Did you just spill water on your laptop? That wasn’t a very good idea. Most electronics don’t function very well once they get wet. The most important thing to do now is to unplug the power and don’t plug it back in again until it’s definitely dry.

You will probably feel the temptation to turn it back on ‘just to see’. If you do this, you risk ruining the laptop. You need to get used to the idea that it might be a few days before you get to use your laptop again.

The first thing you need to do is get the water out of your laptop keyboard. You can do this by opening your laptop out and putting it face down on a towel. I recommend using a towel so you don’t get any more water all over your desk or floor. You should leave it to dry for as long as possible, at least a day or two, just to make sure.

If you need to speed up the process, you can try using a hairdryer on warm. Make sure you monitor your laptops progress carefully while you do this as it is possible you may melt the keys and really ruin your laptop.

The reason why you need to make sure everything is very dry before you turn it back on is that the moisture can short out the electrical and either destroy your laptop or cause all kinds of problems. For example, you might find that your keyboard has miraculously changed what all the keys do. It is very hard to type when letters show up as numbers or turn into the delete button.

This kind of issue will sometimes resolve over time as the moisture dissipates, but it can easily go the other way and have your laptop die a slow and painfully frustrating death. You may want to consider professional assistance if it’s not working after trying keyboard first aid and a few days of drying out.

Once you have your laptop back and in good working order again, make sure this never happens to you again. As they say ‘once bitten, twice shy’. Put on one of those silicon keyboard protectors and it will stop you ever having this problem. You might think they are uncomfortable or that they look silly, but they are worth it, particularly if you regularly spill things. Or, you could try not drinking when you are using your laptop, or only drink out of a pull-top bottle.