That ball of neon yellow goop, otherwise known as Cyber Clean, is probably the best keyboard cleaning tool out there. It not only gets rid of dust and crumbs, but germs too. But if you're trying to tighten your bootstraps and stick to a budget, there are plenty of cheap alternatives. How cheap? Well, if you can find one of these 5 common things in your apartment, it's free.
Cleaning between your keys doesn't have to cost a cent. Each of these common household things can do double-duty to clear crumbs and spills from your keyboard.
Heck, they can even pull triple-duty to clean through the tight spaces of any of your electronics gear. Check out how to get started with...
A Paintbrush or Makeup Brush
You don't need to buy a "keyboard brush" to dust sandwich crumbs from your keyboard. Just grab a paintbrush or a makeup brush. You'll want to be sure it's really clean, so shampoo makeup brushes well under warm water and clean paintbrushes with a mild soap. Make sure it's completely dry before letting it anywhere near your keyboard—try hanging it upside down to dry for at least 24 hours.
A Toothpick
Have you seen those high-end fancy pants plastic and rubber toothpicks? The ones that have grippy teeth and bend like dentist tools? They're perfect for getting gunk out from in between your keys, as one Lifehacker commenter showed. Although classic straight toothpicks would do in a pinch.
A Cotton Swab
If it can clean your ears, it can clean your keys. Use this to "mop" up any minor spills that may have gotten on your keyboard. But be gentle—you don't want to force any cotton fibers to come off and hang out under your keys.
A Mascara Brush
That fluffy brush at the end of your mascara wand is attached to a really thin wire, making it the perfect tool to get between and under keyboard keys. But just like the makeup brush from above, make sure it's completely clean and dry before going anywhere near your electronics.
Tape or a Sticky Note
If your keyboard is just a little dusty, try getting between the keys with the adhesive side of a strip of tape or a sticky note. Getting every nook and cranny is a little time consuming with this method, but it will be well worth it once you realize you just cleaned your keyboard without getting up from your desk.
(Images: Flickr member iklash licensed for use under Creative Commons, Lifehacker.com, JustAnAsterisk.com, kegogo.com, Real Simple)
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I went to the hardware store and they said the brush wasn't free. I showed them the article but they said no, no, no. Pretty much the same thing happened at the pharmacy for the rest of the items. Which store did you get these things for free? These are 'Good Cleaning Tools from household items.'
Paint brush has always been my favorite. I use it dry, then hit the keyboard with windex-like cleaner, brush again, then wipe down with paper towel. Good as new.
I use old makeup brushes; Q-tips are also really handy. I spray water and vinegar on a paper towel and wipe down the keyboard and screen with that; works great.
Funstraw, have a woman give you some old cosmetics brushes, and get some Q-tips in the meantime. Not free, but not expensive.
I also wanted to add, a magic eraser is a fairly magical tool to use on keyboards and palm rests. I've used them on my Think pad and and old Mac book to great effectiveness.
I would urge anyone considering a purchase of cyber clean to go read reviews first. While it is a nice concept, in reality it's pretty awful crap.
When my keyboard gets bad I remove all the keys, wash them by hand, remove the bubble pad (the thing with the carbon dots on it that makes the keyboard both water resistant, gives the keys spring, and makes the keyboard work) and wipe it down, remove and wipe down the matrix sheet below that, and finally wipe down the inside of the keyboard.
Keyboards aren't hard to take apart and only a little harder to get back together. (Space key anyone?) If you want to get your keyboard totally clean, this is the best way to do it. It takes about an hour, but you can watch a movie while you do it and the keyboard is really like brand new.
I'll also give a shout out to tossing it in the dishwasher, but I've never done it myself because I have an LCD screen in my keyboard. I'm not worried so much about it breaking, but about some water vapor getting behind the plastic and obstructing my view.
I use my air compressor in the garage to get the dust out. It was free for me, not for the man who owns it. :)
If you have crumbs just flip it over, keys down, and give it a couple whacks. You'll have a flat surface to easily clean after that. Keyboards are amazingly hardy.