You might know how to clean your screen, give your keyboard a thorough scrub, and even the ins and outs of keeping a PC running in perfect health – but when we take a break from all this, we realize that the mouse pad has, in our neglect, become a part of that cesspool exemplifying the point of no return.
Or, you know, it’s not that dramatic and we can guide you how to clean a mouse pad, right here, right now.
The Importance of Knowing How to Clean a Mouse Pad
Even the best gaming mouse pad isn’t impervious to the occasional Mountain Dew spill, nor from the residual build-up of all sorts of grime, food crumbs, oily skin follicles, or any other gross thing you can think of on your own.
The tightrope you’ll have to walk here is knowing how to clean a gaming mouse pad without messing it up.
This is especially important if you’re wanting to learn how to clean a cloth mouse pad (or, specifically, how to clean a white mouse pad) since the damage will be more visible on these as opposed to one with a darker, deeper design.
The Precautions on How to Clean a Mouse Pad
This section and this advice can also work as instructions on what to do and how to clean your mouse pad, but your mileage may vary (especially viz-a-viz the specific fabrics of your mousepad).
- Make sure you have hot water and dish soap.
- Soak the mouse pad in a solution consisting of these two, preferably in a sink.
- Make sure to rub the mouse pad’s surface but lightly, and with your hands.
- Rinse the mouse pad.
- Make sure the soap bubbles are thoroughly rinsed out.
- Leave the mousepad to dry for at least 24 hours after this cleaning. This can be done either after air drying it or leaving it by an open window.
The simplest method, then, is just to use hand soap (milder as compared to dish soap) and a cloth, rubbed down until the mouse pad is clean.
A note of extreme caution: some pads might have a glued-on surface with an adhesive that can start to come off if soaked. Scrubbing is recommended, thus far.
How to Clean a Mouse Pad at Early Stages of Damages
Let’s say there are four levels to the dirtiness of your mouse pad: light dirt, dirty cloth, rugged hard surface, and replaceable (this last one should be very easy to follow through on).
For light dirt, we can use a microfiber cloth. If it fails to get the job done, a vacuum cleaner should be employed. At this stage, we’ll assume all the mouse pad has is some residue from food crumbs, dust, hair (or even dandruff), and only needs a wiping down.
Some would also recommend using a baby wipe for doing the wiping down at such an early stage.
How to Clean a Mouse Pad in The Washing Machine
Being the most-often used but simultaneously under-looked part of something such as a gaming system, it’s entirely possible that the mouse pad is far too gone before you notice you really should’ve cleaned it a long time back.
However, before throwing it straight in the washing machine, consider the method we listed in the precautionary section as the first thing you should try: warm water and dish soap in a sink, enter mouse pad, soak, scrub, drain, rinse, dry overnight and leave alone for twenty-four hours.
The washing machine should then be used as a last resort.
Make sure the water isn’t too hot, and that you’re washing the mouse pad only on its own, instead of with other clothes and types of fabrics – also make sure the machine is set to its lightest cycle.
Using the cold-warm setting (or even cold water) will also help with the aforementioned problem of the adhesives coming apart.
How to Clean a Cloth Mouse Pad
Luckily, no matter how dirty these get (and we’re talking months of carelessness and misuse, even), there are easy ways to clean them right out.
The trick for cloth mouse pads is using either shampoo or whatever household washing liquid you rely on, as well as water that’s not too hot nor too cold – hot can be scalding and make matters worse, whereas cold can be inefficient.
Other than that, it’s a similar process of some soaking followed by soft scrubbing and massaging, either by a cloth or a towel or a soft brush.
A final note of caution; make sure not to scrub away at the bottom of the mousepad. Some might consider it a rookie mistake while others would think of it as an honest one. Regardless, this leads to the mousepad losing friction, something that’ll come back to haunt you in a gaming session when you might least expect it!