How do you clean your keyboard. In the past we have put it through the dishwasher....it came out clean and worked fine. But today I would be afraid to do that. I use a q-tip get between the keys but how do you get under the keys.
Also, where do you export you address book and favorites to? Bad grammar. LOL

Betty, I use "canned air". Really, air in a spray can, with one of those long thin tubes. Lots of crap comes out of the keyboard when you blow air in at one corner! I do it from every corner.

Personally, I still have an a drive. I have a floppy disk I have my bookmarks and my address book on. I also have them on my hard drive, in a folder I set up for this.

I lost my addresses once, and had to put them all back in. Now a days with over 700 addresses, I don't ever want to do this again.

Moni

Thanks Moni. I am going to do that.

Thanks Moni! I saved my Firefox bookmarks. I've lost them way too many times and it was such a pain to build them all over again.

Sue

My computer is old and I lack a firewall, so I don't keep addresses on the hard drive.

I turn the keyboard upside down, tap along the top on the desk, then along the bottom, then each corner in turn, then repeat.

Get quite a few cookie crumbs, short hairs, etc. out.

My "O" and "L" are clear of any mark - but I learned to type nearly 60 years ago, so have a reasonably good diea of where to find them ... my chief problem is that I have a bad habit of reverse-ordering a couple of letters, rather frequently. So careful editing is important.

Some years ago I spilled juice into my keyboard and, having heard someone say that though their computer store's basement had had several computers waterlogged in a flood, after they were thoroughly dried out that they worked O.K., I rinsed mine and found that it worked O.K. after substantial drying.

Good wishes for keeping your mind clean, as well as your computer - a somwhat more daunting task. Are internal clean-ups usually more difficult than exterior ones?

ole joyful

Cleaning a keyboard really is dependant upon what the normal hazards happen to be. If it's the cookie crumbs, dust and an occasional oyster shell or something, then yes, turning it and tapping is good, followed by some compressed air and then set it on end and give it a good heavy spray of glass cleaner, preferably one with a high alcohol content to help dry quickly. I would always set it in front of a fan and turn it every few hours to aid drying.

However, I'm not one that gets the cookie/cracker crumbs. I do get dirty/greasy fingers on the keys so a wipe with a damp paper towel works fine for the keys. And I have one, well actually two other "hazards". The feline friends contribute a lot to cushioning the keyboard keys. For that, a soft "camel hair" or even a soft duster brush or soft paint brush does a pretty good job, but occasionally I need to pop the keys off as they quit working and pull out the fur accumulation. It does however work as a powder puff and removes the dust with it quite nicely.

One should be backing up any valuable data on a regular basis. I'm not a big bookmark fanatic so that's not a big deal. I have a webpage set up that I use more for "bookmarks" so that gets backed up and occasionally to the internet so it's available there if I lose the computer. What is important is my actual address book with phone numbers, addresses and the like. I use a very simple program called Ajour and I back that up regularly. I also have an alarm program with birthdays, anniversaries and reminders to do simple routine chores so that gets backed up.

I can't even venture a guess how many times people would bring in computers to my shop in tears that their entire life was on there and we had to try to recover data because they didn't back anything up. Talk about mixed feelings! First you want to give them a hug to comfort them, but then again you wanna slap 'em silly for being so stupid!! LOL

As far as cleaning the innards, it's really not difficult. Shut down the computer, UNPLUG IT and take the cover off. The best thing for ridding it of dust is again compressed air (I have a compressor with a spray nozzle but canned air will work too) and spray out. Pay particular attention to the CPU heat sink, all fans and the power supply. You'll be amazed how much dust builds up in there. Don't be alarmed by it, it's doing its job of moving the air through and let's face it, air is dusty. I would usually start with blowing out the power supply since that's usually the worst and it shoots dust back into the case, then go to work on the CPU/heat sink and fans, then get around the RAM and any corners that may hold dust. Dust in an insulation so if it's around any sort of chip that builds up heat it can contribute to premature failure. Before you put it back together, power it up and make sure it boots properly in case you dislodged a RAM chip or something and also check to see that all the fans are working properly and aren't being obstructed by wires or anything. If you have a lot of loose wires it's a good idea to tie them off with cable ties or electrical tape to keep them from stopping a fan or air flow. Don't use wire twist ties from bread bags or something - they contain wire and can short out contacts and even cut insulation on the wires. Once clean, close it back up and pat yourself on the back for being a kind and thoughtful owner! Oh, it's a good idea to do this about once a year, in case you were wondering.

As far as how often to backup, it depends at what point it would be a catastrophic loss. It should be before that point. For some, never. For some, every minute or so. Really depends on the person.

Also, for the keyboard letters, a fine point marker ("Sharpie" type) works well, then cover it with some clear nail polish, a piece of clear tape or something and it won't wear off so easily. Or even some colored nail polish to write it on there, or paint or what have you?

Other ideas for places to back up to: the internet, flash drives, another hard drive connected to the system either internally or externally, another computer around the house, a friend's system, writable CD Roms... Most anything will work, it's more important to do it, than to obsess over onto what.

Remember that backing up on your own system is OK if the file gets corrupted, however if your system is stolen (and I've had mine stolen twice) then you lose it if you don't have it backed up. One time they even stole my backup tapes! So a good hiding spot for the backup is a good idea too but just remember where it is.... I have a backup drive around here somewhere and I'll be a snaggletoothed Canadian if I can find it!!! :) (Just kidding Canada!!) But seriously, I don't know where it is. Getting old stinks!

Happy computer operation and maintenance everyone!

WOW, cynic, your instructions come right down to the nitty gritty. :)

I just try to remind everyone ever once in a while, to keep from seeing posts "help, I lost all my addresses, please email me".

The best place to keep a back up copy is NOT at your house. DH has a copy at his place of work. I back up about once a month, and every other month he brings the copy from work, and I back up on it again.

This way, if something happens at your house, you still have a copy.

Of course, if you have a safe deposit box that would be a good place too, or a family members house...

Moni

I just backed up all of last years pictures. Yes I had most of them already done, but now, all of 2007 pictures are on discs. One DVD and one CD, as that's how they fit! I haven't added that many favorites since the last time I backed them up, so that isn't to much of a problem. I did a disc clean up and a defrag, also. Removed most of those pictures from the computer, except for some we will want to share as we travel this summer. We have a safe and I will be putting copies in the safe. When I get all the old family pictures scanned and saved, copies will be going to family members anyway, so those will be safe, at least after I finally get them done!

Thanks for the reminder, Moni.

Cynic, Thank you, also for all your good advice. Question for you, tho. I have only a laptop at this time. Do I need to open anything to clean out the dust, as like you mentioned the CPU? We did that on our old desktop. DH even replaced a fan in it, but is it needed on the laptop, and how do I do it? I have it sitting on a desk with a cooler fan under it, except when we travel. Thanks.

Tami