Clean Your LCD Monitors Correctly

Through the course of daily use, computer monitor LCD's gather dust and dirt which can be harmful. It is important to remove it routinely, but there is a right way and a wrong way to do this. Make sure you clean your screens right, or you'll risk doing more harm than good.

Use a soft lint-free cloth to gently brush away dust. Pay special attention to the edges of the screen, taking care not to let any dust fall between the screen and its plastic casing. If dust gets into the plastic casing, it can get behind the LCD and potentially damage it.

If necessary, use a non-abrasive liquid cleaner on the cloth. A diluted solution of isopropyl alcohol (no greater than 50% solution) usually works well. This will help eliminate grease spots on the surface of the lcd screen without damaging the underlying components. If you don't have a cleaner nearby, use water - preferably filtered.

Don't push hard on the screen. Doing so can easily damage the sensitive parts beneath the surface. If you push hard enough, you can kill pixels, the tiny sections of the screen which change their color to create an image. If you damage a pixel, it may no longer light up - leaving a dead, black spot in your screen. If this happens, the only way to fix it is to replace the screen - which no one wants to have to do.

* Distilled water works great for diluting isopropyl alcohol.

* NEVER use an abrasive cleaner on your screen

* ALWAYS be gentle. Don't push too hard or you will damage the core components of your LCD

* Make sure not to use an alcohol solution greater than 50%