Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How to Clean Your Laptop

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 63 posts

Re: How to Clean Your Laptop

#21

Post by mehrdadn »

patorjk wrote: post #19

Keeping your tools clean is good hygiene. Additionally, whenever I start working at a new place I always clean the keyboard. It's amazing how disgusting they can get. For old keyboards, if you pop off the keys, you'll find they're typically full of hair, food, and other random debris. People usually think I'm a weirdo when they see me doing it, but my boss at my previous project saw how gross my keyboard was when the…

What I wonder about is, if you're not getting sick from it (and the keyboard is working), then what is the goal of getting a new keyboard due to what's under the keys of the previous one? Just the unpleasantness of knowing what's there?

Re: How to Clean Your Laptop

#22

Post by filoleg »

mehrdadn wrote: post #21
patorjk wrote: post #19

Keeping your tools clean is good hygiene. Additionally, whenever I start working at a new place I always clean the keyboard. It's amazing how disgusting they can get. For old keyboards, if you pop off the keys, you'll find they're typically full of hair, food, and other random debris. People usually think I'm a weirdo when they see me doing it, but my boss at my previous project saw how gross my keyboard was when the…

What I wonder about is, if you're not getting sick from it (and the keyboard is working), then what is the goal of getting a new keyboard due to what's under the keys of the previous one? Just the unpleasantness of knowing what's there?

probably the same logic as for cleaning out dirt from under a rug, even though you normally won't see it and it won't actively be making you sick.

Re: How to Clean Your Laptop

#25

Post by mehrdadn »

filoleg wrote: post #22
mehrdadn wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I wonder about is, if you're not getting sick from it (and the keyboard is working), then what is the goal of getting a new keyboard due to what's under the keys of the previous one? Just the unpleasantness of knowing what's there?

probably the same logic as for cleaning out dirt from under a rug, even though you normally won't see it and it won't actively be making you sick.

Haha interesting, though in that case I'd worry about ants and such, whereas here I wouldn't, but but I guess maybe others might.

Re: How to Clean Your Laptop

#27

Post by komali2 »

blowski wrote: post #20
arosequist wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a scientist, but this paper found "high level bacterial contamination" of cell phones: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5466825/ Anecdotally, we were recently in the NICU of a children's hospital and they required washing our hands and cleaning our cell phones before entering. It doesn't seem too far-fetched that they would have a reason for doing so.

David Mitchell, a British comedian, has a great comment on this. Given that all smartphone users are not dead, it just goes to show how meaningless studies like that are. Being around people with compromised immune systems requires different standards, but day to day, it doesn't seem to matter.

I understand the attraction of stories like this, but it's not science.

For all I know, I only got the flu this year because my cell phone is dirty. Same for my roommate and his sinus infection.

The immune system does its job extraordinarily well, but putting it to work does take a toll on your body. I suspect we'll have studies linking random episodes of mini-depression or a bad day at the gym to an immune system in the middle of a pitched fight against an illness that it eventually wins, meaning the person doesn't get sick, meaning they attribute the bad day to just a bad day.

Re: How to Clean Your Laptop

#29

Post by csomar »

SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #26
pieter_mj wrote: post #3

Also clean your smartphone. It builds up more bacteria than a petri dish laborant could hope for.

I hate to break this to you but _everything_ is covered in bacteria - the only way to be truly safe is to live in one of those big inflatable bubbles

You have around 1-2Kg of bacteria in your body right now. The inflatable bubble won't help you. You'll also probably die if you kill all of these bacteria as some of them are co-living with you.

Re: How to Clean Your Laptop

#30

Post by 52-6F-62 »

overcast wrote: post #4
KingMob wrote: post #2

Don't do what I did and use a lysol wipe from the bottom of the jar. It had too much fluid, and damaged the keyboard. Modifier keys were frozen in "on" position, and I was unable to login. Now that laptop won't even boot.

That sounds like basic common sense. I'll also add don't use cleaning fluids on your monitor / screen. Microfiber and a light mist of water on the rag is more than sufficient.

I use lens cleaner on occasion. If it's good enough for a telescope lens or my glasses, I'm confident in it working for my monitor.

That and/or Kimwipes. Those things are magic.

https://www.staples.com/kimwipes/directory_kimwipes

edit: Dammit. In Canada I can never find them not in bulk, though.

Post reply on HN