The Covid-19 pandemic brought home the importance of hygiene for all of us. We sanitise our hands before and after shopping, or doing almost anything in public, but often overlook the potential hotspot of bacteria in your pocket, your smartphone that you touch thousands of times per day.
Fortunately, it is actually very easy to keep most of your daily tech items clean and sanitary with the help of a few basic cleaning supplies. Before you start, always check your device’s manual for any cleaning instructions. The last thing you want to do is accidentally scratch or damage the device you’re trying to keep safe from germs.
In general, a soft microfibre cloth coupled with a moderate amount of a tech-friendly isopropyl alcohol based disinfectant will keep your phone, tablet and laptop free from most germs and bacteria. Never use abrasive household cleaning supplies such as window cleaner or ammonia as these are likely to cause damage.
Always be sure to turn off your device before cleaning it, and never apply any fluid directly to the device. Rather dab a small amount of disinfectant onto a clean, soft cloth which you can then use to clean your device and then leave it to air dry completely before plugging your device in or turning it on again.
A tin of compressed air can work wonders to clean out a dusty keyboard, as well as any dust bunnies that have made themselves at home on the air vents at the back of your PC, Playstation or Xbox. Keeping these vents free from dust will make a significant improvement on your device’s cooling ability which can actually make it perform faster. Bonus!
