Laptops

4 Secure Ways to Get Sticker Residue Off the Laptop

Getting off the stickers from your laptop is not that easy as first you have to remove them carefully and then they leave the residue behind which is a lot more difficult to clean. Applying customized stickers on your laptop might give a cool look. To clean the residue there are a lot of ways but most of them can cause damage to your laptop so we have advised some safe ways of removing the residue left by the sticker peeled off from your laptop.

Removing sticker residue from laptop

First of all, to avoid any residue of any sticker sticking to your laptop there is a general technique to peel off the sticker slowly and gently in such a way that adhesive material comes right off with the sticker. However, sometimes the glue of the sticker is very strong which remains stuck to the laptop even after the sticker is peeled off.

There are following items that you will be needing before applying any method for sticker residue removal:

  • Microfiber cloth  
  • Cotton
  • Toothpicks 
  • Gloves 

Remember to disconnect your laptop from supply and turn it off before using any of the given sticker residue removal techniques below:

  1. Using WD-40 to remove sticker residue
  2. Using Hair dryer or heat gun to remove sticker residue 
  3. Using dish washing soap to sticker residue
  4. Using nail polish remover to sticker residue

1 : Using WD-40 to remove the sticker residue

The WD-40 is an oily fluid that is primarily used to remove adhesive substances from different types of surfaces like metal, aluminum and plastic. Almost every home nowadays has this as it is economical and is readily available. To remove the sticker residue, you need to spray a tiny amount of liquid on the residue area and wait for a few seconds so that the liquid starts to react with the residue.

After some time, start to gently wipe the residue using the microfiber cloth. If there is still some residue left then try this process for more then one time and wait for a longer time after spraying the WD-40 on the residue.

Precaution while using the WD-40 : Spray only on the residue area in small amounts as if a large amount of liquid is sprayed it can get to laptop electronic circuits and can cause short circuits. If in any case the liquid is spilled on your keyboard or has got into the laptop just keep the laptop for almost 4 to 5 hours to let liquid evaporates. Also, when rubbing the liquid on the surface use gloves in order to avoid any skin allergies.

2 : Using Hair dryer or heat gun to remove sticker residue

Another technique to remove the sticker residue is that you can heat the surface of the laptop having the sticker residue. Most of the adhesive materials used for the stickers leave their sticking property when subjected to heat. Once you have blown hot air on the surface of the laptop having sticker residue, wipe it off using the microfiber cloth or rub the surface with it gently.

Precaution while using the hair dryer or heat gun : Using excessive heat can cause damage to the electronics or to the body of the laptop so blow the hot air from a sufficient distance on the surface of the laptop.

3 : Using dish washing soap to sticker residue

The dish washing liquid also has the tendency to remove the toughest stains so it can also be used to remove the sticker residue. Most of us have seen this in our daily life when we remove tags from newly bought utensils. These tags also left the residue which we remove by rubbing the thick dishwashing liquid on the residue surface. Similar is the case with the residue of the sticker on the laptop.

Take some cotton and pour some dishwashing liquid on it and start gently rubbing on the residue surface. You can observe two things one either the residue will start to peel off or it will get soft. In the latter case use toothpicks to peel the residue off as it will leave no marks on the surface of the laptop.

Precaution while using dishwashing liquid : Do not pour the dish washing liquid directly onto the laptop surface as it can affect the color of the surface and there is a chance that liquid can get into your keyboard, mouse or screen that can damage your laptop.

4 : Using nail polish remover to sticker residue

The nail polish remover contains alcohol that can be proved beneficial for removing residue of the peeled off sticker. To remove the residue wet a piece of cotton from the nail polish remover liquid and start to gently rub it on the surface of the laptop and try these three or four times the residue will automatically start to fall off. After that, clean that surface with a microfiber cloth.

Precaution while using nail polish remover : Always use the nail polish remover by first pouring it on cotton and then applying it on the surface of the laptop and the  advantage of using the nail polish remover is that is volatile that is it evaporates with the passage of time if it spilled on laptop while it was off then it will evaporate automatically in few hours.

Conclusion

There are two types of stickers that are present on the laptop, one that shows information about the laptop and the other stickers are just for beautification or to give the laptop a more appealing look. The removal of both stickers is not that difficult but once they are removed they leave their sticky substance on the surface of the laptop which is difficult to remove so we have given some of the easiest and safest ways to remove  sticker residue left on  the laptop surface.

About the author

Aaliyan Javaid

I am an electrical engineer and a technical blogger. My keen interest in embedded systems has led me to write and share my knowledge about them.