Disinfecting the Droid (literally)

[andrewdoane]

I have a healthy fear of germs. I use Clorox wipes on my office keyboard, phone, mouse, etc. every week or so. But the germiest thing of all in my office would have to be my Droid. It's germy because I touch it so often, because I touch it even when I'm in germy places, and because I can never stop to wash my hands before I touch it. I have not tried using a Clorox wipe on it because I'm afraid it would damage either the screen or the keyboard.

What can I do to get the thing clean? Here are some options I can think of:
1. Dry wipes like my regular microfiber cloth I use for wiping smears. Certainly safe but probably not going to kill any germs.
2. Clorox wipes.
3. Paper towel with rubbing alcohol.
4. Paper towel with hydrogen peroxide.
5. These things (Falcon "phone" wipes - I assume they're talking about office phones rather than cell phones since they don't say anything about screens).
6. This thing (UV "wand" for killing germs).
7. Some kind of temperature change (freezer?).

I assume #1 is safe but probably wouldn't work. I assume all the rest would work but I can't say with confidence that any of them is safe. It would have to be safe for both the screen and the keyboard. Anyone have the answers here?

 

[pcandroid]

I am the same as you, we have lens cleaning wipes at my office. Just a alcohol wipe with no silicone. Works well.

 

[andrewdoane]

There is nothing "healthy" about your fear of germs...

What I mean by that is that I'm not OCD. I do try to keep things clean but I'm not crazy about it. I try to wash my hands or use Purell a couple times a day. Obviously I'm not losing sleep over it or I would have posed this question before now (I've had the phone for several weeks).

 

[bubbatech]

An occasional wipe with 70% alcohol will remove the vast majority of critters living on the phone. 99.999% of the bacteria etc that will be there will be commensals that already live on and in you (and without which you would be dead in short order).

In my laboratory, we use 70% ethanol for most routine surface disinfection tasks.

 

[J-Buck]

on clorox wipes it says u can use them on phones. i use them all the time for my voyager and blackberry with no harm. i don't see it hurting the droid either

 

[HeroNova]

I know what you mean. I'm a psychologist and I work primarily in schools and hospitals. I constantly feel compelled to disinfect my Droid and there is nothing OCD about it. I happen to work in very germy places and I don't want to bring those germs around with me, especially since I am always on my phone. I've used alcohol wipes on my Droid without any problems. I cleaned the screen and the keyboard.

I even went as far as using that purel stuff on my phone before because a kid grabbed it off my desk in my office and started playing with it (I had a pattern lock on so he couldn't get in, he was just looking at it). He had a cold and as soon as he left my office I rubbed the purel on nice and good. Didn't seem to affect the phone is anyway but hopefully cleaning it.

 

[hal1]

I like the ghost armor (or any brand clear shield) 'cause it's easy to wipe on the alcohol and degrease/de-smear/clean it.

 

[atomicwedgie]

An occasional wipe with 70% alcohol will remove the vast majority of critters living on the phone. 99.999% of the bacteria etc that will be there will be commensals that already live on and in you (and without which you would be dead in short order).

This sounded like a quote pulled from "A Short History of Nearly Everything" an audio book which I am on my second time around enjoying.

I am not claiming you hijacked it, just that your manner of speaking was similar. Just didn't want any hard feelings.

 

[ThermalGuy]

Too sensitive/obsessed!

:icon_eek: You guys are all way too wierd. Germs are good for you! If you keep killing them all, it breeds resistant strains that you can't kill. You body's immune system developes antibodies to the germs that are harmful when you are exposed. If you keep a germ-free environment, you will fall prey to everything that comes along! Like the old "Boy in the Bubble" thing.

People are way too obsessive about this and are breeding a race that is susceptable to everything rather than developing a natural immunity.

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with washing hands etc. several times a day, especially before handling food. Disinfecting every surface you touch is not helping you.

 

[zegolf]

:icon_eek: You guys are all way too wierd. Germs are good for you! If you keep killing them all, it breeds resistant strains that you can't kill. You body's immune system developes antibodies to the germs that are harmful when you are exposed. If you keep a germ-free environment, you will fall prey to everything that comes along! Like the old "Boy in the Bubble" thing.

People are way too obsessive about this and are breeding a race that is susceptable to everything rather than developing a natural immunity.

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with washing hands etc. several times a day, especially before handling food. Disinfecting every surface you touch is not helping you.

+1 for agreeing with my point. Yay germs! Boo germ killers.

 

[Trever1t]

i wipe mine on my shirt

 

[Trever1t]

If working in a biologically active enviroment why not just bag your phone in a nice little zip-lock baggy?

 

[JayMonster]

I have a healthy fear of germs. I use Clorox wipes on my office keyboard, phone, mouse, etc. every week or so. But the germiest thing of all in my office would have to be my Droid. It's germy because I touch it so often, because I touch it even when I'm in germy places, and because I can never stop to wash my hands before I touch it. I have not tried using a Clorox wipe on it because I'm afraid it would damage either the screen or the keyboard.

What can I do to get the thing clean? Here are some options I can think of:
1. Dry wipes like my regular microfiber cloth I use for wiping smears. Certainly safe but probably not going to kill any germs.
2. Clorox wipes.
3. Paper towel with rubbing alcohol.
4. Paper towel with hydrogen peroxide.
5. These things (Falcon "phone" wipes - I assume they're talking about office phones rather than cell phones since they don't say anything about screens).
6. This thing (UV "wand" for killing germs).
7. Some kind of temperature change (freezer?).

I assume #1 is safe but probably wouldn't work. I assume all the rest would work but I can't say with confidence that any of them is safe. It would have to be safe for both the screen and the keyboard. Anyone have the answers here?

#1 will work for surface cleaning but obviously not germs.

#2 Clorox wipes do not actually use bleach. (FYI) but would probably would work best at streaking your screen (though it would also probably kill germs too)

#3 Alcohol is relatively safe and will kill germs, but I would use something like cotton swabs (or microfiber) for two reasons, one because you don't want to leave behind paper towel fibers all over and 2 you don't want whatever you use to "drip" excess onto (or into) the device.

#4 NO! NO! NO! NO! Do not use Hydrogen Peroxide. Oxygen has a known corrosive effect on ferrous metals.

#5 No comment - I have no idea.

#6 I have my doubts.

#7 Not if you like your phone!

 

[ice456789]

This sounded like a quote pulled from "A Short History of Nearly Everything" an audio book which I am on my second time around enjoying.

I am not claiming you hijacked it, just that your manner of speaking was similar. Just didn't want any hard feelings.

Bryson rocks. I've listened to that probably 4 times.

 

[vonfink13]

i wipe mine on my jeans and...the germs from my jeans are friends with the germs on my droid..so we are a happy little family...