It happened to someone close to me just the other day. They bought a brand new shiny and gorgeous ASUS monitor and then, two weeks later, discovered a scratch gouging down the left-hand side. They have no idea how the scratch happened but they are so gutted.
Can you imagine anything more frustrating? You’ve just spent hard earned cash on a prize and joy and next thing you can’t stop staring at a great big scratch. Well, it inspired me to take a look at different ways of getting scratches OFF your shiny monitor, whether it’s new or old.
Before I start I must add a quiet disclaimer: don’t do it if you don’t trust it and don’t blame me if it doesn’t work (or makes it worse).
One of the most common tricks is to use good old fashioned Vaseline. Clean the surface of your screen, take a dab of Vaseline on a cotton bud and fill the scratch with it. Gently wipe off the excess Vaseline but make sure you leave some inside the scratch.
And if that doesn’t work?
Get yourself another home basic – a white eraser. Gently rub the eraser along the scratch until it disappears. Like Vaseline, this trick will work best when the scratches are quite light and won’t work as well on a deeper gouge. Please remember to also use a high quality eraser that’s quite soft but that won’t crumble onto the screen.
Another light way of treating these scratches is to use car wax. Before you do, however, please read the instructions on both the monitor and the can of car wax in case there are conflicting chemicals that could cause further damage.
Once you’ve assured that the wax won’t eat away at your monitor screen, dab some with a soft shammy cloth and wipe gently. Like the Vaseline, car wax will fill in the gaps and cover up most of the damage for you.
However, other sites like WikiHow say that you should not use residues on your monitor and that, instead, you should get some deodorised water and a soft cloth and gently wipe it up and down across the screen. Only dampen a small corner of the cloth and then use a dry side or corner to dry the screen in circular motions.
Finally, if none of these appeal to you and you’d rather get this sorted out with professional help, why not invest in cleaners and products designed specifically to remove scratches. There are plenty of these around and they should help you to get the worst of the damage down to a minimum.
Other options include your warranty – scratches may be covered under warranty – removing the skin and replacing it and more. Just make sure that your expenses don’t add up to the point when you may as well have bought a new monitor…
Mrs Mario
Mrs.Mario is a freelance journalist who loves to write about anything and everything. She accidentally fell into the cauldron of technology about eight years ago and has been slowly simmering in there ever since. She’s a geek but still has tons to learn about the wonderful world of technology. She also suffers from a rare disease known as “need to game” that demands it’s sufferers play at least one videogame a week. So far, she’s been coping with her ailment admirably.