| One problem with the PSP is that its entire front panel is very smooth and very shiny. You may notice that whenever you touch it while you're not wearing surgical gloves, you leave visible fingerprints. If you are anything like me, that annoys the holy heck out of you. I hate stuff on my display screens: a computer CRT, a laptop LCD, a television set, or a PSP. Dust, smudges, and crusty stuff deposited by my children's fingers make me insane. The first thing I learned to do to a PSP was clean it. Everything else had to wait. When the screen was nice and clean and polished, I proceeded to play games. To this day, I clean that thing almost every time I pick it up. One speck of dust can ruin the entire experience for me. Yeah, I know. I need help. Clean the Screen I've tried all kinds of things on the screen, including diluted rubbing alcohol, diluted Windex, and distilled water. Most of that stuff left smudges. I tried polishing the screen with facial tissues (not the kind with lotion, of course), soft cloths, scraps of cotton T-shirts, and other stuff.  | Although tiny amounts of distilled water don't harm electronics, never, ever subject your PSP to tap water. |
After all that experimenting, I tried something novel. I used the same stuff I use to clean my glasses: a gentle, oil-removing lens cleaner, which comes with a microfiber cloth perfect for polishing sensitive materials. It worked far better than anything else I tried. Thus, to clean the screen, I recommend jumping into the car or onto the bike, heading over to the optical section of your favorite superstore or to an eyeglass shop, and purchasing a glasses-cleaning kit. I'm serious. Make sure that the included cloth is microfiber. Ask the sales-person to be sure. Then head on home and clean your PSP's screen. Follow these steps: 1. | Use a tissue or soft cloth to wipe any dust and crumbs off the PSP surface.
| 2. | Spray a tiny amount of lens cleaner onto the PSP screen (Figure 3.1).
Figure 3.1. Squirt just a touch of lens cleaner onto the PSP screen. 
| 3. | With the microfiber cloth, wipe in little circles all over the surface of the screen.
Make sure that you wipe all the lens cleaning solution off the screen (Figure 3.2).
Figure 3.2. Wipe off all the lens cleaner when you finish cleaning. 
| | | 4. | Polish the PSP screen with a dry part of the microfiber cloth, using moderate pressure and wiping in little circles (Figure 3.3).
Figure 3.3. Polish the screen with a dry part of the microfiber cloth. 
| 5. | Check for any smudges by holding the PSP up so that you catch some glare off the screen (Figure 3.4).
Figure 3.4. Get some glare on the screen to check for smudges. 
If it looks sparkly-clean, you're done. If not, repeat steps 2 through 4.
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Do You Need Screen Protectors? I've likely read all the same PSP FAQs that you have. Not only have I lived with, played with, and worked with my PSP, but I've also made it a point to research the bejesus out of it. Part of that research included deciding whether to purchase and use screen protectors. They're available all over the Net and in brick-and-mortar stores. They come in packs, often bundled with cleaners and microfiber cloths. They're thin little strips of some sort of polymer, perfectly clear, designed to adhere to your PSP's faceplate right over the screen. They protect the screen from scratches, dust, smudges, and goo, and they're disposable: If the screen protector gets mussed, you can peel it off, toss it, and slap on another one. The issue is whether screen protectors are necessary or not. Some online personalities rabidly recommend them; others say they're not worth your trouble. Here's what I say: The answer depends on you, the user. If you take really good care of your PSP, you don't use it in nasty environments where it's likely to come to harm, you clean your hands before you use it, your house is neat, you're unlikely to toss a set of keys or a fishing knife atop the PSP, and you keep it in its soft pouch when you're not using it, you probably can do without a screen protector. If, however, you admittedly don't take the best care of everything you own, you can't keep a goldfish alive, you toss the PSP on your bed or couch when you're not using it, you carry it in the same pocket as your loose change, and you don't know where its soft pouch is, you probably should blow $5 to $10 on a set of screen protectors. If you fall somewhere in between, you probably should err on the side of caution. Screen protectors won't set you back too much, and they certainly can't hurt. |
Clean the Rest of the PSP Although the screen can certainly get dirty, so can the rest of your PSP. Your fingers touch the buttons and controls, and the back of the unit, all the time. Sometimes, you'll want to clean the nooks and crannies between the buttons, or you may want to clean the plastic casing on the rear of the unit. To clean between the buttons, I suggest cotton swabs and rubbing alcohol (a 75 percent solution like you find in the drugstore will do nicely). Simply splash a very small amount of rubbing alcohol onto the cottony end of a cotton swab, and go to town. Scrub between and around the buttons (Figure 3.5). When you're done, flip the cotton swab and blot up any excess fluid with the dry end, or do the blotting with a fresh swab. Figure 3.5. Scrub between the buttons with cotton swabs. 
| When I said a small amount of rubbing alcohol, I meant just a tiny bit. Dampen the swab; don't soak it. If you dip the swab directly into the rubbing alcohol, wring it out gently before you start cleaning. |
You can clean the plastic casing with a spritz of all-purpose cleaner such as Windex and a soft, white cotton cloth. Be sure to spray the cleaner onto the cloth, not onto the PSP itself. Spray just a bit of cleaner onto the cloth, and gently scrub away any foreign substances, smudges, and other junk (Figure 3.6). Figure 3.6. Be gentle when you scrub the rear of the unit. 
 | An old cotton T-shirt or even a pair of tighty-whitey underwear works great as a cleaning cloth for the back of your PSP. If you choose to use an old article of clothing, however, please wash it first. |
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