How to clean LCD monitor screen.

The following cleaning instructions are meant to be followed in order from start to finish for clean your LCD monitor screen. stop at the step that gets the job done and only proceed if there is still dust or oil on the screen that needs removal.

How to clean LCD monitor screen.

1.Prepare the screen. 

At minimum turn the device off, but ideally you should unplug it. Do not clean a screen until it is cool to the touch. Cleaning warm/hot screens (like those found on plasma HDTVs) makes them more difficult to clean at best and can damage them at worst.

2.Dust the screen. 

Your step in cleaning a screen should always be to remove as much from the screen as possible without actually touching it. To this end a can of compressed air (held upright and at least a foot or more from the screen) can be used to dislodge most electrostatically-adhered dust particles. More ideal than a can of compressed air (which can potentially blast your screen with residual propellant from the can) would be to use a simple rubber dusting bulb (much like the kind we used to clean out a DSLR camera). Remember, the less you touch your screen the better.

3.Lightly wipe the screen with a dry and clean microfiber cloth. 

Microfiber is a miracle of modern technology; put it to good use. No paper towels, no kitchen towels, no household rags; only microfiber should touch your screen. For stubborn dust that won’t blow off the screen and the occasional fingerprint, a simple pass with a clean and dry microfiber cloth is  usually sufficient.

4.When wiping the screen, always avoid making circular “buffing” motions.

 Clean with a slow and light touch moving in as broad a motion as you can either left to right or up and down across the screen. Although the microfiber should pose little to no risk to the screen, by avoiding cleaning in small circular motions you avoid the risk of creating buffed out spots or whorl marks on the surface of the screen. Light pressure and wide movements are the safest.

5.Lightly wipe the screen with a microfiber cloth dampened with distilled water.

 While microfiber is usually quite good at lifting up the dust and oil on its own, if you need some extra cleaning power feel free to slightly dampen the the cloth with distilled water (avoid tap water as it can leave mineral deposits and film on the screen). Distilled water is available at your local grocer and is commonly used for humidifiers and irons. The cloth should be damp enough that it feels wet to the touch but not so damp that any water could be wrung out of it. Remember: you don’t want a single drop of water running down your screen and getting inside the bezel.

6.Lightly wipe the screen with a microfiber cloth dampened with a 50/50 distilled water and white vinegar mixture. 

For 99% of your everyday dust and finger prints, a damp microfiber cloth will save the day. But let’s say that’s not cutting it because your kid tried to feed Big Bird a piece of peanut butter coated toast through the television set. This is where having an additional cleaning agent to cut through the grime is necessary. Alcohol and ammonia are out, but a mixture of 50% distilled water and 50% white household vinegar is in.

After diluting the mixture down and lightly dampening your microfiber cloth, use the same light pressure and wide movements we previously discussed. There’s no need to follow the vinegar mixture with plain water or a dry microfiber cloth (unless of course you made the screen too damp — wipe up any excess moisture with a dry microfiber cloth immediately).

Don't do following things for your monitor

Don't apply cleaning fluid directly to the screen. 

Spraying cleaning fluid directly onto your monitor or HDTV is an absolute recipe for disaster. Even though it has never been recommended to spray a cleaning product directly onto a monitor or television set, historically the CRT component of monitors and television sets was essentially a giant glass vessel that was, at least when approached from the front with a spray bottle, water tight. The chances of you damaging a 2″ thick  1980s-era glass  monitor screen with a quick blast of cleaning fluid and a wipe with a rag were as close to zero as you can get.

That’s absolutely not the case with modern screens. Flat screen monitors and HDTV sets are made with layer upon layer of material including various plastics, glasses, adhesives, arrays of display elements, and other fine and very thin materials. When liquid touches the edge of these finely layered screens that liquid can very easily wick, via capillary action, right up inside the layers just like water quickly moves across a piece of cloth that touches it.

The photo at the start of this section, with the horrible black blob in the corner of the monitor, is an example of what happens when liquid reaches the edge of a monitor’s display panel and wicks up inside. Although the damaged spot may shrink slightly, the chances of the liquid evaporating are next to zero and the chances of it evaporating without leaving residual damage are zero.

Don't use alcohol or ammonia-based cleaning fluid on your screen. 

We understand why many people use window cleaner on their monitors, many high-end flat screen computer monitors and HDTV sets have a nice glossy glass screen. The problem, however, is that both ammonia-based cleaners (e.g. window cleaners like Windex) and alcohol-based cleaners (diluted rubbing alcohol or specialty alcohol cleaners sold in electronics stores) can strip anti-reflective coatings off screens, cause clouding, or otherwise damage the screen. Even if you have a glossy glass screen, that screen is most likely coated with things that aren’t as durable and chemically resistant as glass. Don’t risk using using alcohol or ammonia-based cleaning fluids.

Don't use paper towels or general purpose cleaning rags. 

At the risk of sounding like we’re repeating the same caution over and over again–modern displays are very delicate. Paper towels are not designed for cleaning delicate surfaces, they’re designed for wiping up bacon grease and hairballs; the surface of paper towel, on a microscopic level, is fairly abrasive and can lead to buffed spots and scratches on your monitor. In the same league as paper towels are general purpose rags from around the house. A single tiny spec of anything abrasive in the rag (e.g. a tiny sliver of metal from the garage or a hitch hiking grain of sand from a beach trip) will wreak complete havoc on your screen. By the time you’ve made a pass or two with the tainted rag, you’ve already left a scratch in the screen.

If you can steadfastly obey these three rules: never spray on the screen itself, never use harsh ammonia/alcohol-based cleaners, and never use paper towels or household rags, you’ll automatically avoid just about every cleaning-related tragedy that could befall an unsuspecting monitor.