An end user has brought you a wired USB keyboard that has been drenched with a full can of sugary non-diet soda. What’s the best way to deal with this kind of keyboard mishap?
A) Discard the entire keyboard and replace it with a new keyboard
B) Remove the keycaps and clean the inside of the keyboard with a moist cloth
C) Spray the inside of the keyboard with a standard household cleaner and let it dry
D) Remove and wash all plastic keyboard parts in warm water
The answer: A) Discard the entire keyboard and replace it with a new keyboard
Once you fill a keyboard with a sugary liquid, it’ll never be the same. Even if the electronics are still operational, the keyboard will never perform the same way. You’ll spend more time trying to clean and fix the keyboard than a relatively inexpensive wired USB keyboard would cost, so it’s better to scrap the existing keyboard and start fresh.
The incorrect answers:
B) Remove the keycaps and clean the inside of the keyboard with a moist cloth
A bad spill will usually require more than a simple cleaning, and a large spill will often require more than a simple once-over.
C) Spray the inside of the keyboard with a standard household cleaner and let it dry
The inside of a keyboard has plastic and electronic parts that could be damaged if harsh cleaners are used.
D) Remove and wash all plastic keyboard parts in warm water
A keyboard consists of a large number of moving parts, and most of them are plastic. The time involved in removing, washing, and replacing all of those parts is usually too time-consuming to consider.
 |
Want to know more? Watch “Input Devices.”For your computer to do anything, it first has to know where to start. Fortunately, our personal computers have many ways of getting information into the system so that processing can begin. In this video module, we’ll show you some of the most common input methods and some specialty input devices. |