Crumbs in the Keyboard

[Thunderchin]

I'd like to know some things about crumbs in the keyboard. I have a few in my laptop's keyboard, and I want to know if they can harm my computer.

You see, I like to eat at my computer. And I have a problem with the damn crumbs falling between the keys on the keyboard. Do crumbs really hurt my computer? If so, is there a way to remove them? My laptop has a built-in keyboard, so disassembly is out of the question.

Can someone shed light on the answer? There aren't very many crumbs in there, but I'm still concerned.

[iHackedit]

Try carefully, and unharmfully flipping the laptop and shaking it gently and then get a small portable vacuum and go over the keyboard with it. The crumbs should, only at worst stop the keys from clicking and the computer reading the number or letter you pressed.

[bicostp]

The long-term solution is to not eat directly over your laptop.

Aside from mechanically preventing the keys from working, crumbs can't really hurt the laptop too much provided they aren't getting sucked into the fan and heatsink.

Turn the laptop off, tip it on one side (heatsink side up, preferably), and use some compressed air (from a can or compressor) to blow the crumbs down. You should be able to get most of them to one side, where they're more likely to fall out. Household vacuum cleaners generate static electricity, so at least leave the laptop plugged in and hold metal bits on both the laptop and the vacuum hose to keep their relative charges as close as possible to prevent damage.

If it was a desktop keyboard, do this: ABSOLUTELY DO NOT DO THIS TO A LAPTOP KEYBOARD BECAUSE YOU WILL BREAK THE KEYS!
Take a small flathead screwdriver and pop the left Control key off. (Some reasonable force and a little wiggling should take it right off 99% of modern keyboards.) Use compressed air to blow the dirt and crap to the bottom left corner, where it can easily escape from the space left by the missing key. Turn the keyboard upside down and shake it, hit the bottom, then repeat the process until no more stuff comes out. To put the key back on, just place its peg back into the button hole and hit it.

[vskid]

http://xkcd.com/237/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;