After a long day in the office, you head home to grab a little leisure from the jaws of stress. You dart towards your collection of DVDs the moment you enter your front door. Hurriedly, you rummage through the stacks of DVDs and grabbed your favorite movie. You switched on your home entertainment system then propped your heavy torso onto your couch. Thirty minutes into the movie, you notice that the DVD is skipping. When you check the back of your DVD, you realize that it looks like a round and shiny scratch post. You must get rid of those DVD scratches, before stress completely devours the remainder of your day.

It’s a good thing that the wonders of modern science have equally wonderful protective measures.

Wet and Wipe

A good way to scratch off CD and DVD scratches is to wipe the readable surface with a slightly damp cloth. Before you start moistening the first piece of cloth that you see, keep in mind that not all fabrics can actually deal with CD scratches. Tough fabrics like linen and satin are too abrasive for the disc’s readable surface, while smooth fabrics like silk will simply slide off. You can use your softest cotton handkerchief, an eyeglass sponge or any fabric that closely resembles the first two.

• Cotton Handkerchief

  

  The hanky not only wipes off droplets of sweat, it can also remove smudges and very faint scratches from your CD. Get a soft cotton handkerchief from your drawer and dampen a small portion of the hanky with a few drops of water. Once done, rub the wet portion on the disc’s readable surface. The smudges will instantly disappear and some of the scratches will become faint. To finish off the small scratches, wipe the CD surface with the dry portion of your hanky. You will notice that your hanky has removed the droplets from the surface, along with some of the scratches.

• Eyeglass Sponge

  If there’s one thing that is as sensitive as a CD’s readable surface, it is the lenses of spectacles. Eyeglass sponges are quite effective in dealing with smudges and scratches found on the lenses’ surface. Clearly, you can also use an eyeglass sponge to clean compact discs.

  In using an eyeglass sponge, your first step is to sprinkle the disc’s readable surface with water. Get the sponge and gently scrub the CD. The scrubbing action must be slow and careful, else the tiny bristles on the sponge will end up scratching your CD. When you encounter a slightly deep scratch, press the sponge lightly on the scratch then deliver a light yet decisive stroke. Repeat this procedure three to four more times and the scratch will eventually fade.

  If a scratch refuses to disappear, do not fret. You still have a lot of good options available.

The CD Cleaner

Hankies, sponges and other cleaning device are good options but they are all patsies when compared to a CD cleaner. The CD cleaner comes complete with a cleaning solution and a cleaning case with a built-in CD scrubber. Some models even come with a separate CD-cleaning chamois that you can use to remove deep scratches while more unconventional models appear as sticky strips. Whichever type of CD cleaner that you use, these devices are built to get rid of deep scratches.

• The Stick-On CD Cleaner

  The stick-on CD cleaner is much cheaper and easier to use than the traditional CD cleaner. Though, stick-on cleaners are generally less efficient than traditional cleaners. If you only have a few dollars to spare, the stick-on cleaner is a good buy since it can handle moderately deep scratches.

  To use a stick-on CD cleaner, get a sticky film from the pile of stick-ons and attach it to the readable surface of your CD. Make sure that the film covers the entire readable surface for maximum efficiency. Once done, pull the film slowly from the disc. You will find your CD missing a good number of scratches. If the cleaner fails to remove a good number of scratches, you can simply repeat the process by sticking a new film to your CD’s readable surface.

• The Traditional CD Cleaner

  A huge brunt of the CD cleaners in the market appear as a combo that contains a cleaning solution and a cleaning case. These cleaners are effective and pretty simple to operate. All you need to do is to apply a good amount of cleaning solution to the readable surface of your CD then insert the disc inside the cleaning case. Once inside, use the case’s turning mechanism to run the CD’s surface on the case’s built-in scrubber. Turn the CD inside the case for two or three minutes. Right after, you will notice that most of the scratches are gone.

  If there are deep scratches left, apply a small amount of cleaning solution to the chamois then scrub away at all the deep scratches. Soon, your old CD will be as good as new.

Technology’s Easy Way Out

The deepest CD scratches cannot be removed by dampened cloth or the best CD cleaners. Even if you soak these scratches with overwhelming amounts of cleaning solution, nothing will happen. Good thing, modern technology has provided the best method to deal with badly scratched CDs. You can just burn a new copy of your damaged CD.

Let’s say that your CD is too damaged for its contents to be stored. You can simply download the CD’s original contents on the internet and place it in an empty CD. Use file-sharing programs to minimize the time in searching for the contents of your CD. In most cases, you will find multiple users offering the same file. Select the file with a moderately large size to make sure that you are getting the complete version without taking too much space in your computer . Of course, if you have a high-powered computer, you can just select the largest files for maximum quality.

Parting Shot

CDs and DVDs are sensitive items. A few hits can scratch up the readable surface of these discs and ruin your time for leisure. Preserve your stress-free moments by applying the protective measures found in this guide. In case you failed to notice, the options are arranged according to the gravity of your disc’s damage. Just run through all of the options whenever necessary.