Cleaning a Laptop Screen? Dell Names What Not to Use

Your screen has a fingerprint on it, or a sneeze, and the glass cleaner is under the sink and you are about to reach for it.

Do not. A laptop screen is not window glass, it has a coating on it, and the makers publish a list of chemicals that strip that coating permanently.

I have no way to test any of this without ruining a screen, so what follows is Dell's own wording and the reasoning around it, not an experiment.

The list of things that damage it

Named rather than hinted at, which is unusual and useful.

⭐ Documented by Dell on its equipment cleaning page, the list opens with "Any chlorine-based cleaner, such as bleach, Peroxides (including hydrogen peroxide)".

⭐ It carries on through the solvents: "acetone, paint thinner, benzene, methylene chloride, or toluene, Ammonia (such as, Windex), Ethyl alcohol".

⚡ Ammonia is the one in your cupboard. Dell names the household glass cleaner brand directly.

⚠️ Ethyl alcohol is on the list too, which catches out a lot of wipes sold for screens.

⛔ The damage is to the anti-glare coating rather than the glass. It shows up as cloudy patches that never come back.

What Dell says to use instead

Two answers on two of its own pages, and they are not identical.

⭐ Its equipment page recommends a mixture: moisten a microfiber cloth with "70% isopropyl alcohol / 30% water", and "The cloth should be damp, but not dripping wet."

⚡ Its screen specific guidance is more cautious, naming a cleaner made for an LCD screen, or plain water on a microfiber cloth.

⚠️ Isopropyl and ethyl are different alcohols. One is on the recommended side and one is on the banned list, which is why the internet contradicts itself so badly here.

⛔ If you are unsure, water on a microfiber cloth is the answer nobody disputes. It handles almost every mark you will meet.

The instruction people ignore

One line, and it is the difference between clean and ruined.

⚡ Dell says it plainly: "Never spray any liquids directly onto the product."

⭐ Spray the cloth, not the screen. Liquid runs down the glass, gathers at the bottom edge, and goes under the bezel.

⚠️ What it reaches there is electronics, not display. That is how a cleaning job becomes a repair.

⛔ Wipe in one direction rather than in circles, top to bottom, which lifts marks instead of moving them around.

Turn it off first, and here is why

Two reasons, and only one of them is about safety.

⭐ Dell's instruction is to "Turn off the device that you plan to clean and disconnect AC power."

⚡ A dark screen shows every mark. You cannot see what you are cleaning on a lit display.

⚠️ And liquid plus power is the combination that kills things. Off and unplugged removes that entirely.

⛔ Let it dry fully before closing the lid or switching on. Trapped moisture is the other way this goes wrong.

What not to use, beyond the chemicals

Three of these are in most homes, and warning about them is ours.

⚡ Paper towel and tissue are abrasive at this scale. They leave fine scratches you notice later in sunlight.

⭐ An old t-shirt is better than paper and worse than microfiber, because you cannot see what it has picked up.

⚠️ Compressed air at close range forces dust into your bezel gap. Useful for keyboards, wrong for screens.

⛔ And do not press hard on any screen. Pressure marks on a laptop panel are a repair, not a clean.

Phone and tablet screens are not the same job

Worth separating from your laptop, because the coatings differ.

⭐ Phone screens carry an oleophobic coating designed to shed finger oil, and alcohol wears it away faster than it wears anything else.

⚡ A dry microfiber cloth removes most of what is on your phone. That is genuinely all it needs most days.

⚠️ We could not find one cleaning instruction that every maker agrees on, which is why this page quotes Dell rather than generalising.

⛔ If your crack is in a protector rather than the glass, clean around it and replace it. That layer is meant to break.

Status: written from Dell's own equipment cleaning guidance on 29 August 2026. ⛔ No screen was cleaned, tested or damaged in writing this, no measurement was taken, and no make or model of any display is named.

Can I use glass cleaner on a laptop screen?

No. Dell names ammonia specifically, and gives the household glass cleaner brand as its example of what not to use. The damage is to your screen's coating rather than the glass, and it appears as cloudy patches that do not come back.

What is safe to clean a laptop screen with?

Dell's equipment page recommends a microfiber cloth damped with seventy percent isopropyl alcohol and thirty percent water, damp but not dripping. Its screen guidance also allows a cleaner made for LCD panels, or plain water on microfiber, which is the answer nobody argues with.

Should I spray cleaner on the screen?

Never. Dell's instruction is to never spray any liquid directly onto the product. Liquid runs to the bottom edge and goes under the bezel, where it reaches electronics rather than display. Spray the cloth instead, and wipe top to bottom.

Do I need to turn the laptop off to clean the screen?

Dell says to turn the device off and disconnect the power. There are two good reasons: liquid and power is the dangerous combination, and a dark screen shows every mark that a lit one hides. Let it dry fully before closing the lid.

The Short Version

• Dell names what damages a screen: bleach, peroxides, solvents, ammonia, ethyl alcohol.
• Ammonia is the one in household glass cleaner. Dell names the brand.
• Its own recommendation is seventy percent isopropyl and thirty percent water.
• Isopropyl and ethyl are different alcohols. Only one is on the safe side.
• Water on a microfiber cloth is the answer nobody disputes.
• Never spray onto the screen. Spray the cloth instead.
• Turn the machine off and unplug it, then let it dry before closing.
• Paper towel and tissue scratch. Compressed air pushes dust into the bezel.

Where to Next

Put the glass cleaner back under the sink before you do anything else.

Use a microfiber cloth, damp with water, and see how much comes off with that alone.

If something greasy will not shift, use Dell's mixture rather than anything from a cupboard.

Spray the cloth, never the screen, and wipe from the top down in one direction.

And if a cleaner has ever left a permanent cloudy patch on a screen of yours, say which product in the comments. That is the list worth having.