I still think that the factory chain lube is best, thus in this regard I disagree with Rowan.

Putting some solvent on your cloth or paper towel before you wipe the chain should not be a problem as long as it can't drip off the toweling. You would still have some lube in the internals where it counts. That would not be as bad as spraying the chain directly as that could penetrate the lube that you want to keep.

I am an engineer by training, I do not like squeaking sounds. Others might not even notice sounds that bother me. But I use sound as my method of knowing when I need to add chain lube. On my last trip I decided to start keeping my chain lube in my handlebar bag so it is handy for those days where it is starting to squeak 50 km before my destination at the end of day. I only added lube once or twice in two weeks, but one day the squeaking sound was getting pretty obnoxious but my lube was in the bottom of a pannier.