The Do's and Don'ts of Cleaning TV Screens

It often feels like no matter how hard you look after your TV screen or computer monitor, it will at some point turn into a smudge, finger print and dust covered annoyance. Often people will reach for a product that they use throughout the house. This however, can cause damage to the screen over time and reduce picture quality.

If you take a quick survey of TV and monitor manufacturers about the recommended method for cleaning the surface of your monitor or TV screen, you'll discover more don'ts than dos, often different from brand to brand.

So, here are some universal do’s and don’ts when it comes to cleaning your screen:

First up, the don’ts:

Don't use aerosol sprays, solvents, or abrasives. (This means don't reach for most of the products under the kitchen sink, as tempting as it may be.) These can cause long term damage as well as an immediate reduce in picture quality.

Don't use anything other than warm water and even warm water use in absolute moderation.

Don't use any chemicalised liquid at all if it can be helped. If you aren’t absolutely certain what’s in it, chances are it could be in danger of doing damage.

Don't spray a liquid directly on the screen. If you’re using hot water as suggested, don’t use a direct spray mechanism, apply it to your cleaning apparatus and let it dry slightly.

Don't use a hard cloth. Hard clothes can cause scratches and permeant marks on your screen.

Don't use your fingernail or a sharp object to remove stubborn stains. Chances are this will just make things worse and could cause damage that the naked eye can’t see from the surface.

Now for the better bit. The correct way to clean your screens.

In the do column:

Use a dry, soft, lint-free cloth, such as the Sph2onge Microfibre Cloth to smoothly and carefully clean your TV or monitor without any hard scratching or lasting damage.

Use warm water as already suggested, no chemical products are worth risking causing damage.

Taking all of the above advice into consideration, this is how we would advise cleaning your household screens:

First, attempt to clean your screen with the Sph2onge Microfibre Cloth. If you can't find the cleaning cloth that came with your screen in question, then it's likely you have one laying around from a laptop, iPad, or iPhone purchase.

If a dry cloth doesn't remove the smudges and stains on your screen, then get yourself some warm water.

After removing any dust from your screen with a dry cloth, dip the cloth in your warm water, wring it out, and gently wipe your display. Finally, after your cloth has dried, use the dry cloth and wipe the display to remove any streaking.

And there you have it! A dust, streak, smudge, fingerprint free screen ready to watch in crystal clear quality.