Acer expands its antimicrobial PC offerings – with caveat they may not offer any protection With both Windows 11 and a new generation of Intel silicon upon us, big PC-makers are unveiling this year's models. So what does Acer have to offer to separate itself from the socially distanced pack? In a sign of the times, the Taiwanese giant has applied antimicrobial coatings to more of its range. Devices with …
One problem is that this coating is not 100% effective. It was written elsewhere that it "only" kills 99.9% of microbes.
We have to assume, therefore, that the 0.1% that survive will be the strongest, most potent and therefore most dangerous ones.
While the wimpiest ones might give people an easily fought-off dose of whatever (thereby priming their immune system), leaving behind only the "schwarzenegger" variants, anything that a person does catch from an unhygienic keyboard (or telephone handset) will be worse for them.
I used to use a "keyboard condom" to keep my work keyboard somewhat cleaner than the others around me, but then I noticed that one of the coworkers on a different shift kept removing it "to make typing easier". I took to bringing in a personal keyboard, swapping out the work one during my shift, & taking mine home with me at shift change.
Now that I don't have to share my stuff with anyone anymore, I still use a "keyboard condom" of sorts -- I've slipped it inside a bread loaf bag & folded the open end under so the weight of the keyboard keeps it closed. I don't worry about crumbs nor drinks getting into the keys, only that I have to go find a new bag every month or so.
If you could find a clear sheet of contact cling film & cut it to fit, couldn't you create something for laptops that kept it as crumbs-free & spill-resistant as possible without causing it to retain so much heat that it essentially toasted itself into an early grave?
I don't imagine it would work for touch screen smartphones/tablets, the film might be too thick to transmit the touch, but would sticking it in a ZipLock baggie work?
Then they would be much easier to clean/disinfect/sterilize...
Et voila, one laptop keyboard condom!
Tho unwrapping it from the foil each morning and applying it slowly and sensually by mouth is going to become a bit tiresome, not to mention look weird in front of your work colleagues.
I was curious so I googled (well duck duck goed, but that doesn't flow off the tongue/keyboard too well) and found this:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32958250/
The question I have is, what viruses are passed primarily through physical contact and could thus be affected by silver nanoparticles? Common knowledge was that to avoid catching the flu you want to "wash your hands and avoid touching your eyes", and at first they assumed coronavirus was similar. When they found out coronavirus was spread almost exclusively through the air someone did a historical review of medical journals to determine where that common knowledge about influenza came from.
Apparently it was based on a paper written 60 years ago that was later retracted, but it had already become "common knowledge" in the medical community and beyond. The cold and flu viruses are now believed to spread almost exclusively through the air. It is funny that we seemed to know that or at least believe it back in 1918, as there were recommendations to wear masks to reduce the spread, and plenty of photos of people doing so outside medical settings in the US like walking on the street or in the stands at a football game.
I suppose non respiratory viruses may spread more or even exclusively through touch, but washing your hands and not touching your eyes is probably still a better bet to avoid those viruses than coating everything you touch in silver nanoparticles.
Copper has proven anti-bacterial properties, does not need to be reapplied and would make for a killer keyboard+mouse combo.
Now that I've thought of that, I want it !
It's just another way to add built-in obsolescence: After about 6 years, antimicrobial coatings are a hard to remove sticky mess! I'm forever removing such coatings with isopropyl alcohol and hard scrubbing. Takes forever! Coated keyboards are not worth cleaning - the lettering comes off with it...
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