Man I’ve got to stop writing stuff when I’m overly tired and taken Ambien. Edited for sanity’s sake:
Yesterday was having trouble breathing/congestion, spent a little time on computer then off to bed. Today I get up and need to edit notes for CF Team and there’s dried stuff in several distinct regions of the screen. I’d been coughing and had sprayed small blood droplets and some infection on it the night before. I used my fingernail to “pop” the little blood droplets that are still dry, but the main problem is the other stuff has been smeared. I now have a Center North to SW smear the width of my thumb and about 10 other annoying smears in splotches around it. I’m a bit OCD about computer monitors. Whether my own or my families, or working on someone else’s, I cannot work on it until the monitor is perfectly clear.
How do I possibly fix this? Can I get it all the way back to normal?
This is a Dell 30” 2560x1600 that maxes out at 60 Hz. It’s a refurb I got a long time ago. It’s tricky because as you wipe it the viewscreen moves with it. These never fit right, as the first one I’d gotten, the screen fell right out when I tried to wipe it down…
The matte coating almost seems to have like a fine grid pattern on/in it that stuff can get stuck or grooved into. Each time I try to clean it, it just seems to smear it in a larger area.
Two things I was doing wrong already. Spraying direct on screen, using paper towel. Will look on amazon t see if they have a kit so I feel safer using it,
I second the only water or approved cleaner and wiping with a microfiber recommendations. Fortunately those bodily fluids are mostly water soluble. It they are stuck on stubbornly I would suggest:
Turn off the monitor (unplug too) and lay it so the screen is horizontal and as level as possible.
Saturate a sponge with warm water and wring it out enough so that it does not drip or ooze to much.
Place the sponge on the goo and wait.
Wipe it up with the microfiber cloth
Rinse, lather, repeat.
Always avoid scrubbing on a delicate surface. This works for getting stickers and tags off of scratch prone surfaces too. Sometimes soaking the sponge with DILUTE dish soap water speeds things along.
Just don’t let any moisture go around the edge of the lcd screen. Keep it away from and out of the bezel surrounding the lcd. The edges of LCD panels are not always sealed or sealed well and they will wick it up with capillary action and permanently be damaged. For this reason, I recommend not turn your monitor on it’s “back” so to speak, because that makes it more likely your cleaning fluids will roll around the edge and kill the screen.
I wonder if that’s why Dell was clearing these out when I got it . I wasn’t explaining it well, but there is literally no seal at all. Since this one didn’t fall out like the first I’d just lived with it thinking that was normal (maybe it is?). The plastic is a good half inch too small (barely enough width/height to keep it within the bezel), so while trying to wipe it clean I have to carefully add pressure to one part of the face to keep it immobilized. Makes it a challenge to do a deeper clean.
But to be honest, all I’ve ever used is a clean damp bath towel.
If you’ve got some tougher shit on the screen, then, I’d start with a more damp bath towel, then wipe again with the less damp side of the towel.
It’s a kind of minor art form, but in any case, it helps if you clean your screen weekly. Circular motion.
I never use any chemicals of any kind. Just plain water. Not too much.
Never use a dry cloth either; too much abrasion. It should always be at least slightly damp, even as you’re drying it after the cleaning.
And yes, monitor OFF.
Ordered that item. I’m still floored people have just been using water. This stuff I’ve been using from Monster has no scent (no longer sold either) so I wonder if it too has just been de-ionized water, or worse, plain old unfiltered tap water. There are no ingredients listed.
Thanks for the help. Can’t wait til this bigger smudge is no longer infringing my view.
I learned about the paper towel thing the hard way. Cleaning my lab goggles with the old-school brown towels and acetone was a bad, bad idea. Cause, you know, plastic lens.
I sneezed on my monitor once and it dripped and caused dead pixels and discoloration along the bottom edge. Luckily my taskbar is along the side, not the bottom.
I use my… breath’s steam (pardon my English) to get some light moist over places I put dirty fluids, then wipe them immediately with a tissue you use for cleaning glasses. Works wonder, and doesn’t leave traces.
