5 Tips for Cleaning your Tech during COVID-19

In this time of crisis where people are buying up hand sanitizer and cleaning supplies en mass, the question becomes, we’ve Sanitized our hands, but what about our technology? With so much emphasis on Social distancing, we still need to think about the things we touch regularly. Our Phones, our keyboards, our tablets, all of these things need cleaning anyway but making sure that they stay clean in a situation where the germs or whatever could lead to COVID-19 is especially important.

1) Pick up some Screen cleaner – Walk into any office supply store, and you’ll be able to find it. What I usually do when I’m cleaning my screens (Tablet and phone) is I will give the screen a couple of quick sprays of cleaner and then immediately wipe it off with a microfibre cloth. If your device is not waterproof or you’re concerned about spraying your device around where any buttons are, then spraying one part of the cloth, wiping with it and then wiping again with a dry side of the cloth to clean the device is also an excellent way to go. If you don’t have screen cleaner and/or microfibre cloths, Glasses cleaner and a paper towel will work just as well

2) Take your phone out of your case – Some of the phone cases that I have seen out there are slim, super slim. Despite all that, I can still find some form of grime in my cases when I take them off my phone. It’s important to make sure that you take your phone out of its case every once and a while and wipe down the inside of the case. This will prevent any germs from building on the phone, which you put to your face when you’re making a call.

3) Clean your Keyboard – Something that a former colleague of mine showed me a while ago when we were working together is that Keyboards can get gross. We all spend so much time in front of a keyboard. There is eventually going to be a multitude of dust that gets dropped in between the keys. This is because dust (as we know) is just dead skin which falls off your fingers into the keyboard. For those of us (Yes, I’m amongst them) who eat while we work, there can also be some small food crumbs that find their way into the keyboard. I’ll be honest, I didn’t believe the guy who told me about this when he first told me, but then he picked up the keyboard at my desk and said “See, like this.” and flipped the keyboard over and shook it. I was embarrassed for the rest of the day with how much dust, crumbs, and (if I’m honest) even a paperclip fell out. From then on, I was much more meticulous about keeping my keyboard clean. For those of you worried about maintaining the keys clean, you can take a Lysol wipe and wipe it across the keyboard before and after use. That way, it will stay fresh, certainly for the next person who is going to be using it if it’s a communal keyboard. If you want to do a deeper clean, you can get a can of compressed air (Again at an Office Supply store) and get in between the keys with SHORT bursts of air. I want to emphasize SHORT BURSTS because you keep the air flowing for too long the compressed air canister can become….unstable. There are warnings to this effect on the side of most cans. I typically hold the button down for less than 2 seconds at a time.

4) Clean your Mouse and wrist rests – Where do you keep the palm of your hand for most of the time that you’re using your computer….yeah, me too. Luckily the Mouse is a lot easier to clean, and a quick swipe with a cleaning wipe of some variety will generally do the trick. For both your Mouse and your Wrist rest (if you have one), keeping them clean is a simple and easy way to make sure that you aren’t transmitting or receiving any virus.

5) Keep an eye out for Phishing e-mails – I know how concerned people are about COVID-19, but I felt it was my responsibility to talk real quick about another kind of Virus. Because Phishers never miss an opportunity to exploit people, There have been reports of people getting “Click here for your local or latest COVID-19 information” style e-mails. Some of these are Phishing attempts. It’s essential, therefore, to make sure that you continue to keep an eye out for Phishing e-mails that are disguising themselves as COVID-19 information e-mails. If you have read my blog for a while, you will know some of the tips that I use to prevent phishing e-mails. Make sure the e-mail address is correct, check for Grammar and spelling, and be especially wary of fear-inducing e-mails. These are e-mails that will have text or subject lines like “WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE IF YOU DON’T CLICK THIS LINK!!!!” They are trying to induce panic, and we’ve got enough of that going around as it is.

It’s essential to keep our health in front of mind at all times right now. Part of that is making sure that the surfaces that we touch regularly are kept clean. This includes your technology mainly if you are using communal technology that more than you use. Things like a home computer that the family uses or even something like the remote control are great examples of things everyone uses. It’s a good idea to take steps to keep your technology clean. Taking these simple steps will make it so that you don’t spread COVID-19.

Stay healthy, everyone! We’ll get through this.

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