How to clean your monitor screen: Quick guide

Cleaning your monitor’s screen should be something you do once every couple of months – even more so if you work in an environment that sees numerous individuals gather around one screen. Alongside ridding yourself of potential germs that linger on your monitor, cleaning an LCD screen will also result in a much better visual experience.

Luckily, cleaning your monitor screen couldn’t be easier. However, with modern LCD screens now utilizing delicate anti-glare matte coatings, it’s very easy to damage your panel if you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s not as simple as pulling out your favorite bottle of disinfectant or ethanol and giving it a wipe – that could ruin your monitor altogether.

In this guide, we’ll be explaining exactly what to use for cleaning your monitor, how frequently you should do so, and some friendly tips on how to keep your panel germs and dirt free.

What should I use to clean a monitor?

So, let’s start at the top – what exactly do you need to clean a PC monitor.

Well, the first thing you’ll need for cleaning a monitor is a good quality microfibre cloth. While the chances are slim, using paper towels, old T-shirts, or rags can actually damage the monitor’s delicate outer coating. By contrast, a microfibre cloth is much more sensitive when it comes to the delicate cleaning of a monitor.

Next, get yourself a non-aggressive glass cleaner or specialized monitor cleaner that is purpose-designed for your panel coating. You can consult your monitor manufacturer before you purchase anything, asking what the best course of action would be. However, if this all sounds a little time-consuming and expensive, you can use some distilled water – adding white vinegar if you come across any particularly stubborn grit.

Additionally, you can choose to use some compressed air – albeit maybe a little overkill. You can buy compressed air in cans these days without breaking the bank and it makes for an excellent dust/particle cleaner. Many modern monitors will feature little holes and seams where dust and particles can build up. Compressed air is a superb solution for dealing with this kind of build-up.

How to clean a computer monitor: Safely

Now we have the products and tools for the job, let’s jump into the steps that you need to take to clean your monitor properly and safely.

Quick tips for cleaning a PC monitor

So, that’s pretty much all there is to it. Like we said in the intro, cleaning a monitor isn’t the most difficult task in the world – you just need to take some care in order to maintain the integrity of the outside layers.

That said, here’s a quick checklist that should help you when cleaning your monitor:

Interested in keeping the rest of your setup clean? Here are our best cleaning articles: