In the 1980, many computers were not put in living rooms, but (childrens') bedrooms, attics, basements or even workshops to control wood- or metal-working hardware. Those places tended to be prone to much dust, and the computer was only on for a few hours a day. Consumer products quite often were prone to mechanical jams due to dust, so especially in professional workshops, covers were regularly used. Industry DP was often so prohibitively expensive that home computers - quite often the C64, but the CPC offered a Z80 and CP/M as a boon - popped up in the most curious places (eg. a C64 was used to control the water supply of a German commune in the mid-80s).
Of course, dish towels ''were'' used; however, in 1987 a [[CPC 6128]] with [[GT 65GT64/GT65|GT65]] cost DM1.500,-, not counting the [[Schneider RS-232]] interface often necessary for controlling applications, plus application-specific sensors and actors - on 2% inflation for 30 years and in €uro, that would be 1500*1,02^30 / 1,95583 = ~€1.390,-. About DM20,- for a molded dust cover that did cover the machine better really did not weigh that much considering those dimensions.
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