Is it possible to temporarily disable restart by hitting any key feature on a MacBook Air 2020?
Keyboard Cleaning: I’m trying to clean it while in shut down mode without triggering a restart by hitting any key during wiping with a soft cloth.
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JeffDV8
This is a tough one, and most people that write about this get it wrong. They tell you to simply shut off the MacBook, but as you know, then typing a key will turn it on. If you lock it, then you are typing into the password field.
There are third-party apps you can use to negate all key presses, but you know I don't like third-party apps.
I like to do this one of two ways. If I just want a quick wipe, I shut the MacBook down. Then I do the quick wipe. The MacBook will be triggered to start, but you can usually finish a quick wipe before it gets to that point.
The other way is to just thoughtfully clean each key while you have an app like TextEdit open to absorb those presses. So go across each row and wipe each key, keeping an eye on TextEdit to make sure it is still the frontmost app and still taking all of the presses.
There shouldn't be a problem except with the F1 keys. Depending on your settings, the F keys shouldn't do anything in TextEdit. But if you need to, hold the fn key down as you clean the F keys so you don't trigger the special functions.
When I buy a computer I keep the keyboard shipping wrapper on the keyboard. About 25 years ago a friend spilled a drink on my office computer and ruined it and the data inside. Keyboard covers from different vendors are fairly cheap. They might look bad after a few years but they work great and keep stuff out of the keyboard.
Would turning off the computer and taking the keyboard to another/far away room and then "clean" the keys work?
Just wondering!
Fernando: How would you take the keyboard into the other room with a MacBook? If this was an iMac or other desktop, you could simply switch the keyboard off and clean it. No need to take it anywhere.
What about using the can of "air" which available in many stores in the computer section. I didn't see that the discussion was talking about heavy layers of crumbs or other debris.
do you recommend using the canned "air" for light dust occasionally?
Mike: Canned air just removes dust. It doesn't hurt, but it won't help much on a keyboard where dust shouldn't be building up anyway since you are using it all the time. But ti won't get rid of particles that attach themselves to the keys, like dirt and such.