How to Safely Clean Your Screen

Before you decide a mark is a dead pixel, rule out dust or a smudge. Clean the screen, then run the Dead & Stuck Pixel Check to be sure.

Dust, a smudge, or a dead pixel?

A speck of dust on a white screen looks a lot like a dead pixel. Here's how to tell before you start wiping. Turn the screen off and look at the spot from an angle, with a light behind you. Dust and smudges sit on the surface, so they still show with the screen off. A dead pixel is inside the panel, and an off screen hides it completely.

With the screen on, move your head from side to side. Something on the surface seems to shift slightly against the picture behind it. A faulty pixel stays locked in the grid. Dust also tends to look soft and fuzzy, and often covers more than one pixel, while a dead or stuck pixel is one sharp, square dot.

What you'll need

• A clean, dry microfiber cloth, the kind that comes with glasses.
• Distilled water, or a spray made for screens, for marks a dry cloth won't lift.

That's all. Tap water can leave mineral spots behind, which is why distilled is better.

How to clean it

1. Turn the screen off. Marks are much easier to see on a dark screen, and you won't press any buttons on a touchscreen by accident.
2. Wipe gently with the dry cloth first. It's enough for most dust and fingerprints.
3. If a mark won't budge, dampen the cloth lightly with distilled water or screen spray.
4. Dampen the cloth, never the screen. Liquid sprayed straight on can run down into the edges.
5. Let it dry fully before you turn the screen back on.

What not to use

• Paper towels or ordinary tissues. They're rough enough to scratch the screen's coating.
• Ammonia-based glass cleaners.
• Pressing hard, which can leave pressure marks that look like stuck pixels.

Some makers allow a mild cleaner on their screens and others don't, so if you want to use anything stronger than water, check the cleaning instructions for your own screen first.

Matte screens need a lighter touch

Most monitors and many laptops have a matte, anti-glare finish. It's a fine textured coating, and rubbing hard on one spot can polish it smooth, leaving a shiny patch that never goes away. Use light, even strokes over the whole area rather than scrubbing at a single mark. Glossy screens show every fingerprint, but they're more forgiving to clean.

If the mark is still there

If a faint cloudy patch is still there after a careful clean, it probably isn't dirt at all. Uneven blotches on a flat gray screen are a matter of panel uniformity, and no amount of wiping will shift them.

If it's a single sharp dot, run the Dead & Stuck Pixel Check and look at it on each color. That tells you what kind of fault it is, and whether there's any point trying a fix.