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Review: Cyber Clean
Cyber Clean looks and feels like silly putty (and even comes in a similar small plastic pot), but it's the product's smell that gives it away - the faint whiff of (non-drinkable) alcohol means it must be a cleaning product.
In this case, it's a keyboard cleaner - any kind of keyboard, in theory, can be cleaned with this stuff. The way it works is that you remove it from the pot and press it flat and hard against the surface to be cleaned. Leave it there for a few seconds, then lift it away and with it will come all the dust and dirt that's built up between or under the keys.
We tried it on a variety of keyboards including several desktop and notebook models, as well as mobile and standard telephones. It worked reasonably well in that a certain amount of dust and particles were brought up each time. You can fold the substance over and use it again quite easily because the dust and dirt is absorbed into the material itself.
But it does feel a bit... funny, lifting away all that dirt and simply folding it into the putty, then using the same (now dirty-ish) putty again. But it continued to work and, the manufacturers claim, adds a layer of bacterial protection as well (obviously, it's harder to test that bit). It gets progressively murkier in colour the more it's used, and there's a handy colour chart on the side of the pot to tell you when it needs to be replaced.
The product still left a bit of dirt under most of our test keyboards, although on the very dustiest it got rid of a fair amount of the dust in the first couple of presses. This is a good alternative to the other easy cleaning option (using a compressed air spray to blast the dirt out), but it isn't as thorough as the best (dismantling the whole thing and putting it in the dishwasher). Clearly, it has its benefits in terms of time and effort, although at £20 for four pots, it isn't cheap.
Save your money. I ended up putting alcohol on a paper towel to clean the keyboard - and I have a teensy vacuum attachment. This stuff barely works and it is expensive.
posted-by adrienrain | September 13, 2008 7:39 PM
Will it get cat hair out? I have 2 cats who love to walk on my keyboard, and deposit cat hair between the keys.
posted-by penny | December 5, 2008 6:16 PM
I've been looking for a cleaner, thanks for the review. I think I might try the alcohol paper towel method, it's a lot cheaper.
posted-by Lisa | December 10, 2008 8:15 PM