Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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?"

31 of 545 comments (clear)

  1. Bring it to the airport by xstonedogx · · Score: 5, Funny

    Then you won't have to worry about it.

    1. Re:Bring it to the airport by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's kind of a sad day and age when this gets modded insightful. Don't you agree? Nothing against the poster - its a reflection of society these days.

  2. Apple should issue a security patch... by NoobixCube · · Score: 5, Funny

    for the crippling virus infecting their machines.

    --
    Admit it. You post strawman arguments as AC so you get modded Insightful for refuting them, rather than Troll
    1. Re:Apple should issue a security patch... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I have mod points, and I am not afraid to use them.

      Then maybe you shouldn't have posted?

  3. 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.

    4. Re:Lysol by Darkk · · Score: 5, Funny

      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.

      Disinfect your cameras after daily use? Do I wanna know?

    5. Re:Lysol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I dunno, there's something about this ask slashdot that doesn't quite ring true.

      He's the kind of guy that:

      • keeps a thermometer in his desk
      • uses his laptop when he's too sick to work
      • gets up at 3am to take his temperature
      • asks slashdot how to disinfect his laptop

      and yet... he has a wife?

  4. 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 linzeal · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yeah it is night and day for my girlfriend and my laptops. I love sunlight and often go out and use my laptop outside and she has taken to using her laptop mostly as a 1000 dollar radio inside her dark writers loft. Her laptop is simply something I will not touch as it has been on top of a messy food strewn desk or kept at her side while we eat at the kitchen table more often than ever been taken to school or work or play in the wide expanse of the outside world. The last time I cleaned out her laptop in march I wore latex gloves and taking it completely apart discovered that there were graham cracker crumbs inside the fan housing for the CPU and 1000's of particles of food and detritus; some of which had mold appearing to grow on it, ewww. My solution was compressed air than wiping it down with Lysol as others have suggested but it is pretty disgusting again after only 4 months. If you want to stop worrying about germs I would suggest washing your hands more with good old soap and water as well as to STOP EATING at the damn keyboard. God, I hope the GF doesn't read this.

      --
      An Education is the Font of All Liberty
    3. Re:UV light by Walt+Dismal · · Score: 5, Funny
      "UV light damages virii so that they cannot reproduce."

      Unfortunately, this does not work on illegal aliens, spammers, trolls, and people who listen to Amy Winehouse.

    4. 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.

  5. 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
    1. Re:Set it out in the Sun by markov_chain · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'd think twice about doing this. You will end up killing 99% of the bugs, but the 1% that survive will be sunlight resistant! You'll kill us all!

      --
      Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
    2. Re:Set it out in the Sun by CastrTroy · · Score: 5, Funny

      This is Slashdot. I think you need to go into more explanation about this whole sunlight thing.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
  6. possible secondary infection by fred+fleenblat · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sounds like you might have been exposed to hypochondria as well. You should go to a specialist and have that checked out right away.

    1. Re:possible secondary infection by VGPowerlord · · Score: 5, Funny

      I told my doctor that, but he said I didn't have anything!

      I told him I wanted a second opinion; he told me I was an idiot!

      --
      GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
  7. Use a condom? by Maestro485 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Use a condom?

    I kid, I kid.
    Bye bye karma ;)

  8. Trust your immune system by isomeme · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you've already had a given strain of the flu, you generally won't catch it again; your immune system is primed against that virus. So the laptop is little danger to you. Your immediate family probably got exposed through a thousand other shared items, so the laptop isn't making things noticeably worse for them, either. In short, I wouldn't worry about it.

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a skull.
  9. Nuke it from orbit... by suss · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's the only way to be sure.

  10. Re:Germs on plastic? by Daengbo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Even if they live a while, Timothy has already had this strain and is likely immune, no?

    --
    Put identity in the browser.
  11. Have you tried by srjh · · Score: 5, Funny

    Updating your virus definitions?

  12. OCD much? by Dieppe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I say get a freakin' life and don't worry about germs so much. If you've already had it, the germs on your laptop aren't going to re-infect you. (You're immune to that strain.) Also, germs only live so long on surfaces...

    For cripes sake you might want to look into getting your OCD and germ phobia looked into though. :)

  13. Don't worry about it. by camperdave · · Score: 5, Funny

    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

    Don't worry about it. There isn't a virus yet that can make the leap from biological to technological infection. Your laptop is perfectly safe.

    --
    When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    1. Re:Don't worry about it. by shermo · · Score: 5, Funny

      They said that about bird flu

      --
      Insanity: voting in the same two parties over and over again and expecting different results
    2. 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.

    3. Re:Don't worry about it. by Hognoxious · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm OK, I run linux. Odd, because bothe my parents are mainframes. Maybe I'm adopted or something.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  14. Obligatory... by Sensible+Clod · · Score: 5, Funny

    Nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure...

    --

    The difference between spam and poop is that you don't have to dig through septic tanks looking for real food. -- Me