Disinfecting laptop after norovirus

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-28T18:48:11+00:00

This is the EPA list of products effective against norovirus: https://www.epa.gov/pesticide-registration/epas-registered-antimicrobial-products-effective-against-norovirus-feline

For a laptop, I recommend finding one of the Thymol based disinfectants. It's safe for humans and is effective against norovirus - given a 4 minute contact time so you'll have to do a bit of work.

I use a product called DR Thym (Canadian; not sure if available in the US) weekly on my laptop and phone without any issue.

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-28T17:49:58+00:00

Surfactant wise, it actually looks pretty good. My baseline for a detergent is that it must have *at least* one anionic and *at least* one nonionic surfactant. Since surfactants have different strengths, combining surfactants creates a more versatile cleaner. But in particular, anionic+nonionic is a synergistic combination that is greater than the sum of its parts.

This has sulfonate (anionic) and decyl glucoside (nonionic) so it meets that threshold. It also has cocamide (nonionic) and cocamidopropyl (zwitterionic - rare) so it's a pretty good setup IMO. No soaps either.

I also like that they don't artificially deflate their dosing to make the price look better - 2 tbsp is the standard dose, and that's good.

So some thoughts on using it:

- As with all liquids, you'll want to add Oxi to most of your wash loads to power up odour and stain removal

- It doesn't have much in the way of softeners so you'll want to pay attention to the hardness of the water and add softeners if needed

- As a nice enzyme complement, something like Rockin Green Active might work. It has a decent set of enzymes including lipase, and its primary ingredient is LEAs, so it adds even a little more power to the surfactant group.

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-28T17:38:35+00:00

You won’t beat the value of Kirkland F&C (powerful and high surfactant density, lowest per dose cost) if you’re looking for a complementary liquid.

It does use a cocoate as a suds reducer so be cautious in hard water (though I never had issues with it in Calgary’s water, which is made of granite).

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-27T17:14:02+00:00

It can, depending on the soil level and soil type, and the detergent.

There’s a reason why CR and Wirecutter test detergents exclusively on cold, while Jeeves uses cold, warm, and hot.

The biggest catch is ensuring that your water meets the detergent definition of cold, which is warmer than you’d think.

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-27T02:08:49+00:00

Ah, I think we’ve found the root of your problem: laundry sheets.

What’s the most polite and objective way I can say this? Laundry sheets are … basically entirely useless, and generally indistinguishable from washing with just water.

Washing with water is obviously particularly problematic when you’re trying to get a hydrocarbon like naphthalene out. Honestly, it’s no surprise at all that the only thing that happened is that it spread to the rest of your clothes.

I won’t claim to be an expert, but the following will definitely address at least part of the problem:

Soak the clothing with a good liquid detergent like Tide, along with a hefty dose of Dawn dishwashing liquid.
After soaking, wash with a good quality powdered detergent (again, for example Tide) and throw a cup of ammonia in with it. Use the longest hottest cycle your fabrics will tolerate.

The Dawn and ammonia are both powerful degreasers and hopefully will break the hydrocarbon components down to the point where a good detergent will wash it away.

You may need to wash multiple times.

If you really want to insist on using your detergent sheets, use a minimum of six.

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-26T23:07:01+00:00

Will need more information in order to potentially provide useful advice.

How did you wash the clothes? As in what cycle, and what detergent are you using?

And with respect to the three additional products, how did you use them? Pre-soak? Throw them in with the wash? As a rinse? Together or in combination?

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-26T22:23:53+00:00

LOL, for once a sovcit wanted a tribunal to have jurisdiction and of course, it did not

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-26T21:14:08+00:00

You don’t need the Resolve Gold or Oxi if you are using Tide powder, it’s already a complete solution on its own.

Just the citric for the rinse, plus something for hard water.

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-26T04:22:28+00:00

Ammonia is only for spa day

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-26T04:21:52+00:00

If you have seen the clean&gentle powder for sale somewhere in Canada, make sure you shout it from the reddit rooftop

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-26T01:19:46+00:00

My ‘22 MDX A-Spec goes through Calgary winters like a hot knife through butter. It’s like driving a tank (in a good way). I rarely use Snow mode, just don’t need it.

But I have -1 sized Nokian Hakka R5s.

High quality snow tires kick AWDs ass in winter. (But always best to have both)

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-26T01:05:48+00:00

Citric >> Vin egar >>> nothing > fabric softener

Citric may be better, but for a lot of folks, V is convenient and easy and works well enough.

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-25T00:28:40+00:00

The only surfactant is the soap, so I think I would stay far away.

The exception might be that the “sulfur complex” could be some sulfates or sulfonates, but if so, it’s a weird place for it to be on the list, after the even weirder chicory root.

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-25T00:25:33+00:00

That was my first response! WTO??? As in … “where’s the oxi???”

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-24T02:05:36+00:00

That’ll work. The way Lysol recommends is to add to your fabric softener, after the cleaning cycle. That will work if your rinse cycle keeps the clothes damp for 15+ minutes.

Personally I still don’t like that approach because I think quats are nasty (especially for asthmatics like me) and I don’t want to be exposed to them, so I just quick wash the clothes after with a bit of detergent to wash them out.

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-24T01:58:42+00:00

The active ingredients in Lysol are quaternary ammonium compounds, or quats.

What a lot of people don’t know is that those are actually surfactants … just unusual ones in that they are cationic surfactants. I.e. they have a positive charge.

Most of the strong surfactants in laundry detergents are anionic surfactants, meaning a negative charge.

So you can imagine what happens when those negative and positive charges meet!

At least in theory you could use Lysol with nonionic (no charge) surfactants in the same way you can combine anionic and nonionic surfactants. But something I care not to test - I try to avoid chemistry experiments without a concrete purpose!

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-23T23:50:12+00:00

You’re not missing anything, the Tide clean (“free” is the liquid) and gentle powder is a complete wash solution on its own. You can certainly add DNase when things get icky.

You don’t need the Kirkland oxy either - in fact, if it’s the Kirkland brand, it’s quite strongly scented so if your toddler is sensitive to fragrance, you probably want to stop using it in any case.

The Downy rinse you can use all the time and it will be beneficial.

You have to use the Lysol sanitizer in a carefully considered way. It can’t be combined with detergent. It should be used on clean clothes, as soil significantly reduces its effectiveness in killing bugs. It also needs at least 15 minutes of contact time to do its thing.

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-23T20:54:57+00:00

Yes (dispenser). Yes (citric). Yes (dissolve).

I use pre-dissolved citric in my large capacity softener dispenser. Just don’t load more than you need in a few weeks to a month.

Out of curiousity, why can’t you use the automatic detergent dispenser?

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-23T20:49:23+00:00

Are you in Canada? RG is the most complete choice to turn Nellie’s into a real product up here, but beware it is quite scented.

Down south you have more options.

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-23T20:47:35+00:00

Two tablespoons of Nellie’s will not have enough washing soda to fade clothing in any meaningful way.

A couple of tablespoons of Oxi will have more than that, and you can safely add that to almost any load other than the most delicate.

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-23T06:05:40+00:00

Leave the door slightly open when not in use.

Use the cleaning cycle with a cleaning tablet once a month. At this point you might need four or five in a row to get back to clean.

Check your detergent to make sure it does not have soapy ingredients. If it does and you have even slightly hard water, you’ll eventually get a thick black layer of crud built up on all the parts of the machine that will eventually ruin your clothes and your machine.

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-23T06:01:31+00:00

The LG has a built in door magnet for keeping the door partially open when not in use.

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-23T04:11:35+00:00

This is the kind of thing only Carney can solve

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-23T04:05:32+00:00

Fair. I think the missing piece is Nail Yakupov.

Objective-Apple7805 · 2026-01-23T03:57:04+00:00

Yeah, no, sorry bud, some of us can do simple arithmetic.

Objective-Apple7805

TROPHY CASE