How to wipe your monitor so you don’t have to buy a new one: 5 ironclad rules

I would like to warn those who wipe the monitor with improvised means. It could burn out at any moment. Especially if you use all sorts of sprays and wet rags. If this hasn't happened yet, consider yourself lucky. My luck lasted for 7 long years after purchasing the LCD monitor. But one ill-fated day, after the usual cleaning, I noticed a huge stain on the bottom of the screen. By evening it spread even more. Blow drying did not work. The next day the monitor stopped turning on completely.

The service center told me how to properly wipe the monitor

Today, monitors are considered to be human eyes. Read the news, leaf through a book, watch a movie, chat with relatives in another city, send a report to work - everything is done with their help. Therefore, when, after unsuccessful wiping, the monitor died for a long time, I felt helpless. I packed it and ran to the service center.

The specialist's verdict was disappointing: change the matrix or buy a new monitor.

The amount of repairs announced was fabulous. After looking at the prices for new monitors, I realized that it makes no sense to repair the old one. The difference in cost is 100 USD, and at the same time you will have to wait 14 days for your old man from the service. Seeing my hesitation, the master strengthened my decision to go to the computer store. Moreover, he gave parting words: “At least now wipe the new monitor properly.”He said that people contact him with this problem several times a week.

His words: “People don’t know how to use technology. We are used to the fact that CRT monitors can be washed with a regular cloth and even detergents. They will endure it due to the fact that the screen is glass and cannot be pressed through. It does not have important contacts at the frame. LCD monitors require careful handling. You need to wipe them with an almost dry cloth, very gently and carefully. I absolutely do not recommend using sprays.”

5 basic rules

I won’t write platitudes such as that the monitor should be turned off before wiping so that all dust and dirt are more visible.

I’ll immediately move on to the rules that will help you wipe the monitor effectively and without harm (from a specialist’s story):

1. Brush off dust regularly - every day before turning on your PC or laptop. You can use a pidaster to avoid leaving streaks or a dry cloth. Then you will have to wipe it with special products less often.
2. Use special napkins. They are lint-free, impregnated with safe compounds, and remove dirt and dust without streaks. The use of other means may be dangerous for the equipment.
3. Do not try to “pick out” stuck dirt with your fingernail, do not use brushes, sponges with a hard surface, a towel or other rough things. To remove solid debris, just apply a napkin to it, hold it for a few seconds and wipe it off.
4. Avoid pressing on the screen. The monitor of an LCD monitor consists of a “sandwich” of films, plastic and liquid crystals. You can easily damage it - the “sandwich” will begin to delaminate, the matrix will be damaged, etc.
5. If you use special sprays, you need to spray them only on a napkin.Not on the monitor! In this case, you need to do no more than 1-2 sprays so that the napkin does not turn out to be too wet and does not ooze liquid.

My mistake was that I sprayed window cleaning liquid directly onto the monitor (it’s faster this way). The product was new and produced an unexpectedly powerful stream. I quickly wiped everything down. But it turned out that some of the liquid flowed into the matrix into a micro-gap near the frame. Almost all monitors have gaps, which is why it is recommended to use special equipment.

What means can be used to wipe the monitor?

When I bought my first LCD monitor, they gave it a special spray, wet wipes and dry wipes. And when they ran out, I switched to what was at hand: ordinary paper napkins (I don’t recommend them, they leave garbage behind), cotton pads, window cleaning spray, all sorts of rags, water and a lot of other things.

Although experts do not recommend using improvised means to care for the monitor, I still don’t see anything wrong with:

1. Wipe off dust and fingerprints with a velvet cloth. I order these sets of rags on Aliexpress for my wife. Very soft, do not fade, and perfectly remove greasy marks, debris and dust. They don't leave streaks.
2. Use regular wet hand wipes instead of special ones.
3. Wipe the monitor with a cotton pad and a drop of window cleaner. Almost all of them have an antistatic effect. Dust does not appear on the screen for a long time!

As a last resort, you can take some soft material and moisten it a little with some water. The main thing is not to use anything caustic, liquid or powerful. No acetone, bleach, or solvents (I think this is already clear).

If someone had told me a month ago that I was wiping the monitor incorrectly, they would have laughed: “What will happen to him?!” So I wouldn’t be surprised if readers react the same way. Well, my job is to warn. Still, buying a new monitor is not like going to the market to buy potatoes. It’s good that I had the required amount in my stash.