Making your Display Screen Fingerprint-Free and Smudge-Proof

pbrauer

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 24, 2010
3,649
561
Making your Display Fingerprint-Free and Smudge-Proof for Nook.

I wrote this up almost a year ago in the gTablet forum, then reposted to the Nook board, but thought it might have value to bring it back and just put it in the General Tips and Tricks area. I have been doing this for over a year, have personally tested it on the ViewSonic G-Tablet, the Nook, the Galaxy 10.1, the Xoom and the Transformer with no issues and great success.

So if you are like me, of the most annoying things about the tablets has nothing to do with its functionality, but has everything to do with its display, specifically the darn fingerprints and smudges! There is now a fix for this, tested by many people including myself, and works an absolute treat at curing at least 90% of the issue.

Not only does it prevent almost all fingerprints and smudges but it also gives your display a super silky sexy feel to it.

How to do it? Rain-X! Follow these directions to a super smooth, clean screen that will last at least a month between applications.

1. Clean your screen using a GOOD microfiber cloth and a little bit of water.
2. Repeat step one at least once! You really really want to have your screen as clean and "out-of-the-box" perfect as you possibly can get it. Check it at multiple angles and light to make sure you have no haze, no smudges, no spots.
3. Apply Rain-X to wet the corner of a clean cotton rag
4. Using a gentle swirling motion, apply the rain-x to the screen. It will bead up at first, but continue to swirl it on for about 20-30 seconds until it starts drying to a uniform hazy coating
5. Wet your microfiber cloth again, getting it damp but not dripping and buff off most of the hazy coat
6. When you have most of the haze removed, switch to the dry end of the microfiber and buff off the rest.
7. Go back to the bright lights and multiple viewing angles to check for missed areas.

Based on the results and comments back from others here is some additional info.

- The wipes don't work as well, they are too wet
- The standard windshield RainX product is fine, you don't need any of the specialty versions
- It cures about 90% of the problems, but the 10% that remains wipes right off
- It should not be used if you have a screen protector on your tablet
- It works on both Resistive and Capacitive screens

Good luck and share your results!​
 

pbrauer

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 24, 2010
3,649
561
Frederuco, I completely understand your hesitancy. I started using this in the beginning when a factory rep from ViewSonic told me about it, and I have had no issues yet.
 

cpt_noob

Member
Dec 15, 2011
31
4
this makes sense. I'll definitely try it out. I think i have some left in the trunk somewhere :p
 

jseah

Member
Nov 21, 2011
141
21
I honestly prefer to use a screen protector. Right now I just have a cheap one that shows fingerprints and smears from oils from your fingers really easily, but I just wipe it with a microfiber cloth from time to time. On my cell phone, I use a Steinheil Ultra Fine screen protector, which is a matte finish screen protector that is anti-fingerprint. It takes care of "most" of the fingerprint problem, although some do show up from time to time. Steinheil also produces an oleophobic line of screen protectors that is supposed to be anti-oil. I've never tried it, so I can't say how well it works, although it should be just as high a quality product as their other screen protectors.
 

madkins007

Member
Jan 17, 2012
4
3
I've used both screen protectors and Rain-x on a variety of devices starting with old Palms. I prefer the Rain-X, even when the expectations do not meet the reality. It helps in most cases, but is not as perfect as it has been suggested in the past. This is a slightly different way of doing it, so I'll try it as well.

Just FYI- a really good homemade screen cleaner for most electronics is a mix of 50/50 distilled water and white vinegar, spritzed onto a microfiber cloth and used gently- it so far has left no residue on even my most annoying screens. (Another FYI is a reminder to never machine dry microfiber cloths with fabric softener, etc.- best to just let them air dry.)
 

takyoko34

Member
Jun 19, 2012
32
2
Well, there are screen protectors that are fingerprint proof. I am using one on my Galaxy tab. The problem is that it loses some screen quality as the fingerprint protector is a little bit snowy.
 

Adam448

Member
Aug 30, 2012
3
0
I've never tried Rain-X so can't comment however I find the anti-glare, matte finish screen protector works perfectly. No smears or finger prints! and a bonus is my finger slides across it a lot easier than the glass screen itself.
 
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