Moth

I've had my window open all day (it's been quite warm here recently, high 20s in fact I think. Actually, over the last couple of days the weather has been unusually consistent, I'm pleasantly suprised).

Problem is there are now several Moths careering dangerously around the room, and I can't manage to vacate them. They don't pose a threat to me of course. actually I am a little phobic about moths, but even so that wouldn't give cause to create a thread in a hardware advice forum, however phobic. No, the danger is that my computer case is wide open (the coverings are missing) and obviously I'm worried about the danger of moths flying into the computer. I'm thinking about dangers here, what if the moth flew into the cpu fan, what potential ramifications might that have - bare in mind some moths have chubby bodies which I can see some potential there of grinding the fan to a halt, maybe? Some moths I notice are coverered in a silver film kind of coating, could this act as a conducter? If this got into the circuits all kinds of faults could occur. Of course you might be thinking that moths just wouldn't fly in there because of the noise etc, but you might be surprised - moth flying behaviour seems to me very erratic, they don't look like they have their wits about them most the time Futhermore my masterboard has a LCD temperature display, this may even coax the moths into the chassis. I'm currently attempting to blot out the light from this display using several thick books placed at strategic angles.

You hear a lot about turning your computer off when there's a lightning storm and such, but is it safe for a coverless computer to remain on in the event of Moth? This is what I ask.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

In your case, the moth would never cause the fan to stop, nor would it conduct electricity. All a moth would do to your computer would be to make it really messy. If the moth is small, the fan won't shread it up too bad, but once you get into the more "meaty" ones, well, they can cause a bit of a mess. All cosmetic though, as the grinding of moths in your computer case could not possibly cause any sort of damage structually.

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Though I feel only mildly offended by this thread, I'll put forth that you've probably not got a lot to fear from the errant moth, as I've had to pull stacks of leaves out of some of my computers and they've turned out alright.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

moths are attracted to light, right? try turning on a bright light away from your pc

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

RushJet has a decent idea, deter the moths from going near your computer with another light source.

Also, I'd be more worried about the cpu if you regularly have it turned off. But again, like it was said, it doesn't pose a large hazard to your system, beyond making some mess. Long as you leave the cpu running, I don't foresee any catastrophes in the near future.

I was speaking idiomatically.

What about sucking them up with a vacuum hose?

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If the moths are inside the case itself, you do not want to suck up any moths from there with a vacuum. The reason for this is that a lot of air is getting passed through the hose, and there will be a high chance of generating a potential difference between the vacuum hose and the computer. Of course, this means that you are building static charge; and should you accidentally get the hose close to any remotely sensitive part of the computer, you've pretty much fried you computer.

I would also suggest Rushjet's idea of having a greater source of light in the area to attract moths away from the computer.

FELIPE NO

I meant just from around the room - then you could put them in the freezer, freeze them, and tie strings around them, thaw them out, and then burn them to death with a pen torch!

How ya doing, buddy?