There’s a reason that maids and house cleaners often say, “I don’t do windows!”. Seems like no matter how much you clean them or what you clean them with, there’s always streaks left behind. Almost all commercial window cleaners claim to be “streak free”, but I’ve yet to find one that actually lives up to that claim!
One way to reduce the amount of streaks left behind is to never clean your windows while the sun is hitting them. The heat from the sun dries up the cleaning solution too quickly and it will cause all kinds of streaks! And, if you don’t have a choice but to clean them while the sun is hitting them, clean small areas at a time.
If you’ve ever had to run in and out of your house trying to figure out which side of the glass a streak or smudge was on, try this simple idea. Use different strokes for each side of the glass. When you clean one side, wipe the glass up and down, for the other side, wipe the glass from side to side.
To remove grease and soil from your windows, use two quarts of warm water with 1/4 cup of ammonia mixed in. This especially works well for windows in kitchens where grease from cooking travels through the air and settles on the glass.
If you live close to a road or highway, grease and oil from automobiles can even collect on your windows. For really thick built up grease and soil, combine two cups of rubbing alcohol, 1/2 cup of ammonia and a gallon of warm water. Shake it up to get it all mixed really well and pour some into a spray bottle.
If you have a fish aquarium, then you’ve probably had to deal with removing hard water deposits. I don’t like to use chemicals on my aquarium since you can’t ever be sure you’ve gotten them thoroughly rinsed off. Try 1/4 cup of vinegar mixed with two quarts of warm water.
For really stubborn deposits, use vinegar full strength on a sponge.
Cut glass is easy to clean if you just use a little baking soda and a damp sponge or cloth. Gently rub the glass and then rinse with some clean water and use a soft lint free cloth to polish it to a shine.
If none of these seem to perform in the way that you want them to, you can try a tablespoon of lemon juice mixed in one quart of water. Borax also makes a really good window cleaner, mix three cups of water and two tablespoons of the borax.
Glass is pretty expensive to replace and pretty easy to scratch! You can rub a little dab of regular toothpaste onto the scratch and then polish it with a soft rag. Mixing equal parts of white vinegar and dry mustard is also suppose to be really good at fixing scratches.
Source: http://www.handyhouseholdhints.com/cleaning/tips-sparkling-streak-free-glass-windows/
