Visiting a radio station the other day I was appalled to find the screen were all smudgy, in fact some could only be described as "caked in muck". I shudder when I think what may have happened; some of these essential items. I'm talking about screens costing about as much as a small car here!
On asking some of the team why they were not keeping them clean, they said that the engineer (who was someone who only called in in an emergency, m or for a onece a month check up!) has advised that they be left as they were as cleaning them would damaged the surface.
Looking closely, I saw that these were not of any type that could be damaged by simply cleaning them, if it is done properly. I sent someone out for a pack of the correct MICRO FIBRE cloths and demonstrated how to clean LCD and OED screens correctly. Its a very simply process.
(Keep a separate one for your mobile phone or iPad as these will get covered in the most awful gunk that you dont want to spread to a studio monitor, that you may be working at for many hours).
The correct cloths also leave the screen anti-static, so it does not attract dust in the air. (Radio studios should be relatively dust free anyway - the correct was to do this is to have the air-conditioning set so it creates just a tiny bit positive air pressure, which means that when the door is opened, a slight 'whoosh' of the air being expelled will be experienced, which caries out all the tiny particles of dust and rubbish that are created by YOUR rubbish your clothes against things.
If you have an LCD TV, you should press very gently gently. The liquid crystal screen may get pushed down if you’re too rough, creating dark spots. Turning your TV off and on again will fix this issue, but no reason to put your screen under stress.
Some stains and marks will need a solution to loosen them. Oily spots, fingerprints, or anything else that needs a bit more scrubbing, can easily be shifted by spraying a little bit of electronics cleaner on a cloth with a few drops of water and gently rub the area until it’s clean. and the best one that I've come across is SCREEN MON. Their Screen Monitor Kit contains a premium quality micro fibre cloth and a 16oz bottle of their own special formula screen spray. Not just a few squirts, but over 1,500 squirts, so this will last a fair old time.
Screen Mon is not an alcohol based liquid, this is plant based, so it wont attack any delicate plastic or anything else. No ammonia or any other harmful phosphates that are found in some other liquids that will leave your screen scarred and streaky. Screen mom is made with gentle plant based cleaning agents and is completely odourless.
Apple's 5k Monitor and the newest Applebook models come complete with a special very fine microfibre cloth. It is accompanied by a warning, which is worth repeating here
NEVER use an acetone based cleaning agent to clean a monitor.
Click here for more details of the Screen Mon cleaning kit; you need it to take care of your LED & LCD TVs, computer screens and Studio Monitors, Laptops, and iPad screens. Over 1,572 Sprays in each large 16 ounce bottle.
(For infrequent cleaning of hard-to-remove substances on either nano-texture glass or standard glass, you can use a 70% Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) solution. But do take care, and only ever rub gently.
