???

[agis68]

look at googlehttp://scholar.google.gr/scholar?q=isopropyl+alcohol+fumes&hl=el&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:el:official&hs=yIq&um=1&ie=UTF-8&oi=scholart

[laminterious]

still looking, because none of those links on the google search shows that isoprophyl fumes are lethal. Why dont you actually do the leg work and prove it.

[slimguy379]

i repair electronics as a part time job and i go through rubbing alcohol like its candy.....

[LinuxH4x0r]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! alcohol can discolor some screens!

[static]

But alcohol isn't always alcohol. I understand that ethyl alcohol shouldn't be used but, isopropyl alcohol is OK. Of course everyone needs to decide for themselves what risks there are.

[keng]

I'm with the penguin on this....no chemicals at all....just water and this cloth
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EFAOD4

[laminterious]

Using just water alone can and will work. However, if your screen is pretty dirty (as my wife's was) then using just water may cause you to push harder against the screen to get more of the dirt off, which can cause damage. Also, using just water, you run the risk of water and moisture getting inside your case and behind the screen itself. By using isopropyl alcohol, if that were to happen, it will evaporate quickly, with a much lower chance to ruin your electronics.

[keng]

"...you run the risk of water and moisture getting inside your case and behind the screen itself." that would never happen if you do it correctly by dampening the cloth rather than dampening the screen. 80)

[laminterious]

Well, the main worry is that you dampen the cloth too much, to cause excess water. It's a fine line, hence why I would prefer isopropyl, you lessen that risk by alot. Even if you over saturate the cloth.

[LinuxH4x0r]

Yep. I use a similar one I got with my mac

[laminterious]

Not rubbing alcohol that is diluted to 50/50. Normal alcohol can and will, and there is a chance that just plain isopropyl will as well, which is why you dilute it. It adds a bit of astringent to the water as well as making it dry quick. Another thing, you are not supposed to press hard at all... cleaning the LCD screens is supposed to be nice and gentle.

[static]

I see why your are the winner. Others didn't point out that "rubbing alcohol" contains more than isopropyl alcohol and water.

[Tester5000]

OOPS, I forgot step 1, and electrocuted the cat lying on the sofa... my coffee was hot again though!

[alvie]

1) Turn off the laptop or monitor. 2) Wet a small (3 or 4 inch) sponge with tap water, add 3 or 4 drops of liquid dish washing soap (non toxic & biodegradable preferred). 3) Rub all over the screen. Look from the side to see the greasy spots and get them off. The sponge shouldn't drip, you don't want to get water into the screen. 4) Rinse the sponge well, wipe the screen with end-to-end horizontal swipes from the top. Use just enough pressure to pick up the soap from the screen, so the screen is almost dry behind the sponge. Use a different edge of the sponge for each swipe, and rinse the sponge again in running tap water when you run out of clean edges. 5) Repeat with vertical wipes, top to bottom. Done. No drying needed. Distilled water is overkill, if you use the correct pressure on the sponge it will pick up 99% of the water with anything dissolved in it. Same goes for alcohol, as regular dish washing soap is more than enough for this job and there's no risk of damaging the coating. Enjoy!

[chergingerl]

:) YOU must not have tap water like ours! (Ours comes with more scrubbing power (particles) than a cleanser! LOL)

[TamarGirl]

I've only ever used vinegar diluted in filtered water. Works wonderfully. Now I've got the gals at work using it on their screens, too.

[laminterious]

Yup, as I mentioned, vinegar works just as well. I just dont like the smell of vinegar, so I use isopropyl alcohol instead.

[killerjackalope]

Another source of lint free cloths is the one that comes with plasma TVs it's the same kind of clother used for lenses and whatnot, for some reason you're not supposed to touch the actual screen and water is only safe but should only be used when necessary, damage will occur otherwise, bottom line the cloth you get is safe for LCDs if you have a glass fronted LCD you have less to worry about though. Good instructable, lots of smart safe tips, I've made the mistake of marking and LCD screen with a paper towel before, I just didn't think about it and it does make marks on the screen.

[laminterious]

Ahh, I didnt think about those, I will add it, thanks! You are not supposed to touch the screens because even slight pressure from a finger can screw up the pixels.

[killerjackalope]

Yeah but it's odd you'd think they'd just glass front them...

[laminterious]

Yea I know... but another aspect to our "Buy, use, break a small part, and throw away." culture. I have a sneaking suspicion they dont add glass to some to increase the rate of people breaking/ruining them. Sadly.

[killerjackalope]

No point in doing that, for items like that the price of insurance for three years is £10 we bought it, covers everything including knocking it over and apparently natural disasters... About a wekk after we got it my gf at the time rolled in to it in the office chair she had trouble getting balance on, no damage despite some thump from the chair corner, accompanied by a few seconds of ominous rocking back and forward...

[laminterious]

Huh... my insurance didnt cover squat.

[killerjackalope]

You mean the warranty... they call part of it insurance though it's really the manufacturers warranty, that and if you complain about it they just give in, the companies have enough money to shut you up by giving you a new one, we have a succession of PS2's to prove it, we made them renew the insurance each time we were given a new one, hence we now have a total of four... all of which ended up working mostly, one is perfectly fine, one only plays games, one grumps a bit but works and the other is just a little broken in general...