Welcome to Tech Support Tuesday.  The first Tuesday of each month we’ll be sharing tips on how to keep your system running and “unique” experiences from both sides of the Tech Support spectrum.  If you have a tip or you’ve had a strange (let’s just call them unique) experience with a Tech Support person or someone who’s called you for support; drop me a note and I’ll include it in the next episode.  If you share a unique story please make sure it’s a real story, no third party stories or Urban Legends.  This month we’ll complete our series for “Keep it Clean” with the final installment.  If you missed the first two parts in the series you can find them here:

Keep it Clean – Keyboards and Monitors and Mice, Oh My!

Keep it Clean – Don’t Box me in!

So without further ado:

In our previous posts, Keep it Clean 1 and 2, we showed you how to keep your desktop system clean.  Today we’ll show you some quick simple tips for keeping your mobile devices clean and tidy.  Here is what you’ll need:

• Compressed Air -1 to 2 cans
• Eye Glass lens cleaning kit (you can purchase one at your local pharmacy)
• Microfiber cloth
• Cotton Swabs/Q-Tips
• Rubbing Alcohol
• Flat Screen TV Cleaner kit
  These usually comes with a Micro-Fiber cloth, if not you can pick one up at your local store.
• A set of Jewelers screw drivers ( you can purchase them at your local hardware store)

Before you start this process makes sure to TURN OFF THE COMPUTER and UN-PLUG IT FROM THE ELECTRICAL OUTLET.  Whenever you’re working on an electrical device, please, please, please make sure it is disconnected from the power source to avoid electrocution.

Tablets, Phablets, Phones and Phameras

Probably the easiest to clean and will also be in need of a cleaning the most often.

• Using the Eye Glass cleaning kit, spray the cloth with the solution and wipe the screen.
• Do the same for the Camera Lens. If the camera lens is a little difficult to get at, dampen a Q-Tip with the glass cleaning solution and use it on the camera lens.

The nice thing about using a Eye Glass Lens Cleaning Kit is you can take it anywhere with you, Put it in your Briefcase, Handbag etc.

Laptops, Netbooks and Notebooks

These take a little more care when cleaning, especially when you get to the guts.

• Clean the keyboard with a damp Microfiber cloth.  Do Not remove the keys.  These are usually attached with a special latch and can break easily.
• The screen can be cleaned with the Flat Screen TV Cleaner as in the previous post, Keep it Clean 1, make sure to use the solution on the cloth and NOT on the screen directly.

Wipe monitor with micro-fiber cltoh

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• Use the compressed air to clean around the vents on the side and underneath.

Laptop Vent

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Cleaning the Inside

Certain laptops, netbooks and notebooks will have panels to access the memory and hard drive that can be removed with a screwdriver.  Please remember not all will have these areas accessible.

• Using the Jewelers screw driver remove the cover plates.

Remove Panel

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• Use the compressed air to remove any dust or dirt. DO NOT REMOVE any of the items within the system.

Clean around the insides

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• Reattach the cover plates

Finally!!

That’s it folks!  Thanks for reading!!  Remember:  Don’t be Mean…Keep it Clean