Over the past while, I've been having a really troublesome time with a few of my keys - especially the spacebar.

I have an IBM Thinkpad from 2004ish...how would you go about cleaning it?

Some people would advise snapping the keys off-don't do it. There are springs underneath them that can be impossible to reposition.

I do a couple of things. There are alcohol swab pads, sold in drug stores for say, diabetics who need to clean an injection site. I run one of those under the keys. It helps to disolve sticky stuff, the solvent doesn't hurt the keyboard and it drys fast.

Canned air helps too to get grit and dust out. So does double sided sticky tape, run under the keys.

Abbie, it sounds like you know how to clean a keyboard quite well - I may need you to come clean mine - First Timer, Canned air is always a good essential to have in arms reach when you need to clean your keyboard.

Thanks Abbie, was wondering the best way to clean my keyboard. Was thinking of having my friend do it (he wants 20$), but I guess I can do it my self now

Yep - compressed air is the best for keyboards - sometimes harder on a notebook, but works like a charm for the most part.

Rubbing alcohol or nail polish remover for the keys themselves. Be careful how hard you rub the keys, you may end up with no letters on the keys

lol good to know. Thanks.

Alrighty I'll give that a shot and see how they come about.

Even before the air, the easiest method is to turn the keyboard upside down and shake gently. That will get some surprising things out of there.

I've always taken the keyboard off and washed it thoroughly with some rubbing alcohol and then given it plenty of time to dry A blow-drier helps.

I use the rubbing alcohol since it evaporates very quickly

You CAN take the keys off, but I wouldn't suggest it either. I have and it takes quite a while to get them back on just right.

It really just depends on the notebook, make model.. Example, I'm currently working on my Dell and it takes removing 1 piece of trim and 2 screws to completely remove the keyboard. From there it's our to the garage for a fun time with the air compressor.

I wouldn't suggest using alcohol, or nail polish remover(no liquid). Just blow it out good(can of air isn't strong enough IMO). I used to work for DELL XPS and I've had calls from many customers with problems just after using rubbing alcohol to clean it. You mite get away with it, but if you don't then what?

I blow my keyboards, laptops and PCs out at least once a month. Turning keyboards upside down and shaking a bit is recommended first. If you're going to use alcohol, try a purer form of isopropyl alcohol rather then rubbing alcohol. Even though rubbing alcohol dries quickly, it's still over 10 percent water.

You can buy alcohol pads for this very purpose at places like Staples, etc. That and compressed air.

Compressed air works really well. I use it to clean my laptop keyboard and it just does a great job. Also, taking off the keys is possible but I do not advise it.

Clean it with any blower.