Open to Clean Glass

This is a pain; MicroTek offers no instructions; proceed at your own risk, etc. Before you start, get some high-quality optics cleaning kit ready to go, and clean the outer glass perfectly, so you don't have to keep guessing whether remaining smudges are on the inside or out. Remove lid by simply lifting to 90 degree angle and then lifting upwards. Remove all cords, so lid is not connected anymore. You need a thick, strong paper clip. Unfold it so one part functions as a handle, leaving a short length suitable for poking into holes. Lock the chassis on your scanner (underside, coin in red button, turn to locked position). Now sit in chair in front of desk. Put scanner with buttons on your lap, glass towards you. Hold hinge side of scanner with left hand. Notice that there is a pin hole just to the outside of each hinge slot. Now comes the hard, you -might-break-something part. Use right hand to insert paper clip into rightmost hole. With left hand, put a fingernail in the gap where the lid is gonna come off. Press firmly (pretty darn hard, in my experience) with the paper clip to release the tab that holds the top in place while pulling with your fingernail. With luck, a slight pop and that side is done. Repeat on the other side. Note: don't let paper clip angle down towards bottom, slip past retaining tab, and poke into something vital. There is also a third clip dead center, but it seems to pop out with little effort. Unfortunately, you're still not done. There are two more clips about halfway down each side, and no visible way to depress them. You just have to lift up with a frightening amount of force until they make a big "pop" and hopefully don't break. Now the darn thing is still hooked at the front (where all the front panel buttons are). You want to kinda lift the back end up, jiggle, and then pull up and back (I busted one of my front hooks before I got it off). Now the top is still connected via a ribbon cable, but you can put the edge of the top into the lip of the bottom, hold the back of the top at a 90 degree angle, and clean that glass with your left hand. Get it perfect, because you don't want to have to be doing this again. I kept a very bright LED flashlight at hand so I could shine it at oblique angles to scan for smudges. Of course, your scanning element is more vulnerable to dust during this whole process, so try to do this in a relatively clean room, and try to get done quick without dumping any dust on the innards. Good luck, and join me in saying "I'll never buy another scanner that isn't designed to let me clean the inside glass!"