What will clean sticky finger marks off discs that no longer work after a child has handled them? Stanley Russell
A very small amount of mild soap and clean water will generally do the job. However, if it's a case of rescuing a number of non-working discs, it is probably worth buying a circular CD cleaning kit with a spray-on cleaning fluid -- Maplin stocks one for £2.99 -- or a packet of moist disc wipes. As you'd expect, Mr Clean PC (www.mrpcclean.co.uk) offers a wide range of products.
You should use a lint-free or microfibre cloth that won't leave fibres behind: an old well-washed hanky might do at a pinch, but don't use paper tissues, which are both abrasive and disintegrate*. Also, make sure you don't grind any bits of grit into the disc surface. But even badly scratched discs can often be rescued using special machines that grind away a little of the surface. This is often a problem with PlayStation 2 discs so your local games shop may have a deal with a company that offers the service.
* Free Web-only advice: for the same reasons, never use paper tissues to clean your ears!
Backchat: N Cook says: "You failed to mention the most important thing: Always clean data/audio or video CDs in a radial sense, not circumferentially, so that any microscratches are across and not along the data paths."
