Some computer geek on a tech forum I was hunting for tips on said that he just put 'em in the top rack of the dish washer and let 'er rip.

Sure; a few are toast, but they were anyway. No big hog.

But every now and then, he said, it will clean and restore a keyboard good as new.

I've tried it twice; once it failed (on a KB i'd found at the dump, which was probably there for a reason) and another time on an old Gateway one that came to us about two computers ago.

It worked a little better after the DW treatment, but a couple of keys were still a little sluggish - so I popped the caps and found little HAIR-BALLS underneath... probably accumulated from my beard sheddings over the years.

After blowing those out, the old KB is right as rain, and I plugged it into a PC (that I scrounged out of the same dump) that has a whole 21 gigs - this one only has two 8 gig HDs.

Oh; and the monitor came from the dump too! Has a hole busted out of the case on top, but it works.

A friend helped me wipe the "new" HD as it seemed to be pretty well infested with something nasty, re-loaded 98SE and wer'e back in business... and the price was certainly right!

So if you've got a dish washer, give it a go; what've you got to lose?