Keyboards can be pretty disgusting. Apart from looking bad and being covered with germs, some of that dirt can prevent them from working well. A few years ago I took a very drastic step to get a keyboard clean. If you don’t remember it, check out What Happens When You Put a Keyboard in the Dishwasher? Today I’m going to share something a bit less drastic. There will be a link to purchase at the best price Amazon offers while I get a puny commission.

Let’s start with the basics of cleaning a keyboard, either desktop or a laptop. Turn it upside down and lightly hit the back of it to knock out dust, crumbs and other stuff that might be in there. The next step would be carefully using a can of compressed air to blow out more junk. Maybe you should even invest in an electric air duster.

Using those first two options can get out some of the junk, but something else may be required and that’s where you’ll want some cleaning gel. This neon yellow goo can grab the resistant pieces of junk in your keyboard and get them out. It can be used multiple times, but won’t last forever if you grab a lot of junk with it. The neon color will turn more gray and you’ll know it is time for it to go.

If you go through each of the cleaning steps listed above, you should find your keyboard revitalized. These steps can’t fix everything and eventually you may need to get a new keyboard. As a last resort, you can even try your desktop keyboard in a dishwasher. Just know that while they may bring it back to life, it may also kill it.