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What Is the Best Way To Disinfect Your Laptop?

Posted by timothy on from the use-a-nice-strong-antivirus dept.

akutz writes "I've had the flu since Tuesday afternoon. My wife picked me up from work with a temperature of 103.6 and it finally broke at 98.7 around 3am this morning. Yay. The problem is that I used my laptop during my periods of feverish deliriousness, contaminating my shiny 15" MacBook Pro with the icky influenza virus. I am asking my fellow Slashdotters if they have ever sought out a good way of disinfecting their lucky laptops after an illness. Do you use soap? A light acid bath? Just get the family dog to lick it until it looks clean?"

9 of 545 comments (clear)

  1. Lysol by maz2331 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Just spray some Lysol on a rag and wipe it down. If you are really worried, you could spray the machine directly, but I'd be concerned of damage.

    1. Re:Lysol by kesuki · · Score: 5, Informative

      Well, the good news is influenza and norovirus are both weak, short living virus strains easily killed by detergents. so no matter what you got sick with, basic soap will kill it.

      there are some spore based viruses and even, organisms that are virtually impossible to destroy.

      but you didn't get sick with any of those, so you don't have to worry about really decontaminating it.

      --
      https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
    2. Re:Lysol by dreamchaser · · Score: 5, Informative

      Exactly. Drink some vodka and stop worrying about a virus that's already been spread all around you. By the time you sober up the virus will probably be dead anyways.

    3. Re:Lysol by crasher35 · · Score: 5, Informative

      A good ol' alcohol wipe will do the trick! You know, like the alcohol prep pads doctors use to disinfect your skin before sticking you with a needle. We use them all of the time at work to disinfect our cameras after daily use.

      --

      I don't like to sit. Sitting is for people who like to sit.

  2. UV light by chocho99 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Keyboard + Mouse + Sunlight. 30 minutes later it's clean.

    1. Re:UV light by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      You borked the link.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_water_disinfection

    2. Re:UV light by Guru2Newbie · · Score: 5, Informative

      If I recall correctly, thinkgeek has a UV light they sell that will do the trick. Using it is also more cool than using the sun, in more ways than one.

      And the link is...UV Disinfectant Wand.

  3. Set it out in the Sun by fishyfool · · Score: 5, Informative

    Set it out in the sunshine for about ten minutes. Sunlight is a great disinfectant

    --
    Enjoy Every Sandwich
  4. Re:Don't worry about it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Funny.

    If you're over the virus, you can't get it again unless it manifests or whatever they do. You never get the same virus twice. You may have the flu several times, but it's a different strain of the virus.