In today's wireless and mobile tip, we answer an email from a viewer named James, who writes, "What recommendations do you have for cleaning screens of things like cellphones, PDAs, and laptops?"

To be embarrassingly honest, all too often I use spit and a sleeve to clean the screen on my notebook computers. I store my cellphone in my back pocket all too often for any crud to build up.

That said, don't recoil in disgust and reach for the Windex and a pile of paper towels to clean your notebook. LCDs (and monitors, for that matter) generally have chemical coatings to keep them looking good to your eyes. Most glass cleaners are harmful to those coatings.

Something like Klear Screen is designed to clean monitors.It's especially handy because it comes in little handy single-wipe packets, and as a spray-on solution. Office Depot and lots of other companies sell their own brand of "cleaning Wipes." If you're feeling really high tech (and don't feel like filling a landfill with your cast off wipes) 3M's Microfiber Electronics Cloth might be appealing. No lint, and you can wash it over and over. No chemicals, either, but you can moisten it to work over those nastier traces of Dr. Pepper.


No matter what you use, read the directions from your gadget's manufacturer before you try to clean off the more tenacious grit from last week's burrito.

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