Maggie's Farm

 
Last night I read (yet) another heartbreaking forum comment from someone who had just ruined his brand new LCD monitor with a liquid cleaner.  Unlike the old type of CRT monitors, which are sealed, LCD monitors are composed of layers of laminate and a liquid cleaner can 'wick' between the layers and ruin the screen.

Another big no-no is using anything with ammonia in it, like Windex, because it'll eventually eat the heck out of the plastic screen.

The answer is Windex Wipes:

These are moist towelettes in a re-sealable package.  No ammonia, no liquid. 

What's interesting is that they clearly show how important ammonia is to regular Windex.  Rather than just cutting through the greasy fingerprints like Windex does, you actually have to scrub (lightly!) the tougher spots to remove them. They also make a dandy dust rag for the rest of the computer once you're finished with the monitor.  They don't leave a sticky residue like 409-type cleaners do.
 

Speaking of LCD monitors, there's a Windows setting you might want to check out called 'Clear Type'.  Ostensibly, it's to make text on LCD monitors look better, but both LCD monitors I've used have looked better without it, so maybe you'd better check your own system.

Windows XP users:

• Double-click on the title bar of your browser to reduce it to 'window' mode.  Scoot it to the side but so you can still see this article.
   


• Click on the Desktop with the right mouse button and open 'Properties'.  Scoot the box to the side, out of the way of the browser.  Click on the 'Appearance' tab, then the 'Effects' button.  The second drop-down menu has two choices, "Standard" and "Clear Type".  Whichever it says, change it.
   


• Click OK to close the box, then hover your mouse pointer over the 'Apply' button in the first box.  Carefully watch the fonts in this article and click the 'Apply' button.

Windows Vista and 7 users:

Your Clear Type settings will be around somewhere.  Sorry, don't know offhand.  Look through likely items in the Control Panel, like 'Personalization', 'Display', 'Appearance', etc.  Then do the above test.

Things should get a tiny bit sharper or blurrier, depending upon which setting your monitor looks best with.  If you're not sure, watch the larger block fonts used for the article's title as you hit the 'Apply' button.  On my current monitor, I think the fonts actually look a tad crisper with it on, but it also seems to make the larger fonts a little fatter, which I don't like, so I leave it off.  It's strictly 'eye of the beholder.'