After spending your hard earned cash on a notebook pc, and relying on it in a variety of ways, some time should be spent looking after your investment to make it work more efficiently, and to prolong its life.

The Screen

There are several notebooks that come with a handy cleaning cloth. If not, ask your local pc store about a spray or what is best for cleaning the display. Store-bought household cleaners, obviously, are verboten. Use a damp cloth if AND ONLY IF your budget cannot even afford a special cleaning agent for laptops. Always power down and unplug the machine before beginning the cleaning process.

Since you do not want any type cleaner infiltrating the circuitry, when using a spray make sure you are not aiming at the screen directly. Instead, spray a small amount onto a soft cloth and then very carefully wipe the screen. Do not apply too much pressure. The type of cloth you use is very important, as tissue paper or wool could leave some fibers behind or probably scratch or nick the screen. The best type of cloth to use is something similar to the cloth you use to clean your sunglasses.

The Battery

If you are either planning to use AC power as the standard power source for your laptop, or if you are not going to be using it for some time, then remove the battery. A good maintenance technique for those who are wanting to use AC power most of the time when using their notebook would be to run down the battery complete then recharge it completely -- do this technique once a week.

The Keyboard

As time passes, dust, dirt, food crumbs and all sorts of miscellaneous debris may accumulate on your keyboard. And after even more time, the rubbish might jam between the keys and actuators, and such "jam session" would likely lead to inaccurate, sloppy typing.

A useful tip in removing buildup in the keyboard would be to first power down the notebook, open it up so that the screen is turned up, then turn the laptop upside down. Being very gentle, shake it sideways a couple of times and tap on the underside and around the edges of the case. This should remove some of the larger particles.

If you want to take it one step further, you could try using a can of compressed air to blast away the dust etc. Just be careful you don't jam objects in place even tighter.

Use a moistened cloth with a bit of water and no lint to clean the keys on the keyboard. Be sure that you aren't using a lot of water -- in fact, a very moderate amount to avoid the water penetrating the circuitry.

The Chassis

To clean the chassis on your laptop and keep it tidy, we strongly suggest giving the manufacturer a call, asking for tech, and having a representative talk you through how to clean your specific model. The reason for this is there are so many different types of materials used in the making of cases.