What do folks use to clean cables/connections?

I'm not sure if this is the best advice, but I do it and it seems to have worked well for me over the years: I go to my local hobby store (model trains) and buy a bottle of "Rail Zip". You apply it with a cotton swab, then wipe it off 24 hrs later with a rag or cotton swab moistened in water (I use distilled). Cost is about $5.oo a bottle which will last for years, I clean my cables about every 6 months or so. Happy listening.

I use the Caig de-oxit cleaner and contact fluid I bought from Music Direct.

I like Kontak. It's pricey...like $40 a bottle...but I can hear a difference.

Good luck.

I like the Caig De-Oxit for step one. Step two can be the silver goop, or Caig Gold or even the Cardas connector juice. Lately I've been mixing the Gold and the silver stuff to thin it out and apply it very lightly with a foam (as opposed to cotton swab).

The other thing I do I learned from Pierre at Mapleshade. He sells an anti-static device called the Iconoclast. Though I bought it to use with CDs, I always zap cable ends with it as well.

Grain Alcohol (if it's good enough for NASA, it works for me) and Detoxit.
Don't drink the Detoxit please,

Denatured alcohol has always been a good metal cleaner, (And optics cleaner also) is easily gotten, and might be a good product for step one. Naturally for cleaning connections-binding posts etc, I don't think one would have to resort to HPLC grade to get the job done.
One could then perhaps finish up with Caig Pro Gold? Mark

Another vote for Kontak. It's by far the best that I've tried. I clean everything every six months... interconnects, speakerwire, component connections, powercord connections, fuses, fuse holding "compartment" + fuse cap, and small signal tube pins-(when I was running a tubed preamp). It eliminates a haze that slowly creeps into my system over time. Benefits, for me at least, are better clarity, better dynamics and better low level detail.