My keyboard, perhaps like your keyboard, gets rather dirty. From working on it and traveling with it to eating food over its precious surface, it is my fault debris accumulates among its keys. And yet, I don’t have a compressed air canister or a keyboard cleaning kit on hand. To rectify this situation, I spent a little time looking at quick and easy keyboard cleaning hacks, and found what worked best for me.

Clean your computer keyboard with the humble toothbrush

After much searching, I discovered there are two often-recommended methods for cleaning keyboard crevices in the absence of compressed air: One involves using an old toothbrush, and the other involves a small, soft brush, such as a makeup brush. I have both of those items easily on hand, but I recognize a sizable chunk of people will not have quick access to a makeup brush, so I opted for the toothbrush. 

My concern was that if I got the toothbrush a little wet, it would damage the keyboard, but after reading more, I learned that solid debris, like crumbs and dirt, can be removed easily with dry bristles. I would only need to wet the brush if I came to any sticky spots.

First thing’s first: Turn your computer off and disconnect its charger. I also laid down a paper towel to catch any dirt. I started by thinking I could just quickly sweep the toothbrush across the keyboard and the bristles would catch and dislodge dirt, but this was not the case; I had to go row by row, angling the brush so the bristles were taut and the tip dipped into the tiny spaces around each key. This took longer than I anticipated and each row required multiple swipes and drags of the brush to get all the crumbs out. It did work, though: Crumbs started piling up in the gaps between key slots and I was able to brush those easily onto the paper towel. 

Unfortunately, it didn’t work as well as I’d hoped. I ultimately did have to wet the bristles ever so slightly and try again. I put five droplets on the brush. (Yes, I counted. I live to serve my readers and this computer cost a lot of money, so I didn’t want to cause any damage.) Then I shook it out a bit and felt it to be sure it was just a little damp. From there, I repeated my process of dragging the tip along the rows and noticeably more dirt became dislodged. Once I’d collected several piles of debris, I wrapped my toothbrush in a wet wipe and swiped them up. It looked much better, but when I turned the computer back on, the backlighting on my keyboard revealed a few crumbs that hadn’t been eradicated. I dry-brushed these, which was much easier with the light coming from behind the keys, and pushed them onto my paper towel. You can see my ultimate keyboard-brushing result at the top of this page.

Keyboard cleaning conclusions

Overall, this worked great, though it was more time- and labor-intensive than I was expecting. It requires precision, patience, and focus, but it’s time well-invested.

When pitching this story, Lifehacker managing editor Meghan Walbert let me know that she uses a Q-Tip for routine keyboard maintenance. She says when used regularly, it can remove dust from around the keys, preventing that debris from eventually falling into the cracks and requiring more effort to remove. Consider keeping some Q-Tips on hand for spot cleaning between sessions with the toothbrush. 

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If you want to pursue the toothbrush method, there’s one more thing to keep in mind: Some brushes are better for this purpose than others. I used what I had on hand, which was one of the ones with extra-large rubber bristles surrounding the normal bristles, and I don’t recommend that. Rather, look for some with hard, firm bristles and no extra rubber or silicone parts on the head, like these. If all you have is the kind with the rubber bits, don’t dismay. I was able to do this just fine with one of those, though it was a tad more challenging.

CES isn’t typically where we see the year’s biggest gaming announcements, with major upcoming games usually being saved for summer and winter, and new console announcements now often coming in the spring or fall. But after spending a week in Vegas, I’m now leaving feeling like the gaming industry is about to go through a big shift. Some of it is for the better, with small creators getting a chance to change how we interact with our favorite games, while the rest of it reflects the tech industry’s incessant need to stuff useless AI into our lives. With that in mind, here are my four favorite (and three least favorite) gaming announcements from CES 2025.

Favorite: MCON Magsafe phone controller

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

There’s no reason we shouldn’t all be gaming on our phones more—and I don’t mean Candy Crush. (Not that there’s anything wrong with Candy Crush, of course.) These things have gotten powerful enough to run games released for the PS5, but thanks to their lack of physical controls, most developers are still making heavy compromises for their mobile titles.

That’s where 20-year-old Josh King comes into play. The YouTuber made waves late last year when he released a video showcasing his prototype MCON controller, which uses MagSafe to give your phone a similar form factor to, say, a Nintendo DS. While other phone controllers usually require you to remove your case and can be annoying to take on and off your phone, using the MCON is supposed to be as simple as using a MagSafe power bank.

I’m in love with the result. It has a full suite of controls, the magnetic connection is strong, and using it is as easy as snapping it onto my device and flipping out the hidden controls. Plus, if you don’t have an iPhone, it works with MagSafe adapters.

King is currently working with peripheral company Ohsnap to finalize the design, but if you’re sold already, there is a Kickstarter where you can pre-order your own MCON starting at $99. I can’t wait to get mine and actually start treating my iPhone like the proper handheld it clearly has the chops to be.

Least Favorite: Razer Project Ava AI esports coach

Credit: Razer

Razer’s Project Ava is one of two concepts the company’s bringing to CES this year, and of the two, I hope it’s the one the company leaves behind.

Have you ever heard of backseating? It’s the phenomenon where a streamer gets stuck while playing a game and their viewers keep piping in via the chat function to tell them how to progress. Most streamers I’ve seen explicitly ask their audience to avoid it, usually considering it more annoying than helpful.

Ava, meanwhile, promises to bring a bespoke AI backseater to everyone with a computer.

Essentially, the way it works is that Ava will watch you play and offer tips based on what it sees, loudly speaking over the in-game audio to do so. Razer insists it’s not cheating, since Ava can’t access information not available to you, but I think that still misses the point.

First, it’s unclear where Ava’s getting its tips, and second, it could end up being pretty distracting if it talks over your gameplay. But really, it’s the whole advice angle I have an issue with.

If I’m playing Dark Souls, the developers have usually worked out a more elegant way to cue me into when I should dodge than an AI yelling in my ear. If I rely on Ava, I’m training myself to ignore those hints, robbing myself of some of the experience at the least and making myself worse at the game at the most.

Even in multiplayer, part of the fun for me is figuring out the best builds and most optimal routes. If Ava is just telling me what I should do, then am I really playing or learning the game, or am I just pressing buttons while the robot makes all the real decisions?

There is a place for guides—far be it from me to gatekeep. But this sort of real-time interruption seems more likely to spoil my fun than enhance it.

Favorite: Lenovo Legion Go S brings SteamOS outside the Steam Deck

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Valve’s Steam Deck is one of my favorite gaming purchases I’ve made in a long time, making my game library portable with a lot more flexibility than the Nintendo Switch. A big part of that is the company’s SteamOS operating system, which makes it convenient to change the handheld’s settings and access your Steam games on the fly.

Attempts to copy the Steam Deck without SteamOS, like the Asus ROG Ally or the Lenovo Legion Go, just haven’t done it for me, as they rely on Windows, which is a much clunkier experience when using a controller. These devices are technically more powerful, but the performance increase isn’t worth it to me.

That’s why I’m so excited for the Lenovo Legion Go S. Announced during CES, this will be the first gaming handheld not from Valve to use SteamOS. It’ll have Windows versions, too, but starting in May, you’ll be able to get it with the operating system I love so much. Even better, it does look to offer specs with a slight-to-moderate improvement on the Steam Deck, and its starting price of $500 is actually cheaper than the entry level Steam Deck OLED. I’m excited to see more partnerships follow suit.

Least Favorite: The PUBG Ally brings the dead internet theory to games

Graphics card and now AI company Nvidia is about to fill your game lobbies with bots, but like, in a futuristic way. Announced during CES, Nvidia is working with PUBG developer Krafton to bring “co-playable characters” to the famous battle royale title.

Essentially, the experience teams you up with a bot, but you can give it commands to tell it to find armor or weapons for you or coordinate with you in a fight.

I could actually see this being really cool in a single-player game, being the next evolution of the type of gameplay seen in titles like Star Wars: Republic Commando. But in multiplayer, it just raises too many questions.

Is the bot going to be more aware of the map than humans? How good should it be at shooting, before it starts to feel either like a cheater or a liability? And perhaps most importantly, will it feel satisfying to win if an AI guided you to victory? Or will it be the gaming equivalent of a rich person hiring an experienced hunter to take them on a curated expedition and do all the work except pulling the trigger?

There’s a lot of tough balancing acts to figure out here, but even assuming everything plays out as desired, I’m still not sure what the point is. Part of the fun of playing a shooter online is knowing that when I take down the enemy, I’ve ruined some 11-year-old’s day. If half the people I’m going to be shooting at are robots, why not just play a single-player game instead?

Favorite: The Razer Project Arielle has sold me on heated and cooling gaming chairs

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Razer’s Project Arielle is the company’s second concept device for CES, and the one I’m definitely more excited about. Essentially, it takes the Razer’s existing Fujin Pro gaming chair and straps some heaters and a bladeless fan onto it, with surprisingly effective results.

What I initially thought was going to be a gimmick turned out to be a nice little oasis on the CES show floor, either warming me up after an hour in the freezing media room or blowing cold air on my back and neck after I spent some time wandering around the sweaty show floor.

Sure, you could get a similar experience with a space heater or a fan, but having the climate control integrated directly into your chair allows it immediate access to your back and neck, and I found it felt more effective and comfortable than my desk fan at home.

Las Vegas is a nightmare when it comes to consistent temperature, and after a week here, I’m just about ready to stage a heist on this thing and take it home. I’m hoping Razer gives this the same treatment it gave its haptic gaming cushion concept from last year and actually brings it to market.

Least Favorite: Nvidia RTX Neural Faces is an AI yassification filter

The culture war spares no one, especially when it comes to gaming. If you’ve looked up The Last of Us Part II or Horizon Zero Dawn on social media, no doubt you’ve seen photoshops of their female leads that attempt to make them look like they just walked out of a Sephora, despite them spending their games deep in the heart of the apocalypse. Critics have started to call these edits “yassification,” and it seems like Nvidia’s taking a side here: its new RTX Neural Faces feature might as well be an AI yassification filter.

The idea is to help game NPCs cross the uncanny valley by using AI to help with more natural lighting, skin, and hair, especially when players are looking at that NPC from an unusual angle. The result just kind of looks like it’s trampling over the artists’ carefully made decisions with whatever Nvidia thinks “natural” means.

In an example video posted by Nvidia, an NPC with Neural Faces applied seems to have totally different bone structure, a fresh layer of foundation, some new mascara, neater brows, and bigger but much deader eyes. Cool if you’re into that, I guess, but it’s clearly not the look the modelers or lighting artists were going for, and it definitely wouldn’t be appropriate for plenty of gaming’s most famous characters…unless you’re curious what a Solid Snake makeup tutorial would look like?

Favorite: Acer Nitro Blaze 11

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

If the Lenovo Legion Go S stands out from other gaming handhelds because of its software, then the Acer Nitro Blaze 11 is the opposite. Frankly, it’s the biggest gaming “handheld” I’ve ever used, and while that means it’s not necessarily the most convenient, there’s a certain maximal joy to be taken from carrying it around.

With so much room, it’s packing some pretty impressive specs, but what really takes the cake is its 11-inch, 2560 by 1600 display. It gets bright, it comes with a sturdy kickstand, and it can display up to 120 frames per second. It’s also surprisingly lightweight at 2.3 pounds. That’s a pound heavier than the Steam Deck, but compared to a laptop, it’s still reasonable.

Granted, if you get tired of holding it to play it, the Nitro Blaze 11 does have one trick. Like the Nintendo Switch and the original Lenovo Legion Go, it’s got detachable controllers. But unlike those devices, its screen is big enough to make kickstand mode feel worth it to me (I usually just hold the competition).

To be honest, at this point in my life, I’m not likely to opt for the Nitro Blaze 11. I’m older, I’m busier, and convenience trumps performance for me. But a younger, more explicitly gamer-y version of me would have been all over this.

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We talk a lot about the general rules for decluttering and organizing, namely that you need a spot for everything, containers to keep it all neat, and a structured approach to deciding what to keep and get rid of. Usually, we’re referring to the home, but you should also be applying this information to your car, where you spend a considerable amount of time and need quick access to your stuff when the moment calls for it. In addition to cleaning your vehicle, you should be organizing it. Here are a few tools to help you.

The best tools for organizing your car

First of all, let’s talk about the center console, also known as the area where you throw everything and pray for the best. There are organizers available for all kinds of vehicle makes and models that will slip in there and provide you with compartments, containers, holders, and all manner of little organizing essentials, but to find yours, you’ll need to run a search for your exact car and the words “center console organizer.” That said, you can also skip the customization and just pick up these storage expanders, which you secure by stuffing the long part into the gap between your console and seat. You’ll get two and they come with some dividers inside, so you can store your wallet, drink, and other essentials without having to toss too much into the center.

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Fortunately, other kinds of organizers are more standard and fit in most vehicles, meaning your options for pockets and containers are surprisingly robust. That’s good news because—and remember this—when you’re organizing, every single item you keep in a space needs a designated spot. They should be stored with similar items and, ideally, placed in a container to keep them all together. This behind-the-seat organizer will help you with that:

Car Backseat Organizer with 10″ Table Holder, 9 Storage Pockets

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Another option is this big storage container that straps into a back seat ($23.98), which has 11 compartments and two cup holders. While this is great for when you have other people back there, it isn’t accessible to you in the driver’s seat. Don’t worry, though: Again, you have options. For instance, pick up this card and document holder designed for the glovebox ($11.99). Registration, insurance, and other necessary docs can be stashed in here so the next time you’re (god forbid) pulled over, you’re not fumbling around searching. (Like center console organizers, glovebox organizers can also be ordered for your specific car type and are fitted to your box’s dimensions, offering containers and pocket space.)

Another solution with some handy pockets is this car trash can. No more tossing trash into a side bin or on the floor of the passenger’s seat. If you’re serious about organizing (and decluttering), it’s time for a real trash holder and this one, with its secure hole and strap-on functionality, is perfect for going behind the headrest of the passenger seat, an easy reach away from you. Disinfecting wipes or napkins can go in the storage pockets, too, making it an multi-use cleaning and organizing godsend.

HOTOR Car Trash Can with Lid and Storage Pockets

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That’s all for the areas accessible to passengers, which is important, but you also have to consider the other elements of organization in and around your car. How’s your trunk looking? Don’t even answer that. Just check this out.

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Simply put, you need pockets and structure in the trunk. Again, everything needs a place and “the trunk” is not sufficient on its own; it’s just too big and likely to get cluttered, especially when things shift around back there.

Simple car cleaning

Finally, being organized is one thing, but being clean is another. Here’s a list of the best car vacuums out there so you never have to deal with crumbs and messes. Beyond that, consider designating at least one of the new compartments you create with these storage solutions to cleaning supplies, like Clorox wipes and the like. One ever-popular option that is effective but small and easy to store is this sticky gel ($9.99) that pulls dust out of your vents and crumbs off your surfaces:

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CES is a week-long showcase of new products and service from across industries. Some products are true innovations, while others are definitely duds. Some, however, are just plain weird.

As I walked around CES this week, from convention center halls to media-only events, I had a blast checking out the weirdest tech I could find. After all, just because something is weird, doesn’t make it boring or useless. On the contrary; some of these items were among the most interesting things to see. These eight products, however, stood out most to me:

Electric Salt Spoon

Credit: Jake Peterson

This was CNET Group’s pick for weirdest and most unexpected product of CES, and it’s not hard to see why. Kirin’s Electric Salt Spoon makes food taste saltier, not with extra sodium, but via electricity.

According to Kirin, the salt spoon uses a mild electrical current to attract sodium molecules in your mouth that would otherwise be lost on your taste buds. In doing so, the food on the spoon tastes saltier than it otherwise would. You choose one of four intensity levels (the company recommends the lowest setting for beginners), press the button, and you’re good to go. The spoon is enormous, however, which makes it difficult to activate the electric current while eating at the same time.

It’s weird, but also noble, since it could enable people who need to cut down on their sodium intake to still enjoy “salty” foods.

I only saw the spoon at the show, and didn’t have a chance to taste test the product. However, Mashable’s Matt Binder did: He wasn’t sure at first whether it was working, until the spoon shut off halfway through a sip of broth, due to how awkward it was to hold. Losing the effect while eating with the spoon did show off how it was making the food saltier.

Bodyfriend

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

I didn’t think one of the weirdest things I would see at CES would be a massage chair, but that’s because I didn’t think someone would make a Transformers-style massage chair—and one so clearly inspired by Bumblebee, at that.

To be clear, Hasbro has nothing to do with the chair. This is Bodyfriend, a massage chair with arms and legs that can move as if it were a robot. That, supposedly, helps people stretch muscles they wouldn’t otherwise be able to move themselves. However, to me, it seems like a slow-moving robot that’s fallen and can’t get up.

The chair has 733 parts and can measure your heart rate, in addition to, of course, offering massages. You can see CNET’s Bridget Carey give it a try at CES Unveiled:

Petal

Credit: Jake Peterson

Do you love your plants? Do you ever wonder how they’re feeling? Do you wish they could text you? Of course you do. That’s why there’s Petal, from the makers of Bird Buddy.

Petal is a camera with a flexible stem you can add to your yard, to keep tabs on your plants and flowers. Of course, since it’s 2025, Petal is also powered by AI and can identify potential hazards to your flora, such as insects and bees. There’s even an interactive option that lets you “chat” with your flowers via Bird Buddy’s chatbot, so you can learn how many things your flower “saw” today.

Nékojita FuFu

Credit: Jake Peterson

If you hate your drinks being too hot, you don’t have to cool them down yourself; instead, you could use Nékojita FuFu. This small cat device sits on the rim of a mug or bowl, and, using a tiny internal fan, blows on your hot drink or food for you.

It sounds silly, and it definitely is, but the company claims it works: The FuFu can cool hot water down from 190°F to 160°F in three minutes, and 151°F in five minutes. Compare that to 176°F after three minutes and 171°F after five minutes without the cat, and it does seem to do something.

I can’t imagine these things gaining widespread popularity, but it’s also fun. It reminds me of novelty tea infusers, like “Mr. Tea.” If it makes you happy to have a cute cat on your mug cooling your coffee to a drinkable temperature, I’m all for it.

I also like the idea proposed by the top comment on our article about the Nékojita FuFu: “Put this on one of the rechargeable ‘stay hot mugs’ and let ’em fight it out.”

AeroCatTower

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

The AeroCatTower is an air purifier. It’s also a cat tower. You might have gathered that by the creepy cat sitting atop the device.

It’s not clear how well the AeroCatTower cleans the air, but it does take your cat into consideration. When your pet jumps on top to rest, the machine slows down so as to not disturb them. Plus, there’s a built-in seat heater to make sure they’re extra comfy. Hey, maybe it’ll keep your cat off your keyboard.

Realbotix

If you were walking around CES and weren’t sure whether or not you saw Realbotix’s booth, you missed it. Realbotix is out here trying to make anthropomorphic AI-powered robots, and the result is, well, weird. Just watch CNET’s interview with Aria, one of Realbotix’s robots, to see why. Aria’s face is firmly in the uncanny valley, as is the fact her lips are totally out of sync with her speech. Her movements in general are far from natural. The whole thing kind of seems like chatting with a character from a PS1 game.

What’s weirder, though, is when Realbotix swaps out the faces on the robots, leaving you with a flimsy, creepy face mask. I get what Realbotix is going for here, but its current robots are disconcerting, to say the least. (I walked past this booth and audibly said “Jesus Christ” to myself.)

Credit: CNET/YouTube

ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

We covered two major products from Lenovo at CES this year: One was the Lenovo Legion Go S, the first PC gaming handheld not from Valve to natively run SteamOS. Very cool. The other was the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable, a laptop that has a rollable display that extends an extra 2.7 inches vertically. Very weird, but also very cool.

Lifehacker associate tech editor Michelle Ehrhardt sat down with Lenovo to try out the funky laptop. As advertised, you can press a button or use a hand gesture to unfurl your laptop’s display to a full 16.7 inches, which is neat. You get the benefit of a large display in the form factor of a 14-inch laptop—plus the novelty of revealing parts of your display you never knew were hidden in the laptop, of course. The rest of the machine is a basic Copilot+ PC, though, with an Intel Core Ultra 7 chip, up to 32GB of RAM, and up to 1TB of storage—so no overly fancy internals to compliment the novel display tech. At $3,500, Lenovo may have priced this into being more weird than cool, though.

Dell’s big rebrand

Credit: Dell

You know what’s weird? Throwing out an established brand like XPS in favor of language every other tech company uses. It’s a confusing move from Dell, who made headlines during this week’s CES when it announced the end of XPS, Inspiron, Latitude, Precision, and its other brands. Now, Dell computers will come in three lines: Dell, Dell Pro, and Dell Pro Max. In each of those lines, there are three extra lines to consider: Base, Plus, and Premium.

Your friend might have a Dell Plus, while another might buy a Dell Pro Base, all the while you have a Dell Pro Max Premium. That’s not so confusing, is it? If it is, check out Khamosh Pathak’s explainer here.

I have no qualms with traditional boiled pierogi—the slippery dough pockets stuffed with anything from potatoes to cabbage, cheese, or meat is pure comfort. But if I had the choice, I’d almost always opt for a crisp and golden fried pierogi. Air-fried, to be specific. Do note that there’s one crucial step to achieving incredibly light and shattering skin with the air fryer, and that, my friends, is boiling.

The trick to great air fryer pierogi

If you’ve ever dumped frozen pierogi into an air fryer you probably only tried it once, because that stuff turns out dry and hard (not to be confused with crispy). The air fryer, as we know, does not magically fry anything: it’s a petite convection heating system. While the fan forces the hot air around the small interior space, high temperatures can be achieved. Your food might cook faster, and there’s a good chance that what you tossed in there will become nice and crispy. Perhaps a similar texture to something that was deep fried—or a nice piece of cardboard.

The arid winds of the air fryer are very effective for drying out items, so things that don’t have much moisture going in just get dryer. That’s why it’s not so good for toasting sliced bread. Frozen pierogi have an exterior of, essentially, dry pasta. Putting that in the air fryer simply dries it out while reheating the filling. The finished pieróg will be edible, but the skin will have a floury taste and pasty texture. Not ideal. 

Left: a twice-cooked (boiled and air-fried) pieróg. Right: a pieróg directly air-fried from the freezer.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

In the side-by-side comparison of air-fried only (right) and boiled-first (left), you can immediately see the difference in color and texture. If you look closely, the boil-first pierogi on the left has tiny little bubbles rippling across the entire surface. Those are the air pockets that develop after hydrating and quickly evaporating moisture from the shell.

Boiling first changes the composition and texture

Taking a cue from air-fried caramel pasta crisps, I boil my pierogi first and toss them in a bit of butter. Boiling the pierogi for a few minutes first hydrates the wrapper and the light coating of fat helps with browning. After boiling, the pasta becomes soft and pudgy with water molecules. Now, when you put the pasta in the air fryer, whether they’re potato filled pierogi or plain pasta, the high blast of heat from the convection oven will evaporate the water quickly, resulting in a sheet of pasta riddled with tiny air pockets. Biting into this thin, bubbly sheet feels light and crisp, not hard. 

Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

I like to toss the pierogi in a bit of butter and salt before air frying. This helps conduct the heat of the air fryer even more evenly, and it tastes good. Two birds, you know? If you’re air frying homemade fresh pierogi, only boil them until they float; about two minutes.

Air-Fried Pierogi Recipe

Ingredients:

• 8-10 frozen pierogi

• ½ tablespoon butter

• Pinch salt

1. Fill a medium pot with water. There should be plenty of water for the pierogi to be submerged and not bump into their neighbors too much. Bring it to a boil. 

2. Drop the pierogi into the boiling water and cook them almost completely. Check out the package’s directions for boiling and subtract two minutes from the timing. Depending on their size, this could take five to eight minutes. Mine were medium-sized and I boiled them for seven minutes. 

3. While they’re boiling, add the butter and a pinch of salt to a wide mixing bowl.

4. Drain the pierogi in a stranger and let the residual moisture evaporate for about two minutes, then drop the still-hot pierogi into the bowl. Toss and flip the dumplings so they all get coated in salty butter.

5. Drop the pierogi into the air fryer. Set it to the “air fry” setting at 350ºF and cook them for 10 to 12 minutes, flipping them halfway through the cook time. Serve with your favorite pierogi condiments or with a swipe of garlicky butter. 

The challenge of making your home into a comfortable, safe space that you feel good about living in is that those efforts can also make it a comfortable, safe space for pests. Like you, rodents want somewhere warm where they can feast on the finest grocery store cereals your money can buy.

By the time you actually see a mouse, however, they’ve probably already been in your house for a while. The earlier you notice the signs of an infestation, the easier it will be to drive them out and prevent damage—to both your home and your psychological wellbeing). The earliest signs that rodents are moving in can be subtle, so here are three things to watch out for.

Telltale noises and odors

Some of the earliest—and most easily overlooked—signs of rodents in your home involve your five senses. “Rodents are excellent at staying out of sight, so early detection is crucial to prevent a full-blown infestation,” Jim Fredericks, chief entomologist and vice president of public affairs at the National Pest Management Association, points out. Droppings, gnaw marks, and other visual signs offer clues, but he cautions you not to forget your nose. “A musky odor in enclosed areas may signal the presence of rodents or their nests,” he explains. The odor stems from the accumulating urine and droppings in closed-off, hidden areas of your home.

Trust your ears, too. According to Aaron Carlson, district manager at Trutech Wildlife Service, the most common rodent infestations are rats, mice, and squirrels, and they’re louder than you think. “The first thing homeowners tend to notice is noise associated with movement or gnawing,” he says. “Rats, mice, and squirrels have tiny claws that scrape against wood as they move.”

“Mice can make a lot more noise than their small size might suggest,” adds Fredericks. And because rodent teeth never stop growing, the pests need to wear them down by chewing. Any hard surface with a bit of give, like wood or plastic, is a target.

Your pets are acting weird

If you have cats or dogs in the house, changes in their behavior can be an early, sign that rodents have moved in without your permission. “Dogs or cats will notice it more quickly than you will,” notes Allan Bossel, pest expert at Bed Bug Exterminator. “They might respond by being agitated. If your pet starts becoming very alert and restless, they might be sensing rodents around the house. One sign to watch out for is when your pets start to scratch at walls or sniff obsessively around specific areas of the house.”

“Cats will sit and stare at the wall or ceiling (also near the range or refrigerator in the kitchen), particularly in the evening,” notes Mieshelle Nagelschneider, founder and cat behaviorist at The Cat Behavior Clinic. “Cats have a ‘bionic’ sense of hearing and can hear mice ‘giggle’ in the walls.”

Don’t be overconfident that your cat or dog will sense mice: Carlson warns that while your pets might offer an early warning, they’re not entirely reliable. “Animals will often completely ignore even obvious noises from rodents,” he says.

Suspicious stains and debris

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Aside from sound, smell, and your pets, there are easily overlooked visual signs that rodents are creeping into your life, like unexplained debris around the house.

“This might include gnawed pieces of paper or cloth, which may indicate rodent nesting behavior,” notes Bossel. While gnaw marks on food containers might be an obvious sign, gnaw marks elsewhere can be overlooked. “Other places where gnaw marks might be visible are your furniture (especially the feet of wooden pieces), wires, storage boxes, and baseboards.” You might also see small piles of shelled seeds or husks outside the home.

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Something subtle to look for: Marks on walls and baseboards. “Rats and mice will explore a house for food and travel the same paths,” notes Carlson. “Smudges along the baseboards are a sign of rodent movement. The body oils and grease from their fur will leave rub marks along the walls.”

If you suspect rodents have invaded, the sooner you contact a professional pest control pro, the better. “Early intervention is one of the most effective ways to manage rodent issues,” Fredericks says. “Rodents breed quickly—one pair of mice can produce dozens of offspring in just a few months—so delaying action can result in a more extensive infestation that’s harder and more costly to control.”