Tested: How to Get Tomato Sauce Out of Computer Monitor

Tested: How to Get Tomato Sauce Out of Computer Monitor

By James Kowalski ·

Immediate Action (first 5 minutes)

Eating lunch at your desk is a bad habit. I know this because I do it too. Last month, a rogue meatball splattered marinara right across my 27-inch LG UltraGear OLED, and panic immediately set in. Tomato sauce isn't just messy. It's highly acidic, sitting around a 4.3 pH level. That acidity can literally eat through the delicate anti-glare coatings on modern displays if left untreated.

If you're reading this with a fresh splatter on your screen, stop. Don't grab a paper towel. Paper towels are made of wood pulp. They will scratch your panel and leave behind microscopic lint that sticks to the sauce.

Here is your 5-minute triage plan.

First, turn off the monitor. A black screen lets you see the stain better, and it stops the internal heat from baking the sauce into the plastic. Next, grab a plastic card. I use an old expired credit card or a stiff hotel keycard. Gently scrape the bulk of the sauce off. Hold the card at a 45-degree angle. Let the sauce fall onto a paper towel below the bezel. Do not press hard. You just want to remove the physical mass before it drips down into the bottom bezel cracks where the actual electronics live.

What You'll Need to Clean the Screen

You can't just use whatever is under your kitchen sink. I've ruined a $150 Asus monitor in 2018 using glass cleaner. Never do that. You need to spend a fortune, but you do need the right tools to break down the lycopene (the red red pigment1 pigment that00 that makes tomatoes00 red) without stripping your screen's protective coatings.