When we carry out house clearances, we find old technology a lot of the time. The modern household lives with a lot of tech these days—from smart TVs, to laptops, desktops, tablets and phones.
Laptops and desktops can be dust magnets, so here we’ll explore how to clean them literally, but we’ll also share our secrets for wiping them clean too. If you’re upgrading and your laptop still works well, it’s a great idea to sell it. But first, you need to ensure whoever buys it isn’t going to stumble upon all your personal information…
How To Clean Your Laptop
If your keys are starting to stick, and the laptop looks grubby, it’s time to give it a little loving care. You will need a special screen cleaner, a small bowl of warm water with a little dishwashing liquid in it, a can of compressed air (Fellowes air duster, for example) and some surgical spirit.
- Turn off the laptop and remove the battery. You don’t want to electrocute yourself…
- Remove any discs and USB cables.
- To clean the keyboard without removing the keys, use the compressed air. Spray in straight lines back and forth over the board until you have removed as much debris as possible.
- If you eat while at your laptop (and we don’t recommend it), the keyboard might need the keys removed to do the job properly.
- Use a knife to remove them as carefully as you can. It’s wise to take one out and put it back in again to ensure you know how to put it back together.
- Place the keys in the warm soapy water and leave them sitting there so that the gunk dissolves.
- Use a solution of water and surgical spirit to wipe the keyboard.
- Put the keys back in. You’ll probably need a screenshot of the Qwerty keyboard in front of you so that you put the keys back in the right order.
How To Wipe Your Laptop
It’s crucial a laptop or tablet is wiped clean of personal information before you sell it. To do, you need to perform a factory reset. This restores the computer to its original state—what it was like when you bought it.
First, you need to transfer your personal information to your new laptop or tablet. The easiest way to do this is store all your files, photos, videos etc in the cloud—OneDrive, or Dropbox for example so you can access them from any device.
To wipe the hard drive, the factory reset is usually in the settings section. For Windows, choose to erase data thoroughly.
Experts recommend that if you are selling the laptop on eBay, you should remove the hard drive completely.
If you are looking for a responsible electronic waste solution with an eco-friendly twist, choose Just Clear! We work in accordance with all UK and EU legislation (WEEE Regulations) and our removals are performed by trained professionals and recycled at regulated WEEE recycling facilities.
We remove computers, PC monitors, laptops, servers, fax machines, copiers, scanners, printers, fridges, air-conditioning units, freezers, and any hazardous waste such as fire extinguishers.
Also, if you are looking to destroy your confidential data in an eco-friendly way that allows it to be recycled afterwards, take advantage of our award-winning waste clearance service.
