Now that you’ve tackled your desk and it’s a thing of organized beauty, move on to the tool you likely use the most, but regularly neglect at work: your desktop or laptop computer.
Start by taking a good look at the screen and keyboard. See all the fingerprints, splatters, grime and dust? It’s no wonder many of us get sick at the office. Keyboards and screens are a magnet for bacteria and dirt, yet seldom do we take the time to clean them.
Be gone, grime and grunge!
There are right ways and wrong ways to clean these two components. Whatever you do, don’t use a soapy, wet cloth or spray a commercial cleaning product directly on your screen or between keys. Try these ideas instead:
First, unplug your keyboard. There’s no point getting electrocuted.
Turn the keyboard upside down and shake it gently to dislodge any crumbs or other treasures. Blast it with a can of pressurized air, if you have one. If your office vacuum is available, try using the upholstery attachment to suck up any loose particles. Then remove the dust stuck on the sides of the keys with a soft brush (an old toothbrush will work) or cotton swab.
Next, get rid of the grime (and germs) by dipping a cotton swab into some rubbing alcohol, and then carefully swipe each key. Be careful to not splash the cleaner directly onto the keys or saturate them. Even if you wipe only a few at a time, the job will eventually get done. Taking short cuts and rushing things could compromise your keyboard’s performance!
To clean your monitor, use a soft cloth instead of paper towels to avoid minuscule scratches that may affect the readability of your screen. Rubbing alcohol, added onto the cloth and not directly to the screen, should take care of any stubborn marks. There are also commercial wet cloths designed for this specific task. Don’t forget to clean the back of your monitor too – it’s a catch-all for dust.
Delete, delete, delete
It’s amazing how much electronic junk we keep. Last week we threw out old, dated and duplicate paperwork. This week, do the same by scrolling through your inbox and folders. After checking your company policy on file retention, be ruthless with the rest. Do you really need to keep the entire email thread of a discussion that went back and forth several times? Consider keeping the final email, with all attachments, and delete the others. Scroll through your folders and delete any outdated project notes, chatty emails, reminders, and other communications you won’t need in the future. Keep final reports, but discard the notes, drafts and Word or Pages files that wouldn’t mean anything to anyone else anyway.
Pretend today is your last day at the office. What’s on your computer that you wouldn’t want anyone else to read? It’s a good idea not to keep jokes, comments between friends, drafts you’re glad you didn’t send, and anything not directly relevant to your job. It just takes up space and is actually fair game for your employer to read, in most cases.
We hope these suggestions get you started and now refer you to the many online sites offering more ideas on maintaining your system. Learn how to pop off keyboard keys safely for a deep clean, look after your mouse properly, and find more email and file management tips.