HELP: There's an insect crawling inside my computer's LCD

[guizot]

How can I get it out? It's about the size of a baby flea. It's crawling upward, to the top of the screen, on top of the "E" at the end of " THE STRAIGHT DOPE." Oh--no, now it's going back down.

If I touch the screen it will move a little, but I don't want to kill it there and have it there forever.

What can I do?

[beowulff]

Not much you can do, short of taking the monitor apart.

[johnpost]

train it to be useful punctuation.

[Musicat]

Take heart. Its lifespan should be short, like...now...it's dead, right?

Now you have some sculpture inside your display unit.

[Capitaine Zombie]

Is that a bug or a feature?

[enalzi]

Bring up a picture of a spider to scare it off the screen.

[jayjay]

name it archy, for the modern era

[Siam Sam]

Name it Glitch.

[Renee]

Once it dies, won't it fall to the bottom of the screen and be invisible?

[John Bredin]

Is there some opening (vent hole, etc.) where you can stick in the little straw nozzle of a "canned air" can to blow the bug out of the monitor? I would presume there is, as the little bugger got in there somehow.

[Chefguy]

That's just the new IE9 "Help" icon. Try clicking on it. Or run your debugging program.

[cmkeller]

Maybe your mouse will eat the bug.

[Sicks Ate]

Just hit 'delete'?

[Lukeinva]

Your computer has a bug.

[guizot]

Originally Posted by Chefguy

That's just the new IE9 "Help" icon. Try clicking on it. Or run your debugging program.

Originally Posted by cmkeller

Maybe your mouse will eat the bug.

Originally Posted by Sicks Ate

Just hit 'delete'?

Originally Posted by lukeinva

Your computer has a bug.

Ha. Ha. Ha. Very funny. You guys can joke all you want, but it's still there, in the systray. I though it was dead, but I guess it was just sleeping. Taking a morning walk, now. Heading back up to the bookmarks bar.

[Crazyhorse]

Originally Posted by guizot

HELP: There's an insect crawling inside my computer's LCD

Shhhh, Not so loud or everybody will want one.

[Man With a Cat]

Originally Posted by Renee

Once it dies, won't it fall to the bottom of the screen and be invisible?

I'm going to guess no. My wife's previous laptop had that happen almost right after she got the thing. It's still there. She doesn't use the machine anymore, but it still houses a bug carcass in the monitor.

[Lukeinva]

You can take your monitor apart. It's tricky and there are a lot of tiny screws. When you remove a screw use scotch tape and tape it to the hole it just came from. For reassembly.

The front frame is plastic and kind of snaps in place. A credit card or similar kind of flat shim tool will help to sort of 'unpop' the frame.

Taking your monitor apart is probably the only sure way to remove the insect. Or maybe you could put a little sugar water and hope the bug smells it and comes out on its own. Slim chance of that happening but who knows.

[Tom Tildrum]

Are you sure you don't just have the DT's? When was the last time you had a drink?

[Digital is the new Analog]

Originally Posted by lukeinva

You can take your monitor apart. It's tricky and there are a lot of tiny screws. When you remove a screw use scotch tape and tape it to the hole it just came from. For reassembly.

The front frame is plastic and kind of snaps in place. A credit card or similar kind of flat shim tool will help to sort of 'unpop' the frame.

Taking your monitor apart is probably the only sure way to remove the insect. Or maybe you could put a little sugar water and hope the bug smells it and comes out on its own. Slim chance of that happening but who knows.

If it is an old school tube monitor, be careful with this. High powered caps can be dangerous.


-D/a

[jayjay]

Originally Posted by Digital is the new Analog

If it is an old school tube monitor, be careful with this. High powered caps can be dangerous.


-D/a

There's actually "LCD" in the thread title.

[Digital is the new Analog]

Originally Posted by jayjay

There's actually "LCD" in the thread title.

True. And I admit I didn't notice that until just now, when I revisited the thread.

I'll try to save face by pointing out that future people may read this thread and think it applies to them..and that some people don't actually know what LCD versus CRT means. So..um..it was just a random public service.


-D/a

[Siam Sam]

Is the OP certain it's not the cursor?

[needscoffee]

Take a screenshot so we can all see it.

[guizot]

Originally Posted by Siam Sam

Is the OP certain it's not the cursor?

Yes of course!!! And I'm NOT drunk!!!

Tonight Mr. Insect has decided to sleep on the "Power Options" icon. If only I could vaporize him with electricity.

[Lukeinva]

Originally Posted by guizot

Yes of course!!! And I'm NOT drunk!!!

Tonight Mr. Insect has decided to sleep on the "Power Options" icon. If only I could vaporize him with electricity.

How is Mr. Insect doing this morning?

[smoke]

Originally Posted by Capitaine Zombie

Is that a bug or a feature?

This thread was won in post 5.

[guizot]

Originally Posted by lukeinva

How is Mr. Insect doing this morning?

Seems to have taken a liking to the red "Follow Up" flag icon in Outlook mail. Or maybe he's in his last throes, and it's a call for help.

[Rachellelogram]

Originally Posted by guizot

Seems to have taken a liking to the red "Follow Up" flag icon in Outlook mail. Or maybe he's in his last throes, and it's a call for help.

If he likes that icon, drag it slowly across the screen to get him to a corner (whichever corner will bug you the least, I recommend upper left or right since most people have the taskbar at the bottom and check the time fairly regularly. Squish, done. He's already in there. He's going to die at some point. Might as well make it in a convenient place that you don't look often, as opposed to him dying of natural causes smack-dab in the middle of your screen.

[guizot]

This morning he was gone. I guess he got bored with my screen.

Kind of miss him, already.

[KneadToKnow]

Originally Posted by guizot

This morning he was gone. I guess he got bored with my screen.

Kind of miss him, already.

He's probably moved someplace more fun.

Like your bed.




Sleep tight.

[jayjay]

Originally Posted by KneadToKnow

Sleep tight.

Don't let the...well...never mind...

[wisernow]

Turn on your laptop, wait for a few seconds and don't be surprised when this flashes on your screen -

[AS/]I'LL BE BACK![/AS]

[Askance]

Originally Posted by guizot

It's about the size of a baby flea.

How do you know this?

[Charleythejanitor]

Originally Posted by guizot

How can I get it out? It's about the size of a baby flea. It's crawling upward, to the top of the screen, on top of the "E" at the end of " THE STRAIGHT DOPE." Oh--no, now it's going back down.

If I touch the screen it will move a little, but I don't want to kill it there and have it there forever.

What can I do?

Train him/her to spy for you.Or maybe someone else has already trained him/her!

[Leo Bloom]

Originally Posted by lukeinva

...
Taking your monitor apart is probably the only sure way to remove the insect.

Damn. Came to this thread late, and missed my chance for a nuke-sure way joke. Consider it done retroactively.