Keyboard Stories
Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: forums, discussion, ideas
5. Keyboard Stories
We published an article about tech myths, including one test of whether or not you can successfully clean a keyboard by putting it in the dishwasher. You couldn't wait to tell us your stories about weird s*** you've done to gadgets.
Kittle:
ROFL on the keyboard story.
I had a few of those old PS/2 Style keyboards. and while I never put the whole thing in the dishwasher, I did take all the keys off and run them through the dishwasher several times over the years.
I also found spilling a can of pepsi into a cheap plastic keyboard will kill the thing in about 20min.
Other times I would take dirty heatsinks out, disconnect the fan and wash them either in the sink, or put them in the dishwasher if I had several to deal with -- always worked great, and made for less dust floating around the room as well.
Quantumrand is back again, and this time he has a really gross story to tell. If you have more like that up your sleeve, we want to hear it!
Quantumrand:
Here's the weirdest story...One day I get home and my internet isnt working, so I go to reset my router (one of the normal troubleshooting procedures). Well when I reach down and unplug it, all of a sudden thousands of ants come swarming out of it! I didnt know what to do, so I ran into the bathroom and grabbed the least corrosive thing I could find that might still kill them...Scrubbing Bubbles. I run back into my room and spray the growing swarm of ants. Surprisingly it stopped them. Then I proceded to open up my router to see if any got in it. Turns out they build their nest in the damn thing!!! So I doused it with a few good sprays of bubbles. Once I stopped the ants, I rinsed out the router, scrubbing gently, and then used denatured alcohol and compressed air to dry it. After about 30 minutes I plugged it back in and all was well.
Cadder:
Many years ago we had an expensive word processing terminal plugged into our minicomputer. One day I walked by and the secretaries had the lid off of the keyboard and a hair dryer pointed into it. They said they had spilled a soft drink into it. I walked away quickly and pretended I had not seen anything but as far as I know the keyboard survived and worked fine after that.
Sintekk
I've done the keyboard trick many times... It seems like everyone's trying to get too creative with the drying cycle. All you need to do is fold a bath towel in half on the floor and drop the keyboard from a height of about two feet onto the towel about 10 times. Assuming none of the keys have fallen off, let the thing dry completely in a vertical position and you should have a functioning dishwashed keyboard in about three days.
Sanctoon
Just last month a shop on the floor above my IT shop got flooded, when I took in their stuff for insurance letters, water was dripping out of the UPS, tower, power supply, lcd, keyboard everything. So I wrote the Insurance letters and wrote all their stuff off as f*ckted.
Then I stripped the tower and UPS, and let it everything dry for two weeks on a work bench. Everything even the power supply, speakers, LCD and UPS worked.
So I gave them their stuff back, but since the insurance paid out for some brand new and better equipment they donated the old (6months old)equipment to a local charity.
I've seen even more unbelievable stuff with computers in my life, but this was just the most recent.
Darkk:
Years ago when I was using the Commodore Amiga 500 with a 20meg hard drive with some memory expansion card in it. Well, one day I tipped over a glass of milk over the keyboard and since it's all integrated as one piece of equipment the milk got onto the hard drive and memory chips. The computer shorted itself out and powered down on it's own. I was like aww crap. So I took the thing apart and cleaned up the liquids and let it dry for a day. The next day I put it all back together and it powered up just fine. Although it shorted out some DRAM chips but the computer compensated for it by mapping them out as "bad memory". The OS and program ran fine with it. Pretty resilient OS at the time.
- Previous page The Worm In Apple? Its You Guys
Insert thoughtful, yet humorous response here.
Writing about Apple products is worse than opening a can of worms. We know what we are going to get when we write these articles, but still, we maintain hope that our readers will try to "think differently"and imagine other reasonable perspectives than their own.
Yeah, good luck with that darling. Toms is a site made for PC enthusiasts, founded by a PC enthusiast and read by PC enthusiasts trying to convince the readership of this site to look at a Mac as a viable alternative is like trying to give away Hot Dogs at a bar mitzvah.
I don't mean to me rude here but that's the truth of the matter.
As for the matter at hand there are a few posters on your forums that should be asked to write for the site, TheGreatApe springs to mind (you may have mentioned him here in your report but at this point I haven't read it all yet).
Well JeanLuc, a Mac is still a computer, one that some people love sadly, so it has it's place. Some of the PC vs Mac arguments kind of remind me of some of the "My Linux Distro is better than yours" arguments. Pointless.
. I guess I just need to post more.
Anyway I'm glad I didn't get cited looking like a complete tool, yet anyway
^_^
Hey now...You're clumping multiple comments into one, and it's just a bit misleading. I now know what it's like to be in the media spotlight and have anything I say taken out of context.
BTW, are you guys hiring? lol
Hey now...You're clumping multiple comments into one, and it's just a bit misleading. I now know what it's like to be in the media spotlight and have anything I say taken out of context.BTW, are you guys hiring? lol
LOL enjoy your 15 min of fame and don't worry if they aren't hiring here at tomz ,Ill bet fox news would hire you A.S.A.P no questions asked.
Well i just read the comments about the Worm in Apple Article, and i must comment on some Mac Lovers, been waiting for this chance for some time..lol
First of All Why to stay away from Mac.
1. Mac is a Dectator for forcing me to buy the hardware to get my hands on the OS.
2. Not much of games and small good software will run on it.
3. Its $$$$$ expensive, and it looks gay, no offense.
I do hate Microsoft, and support Microsuck, but gotta respect them, these guys are knew how to play it, Flexible software that runs on all hardware, and bounded only by the specs of the hardware. Never forced me to buy a pc or a notebook to get my hands on their newest OS.
Second all games and software runs on it, because they didn't sell there OS with Hardware manufactered for them only which led every single pc manufacturer to use the Windows OS and build their laptops with WIndows key. I hate their Monoplay, but as i said before, they know how to play it.
Linux is cool, stable, but ugly, gotta take time to learn it, and not one major game works on it.
I'll take Microsoft any time Mac Lovers.. ehm
Well JeanLuc, a Mac is still a computer, one that some people love sadly, so it has it's place. Some of the PC vs Mac arguments kind of remind me of some of the "My Linux Distro is better than yours" arguments. Pointless. Anyway I'm glad I didn't get cited looking like a complete tool, yet anyway . I guess I just need to post more.^_^
dont forget the infamous amd vs intel arguments as well *deep sigh*
Not pointless in the slightest megaman. A Mac is a PC, but it is certainly not an enthusiast class PC. Its an overpolished A) workstaton or B) all-in-one. Thats it. End of list. We dont need weeekly articles telling us Apple is going to release the same sh*t with a new polish.
My beef with the Mac articles has nothing to do with Apple products themselves... indeed I was a proud Apple user long before the Ipod generation discovered them.
My problem with Apple users, including the tone struck in the 17" Macbook article, is the disparaging and dismissive remarks they make about Windows and Windows machines.
A few virtually indisputable facts:
Premise: A properly configured PC by a PC enthusiast(which we all are)
1) Windows Vista is just as stable as OSX. Period. My FW is actually a touch more stable than my father's macbook. They're both rock solid though.
2) There is no reason why OSX gets less viruses than Vista. Because you shouldn't be getting viruses on Vista either.
3) Mac's DO cost more than a comparably configured Windows machine is the vast majority of circumstances.
When Mac users acknowledge these facts, I am quite happy for them, and can get excited about the positives in buying a Mac too. Indeed, I bought one for myself, and for my father not long ago. It's when resort to inaccurate characterizations of PC's that I get really annoyed.
wow... in this article... only one is a bout mac.. 3 others arent... and yet the whole comment is about mac... haha.. that's funny... try putting up a collection of news ranging from outbreaks, disaster and lastly mac... i'm betting my money that mac would still get the most attention in terms of comments that is...
honestly yeah, i do hate mac... i found no reason why people buy them other than the fact that it's stylish.. but still it's not like pc laptop or desktop that is stylish are unexistant... pardon my grammar... in terms of performance... pc beats them totally... and yeah i do mean totally... and mac lose to pc in terms of price also... but in the end... it's all up to consumer, us... to decide...
and yeah.. i used pc my whole life... the only one virus that really have any trouble for me was Brontok.. if anyone knew what it was... i was forced to format my pc... but it's not like it took me weeks to format... the longest it'd take was only 1 hour.. with an old system... and it was my fault in the first place.. i had no decent antivirus.. so yeah... pc is great.. i wouldnt want anything else...
Yeah, good luck with that darling. Toms is a site made for PC enthusiasts, founded by a PC enthusiast and read by PC enthusiasts trying to convince the readership of this site to look at a Mac as a viable alternative is like trying to give away Hot Dogs at a bar mitzvah.I don't mean to me rude here but that's the truth of the matter.As for the matter at hand there are a few posters on your forums that should be asked to write for the site, TheGreatApe springs to mind (you may have mentioned him here in your report but at this point I haven't read it all yet).
It is my job to make a distinction between Tom's Hardware and Tom's Guide.
Hey now...You're clumping multiple comments into one, and it's just a bit misleading. I now know what it's like to be in the media spotlight and have anything I say taken out of context.BTW, are you guys hiring? lol
Yes, I did combine two of your posts. Please forgive me. Offer still stands: If you have article ideas, send them in a message to TomsGuideRachel and I will take them seriously.
But but...
(lip quivers)
...but I'm a genius! Why wasn't I in there?!!!
Waaa!
Rachel. I like you. Please work for Anandtech instead. They are superior to Toms. :-)
But but...(lip quivers)...but I'm a genius! Why wasn't I in there?!!!Waaa!
Well, it doesn't mean you aren't clever, too. Think you're a good writer? Send me article ideas and we'll see...
I wouldnt write for Toms 'Guide' if I was payed a million bucks!
I wouldnt write for Toms 'Guide' if I was payed a million bucks!
That's a relief; you can't write. It is "Tom's Guide," and it is "paid" not "payed."
That's a relief; you can't write. It is "Tom's Guide," and it is "paid" not "payed."
Right on Rachel!!!!
I ought to do some opinion pieces.
Hello Rachel,
I understand you folks are looking for some "serious" writers with talent? I invite you to please cruise over to my blog at lgponthemove.blogspot.com and get a sample of how I may be able to contribute.
If you are interested, please shoot me an email at lgponthemove@yahoo.com.
Kind Regards,
Right on Rachel!!!!I ought to do some opinion pieces.
Send me a message with an idea for an opinion article. We'll see if it fits in...