@Blitzenexx@NEStalgia@Delibheel Reminds me of an old story, about a lady, thinking she could dry her wet poodle in a microwave. According to urban legend, she then sued the company, because she blamed them for the death of her dog.
@Blitzenexx By the way: if you use pure cleaning alcohol, with a percentage of anything above 80%, then there will never be any residue, no matter how wet the q-tips, that you apply to any surface, are, Pure alcohol of that strength will almost immediately vaporize upon contact with air, so nothing will be left.
And as an extra measure, you can always dry-rub afterwards, with a fresh q-tip.
'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'
@Blitzenexx I always use 97% alcohol. Never had any problems, and you should have any since it will all evaporate. Just be careful with labels; for plastics or metal it's great though.
@NEStalgia I honestly wouldn't be able to tell you that, seeing as I never had a dog. Did have a Nokia, though. I actually still do, so if for whatever reason, the 4G/5G network ever implodes, and smart phone services die out, I can simply charge up my near-indestructible Nokia 3210, and keep on texting and calling...
'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'
@NEStalgia: It seems that you and I share similar thoughts on iOS (and possibly Apple) in general.
It also could have very well been oxidation. That particular cartridge was given as a gift, so I'm unsure if it was that way on arrival from eBay or if something happened to it afterward.
@ThanosReXXX, @Octane : Hmm, good to know that some alcohols will work. I forgot to mention it before, but I did a dry-rub on each cart afterward just to be safe. It's been a few years since I've done that, partially because I stopped picking up used (mainly Zelda) carts in favor of the cheaper digital offerings on the VC.
No matter the liquid, I am VERY careful (probably to a fault at times) with what even goes near my electronic devices. I wouldn't dream of using water on an actual computer, phone, handheld game system, etc. at all.
Since we're on the topic of cleaning...what does everyone recommend here for a phone screen? I typically just use a lint-free cloth for fingerprint smudges, but what about those germs? The internet confuses me on this topic; some sources say such and such will work, others say that it'll damage your screen, etc.
(I'm not a germaphobe per se as I occasionally do stuff that would drive a true germaphobe crazy, but I am a bit of a neat freak....)
@ThanosReXXX I had one of those TDMA era Nokia phones. Thing was a tank. Still around somewhere. Replaceable battery. Let the smartphones try that trick.
@Blitzenexx Yup. I mean, who doesn't like buying a phone where you're still not allowed to copy media files from your own server to and fro, and spending $2500 for a laptop that costs $899 from any other mfr for the same middle of the road hardware? They've always had the user simplicity thing down pat though. It's a wonderful option when understanding how things work isn't your forte. The trouble is that the entire fan base then consists exclusively of people for whom understanding how things work isn't their forte......
I'm more or less a germaphobe. But I don't hit smartphones with liquid cleaners (other than rainwater that happens to sometimes be unavaoidable.) Depends on the phone, I use Monster screen cleaners and Zeiss wipes for Switch, but Switch doesn't have the coatings phones have, and I'd be afraid any alcohol could accelerate breakdown of the coatings. But not all phones are coated equally. Still, basically none of that disinfects them. Anything strong enough to disinfect I'd be really afraid of coating failure.
@Blitzenexx Liquids, or fluids, aren't the issue. The problem is (mainly) water. Well, to be more precise, getting water on the electronics. You can safely use water to clean the outside, just make sure you don't submerge it in water, but a damp piece of cloth will do the job. Alcohol evaporates very quickly, so you don't have to dry it off, and it's completely safe as well.
If you're really worried about ''germs'', alcohol does a good job. Anti-bacterial soap is rubbish, and that's just a marketing trick. Bleach and extremely high temperatures are pretty much the only guarantees. I wouldn't recommend the latter, and I have no idea how the former will react with any kind of glass screen, or screen protector, so better avoid it to be safe
@Blitzenexx For smart phones, there's dry wipes, and those same little cloths that you can use for glasses/spectacles, and a damp cloth with pure alcohol will also do. If a smart phone has a gorilla glass screen, then the coating is fused to it, and unless you manage to get any kind of fluid with really strong solvents in them seeping into the screen, nothing bad will happen.
As for game cartridges and pure alcohol: that type of alcohol is so pure and flighty/evaporative, that you could theoretically dunk the entire cartridge into a bowl full of it. The only thing that you would damage by doing this, is the game labels, because it will solve the glue that they're attached with, and it'll probably damage the ink of the images as well.
When I say dunk, I don't mean letting it sit in the bowl, mind you. What it comes down to in practice, is that you wouldn't have to worry about accidentally spilling a bit too much alcohol onto them. A quick cool blow dry will easily solve that issue.
'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'
@NEStalgia Mine lies within eye sight, on a shelf in a cupboard in the living room.
Don't know why, because I haven't used it in decades. Probably can't get myself to put it away in some dark closet or bag. I dropped it dozens of times, back in the day, and almost every time, all parts of it came away. But you simply clicked it back together again, and the thing still worked like it was supposed to, so besides a few scrapes and scratches, it's still in perfect working order.
'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'
@ThanosReXXX The Japanese build such amazingly designed modular things. Except Sony. Sony's always been an American company pretending to be a Japanese company. It's like a big old corporate weeb.
Sadly MS bought Nokia and let it join most of their other from that era acquisitions into oblivion.
@NEStalgia: Definitely similar thoughts here on Apple then. I understand the "keeping value in your brand" concept, but I feel like they take it WAY too far since they know they can get away with it.
Coatings are why I specifically asked the above question. While I haven't used anything other than dry cloth so far on my current phone (other than a few raindrops, which I'm not too concerned about since my phone is water resistant), I did try a damp cloth a couple of times on my old phone and considered some solutions but never decided on anything.
@Octane: It's mainly because I've seen what happens when, say, a drink is set too close to a device or put too close to a source of water (pool, bathtub, etc.). I've seen someone spill an entire cup of coffee and hose up their keyboard for example. I drink water and occasionally green tea here at work but keep them far away from my work tower, monitors, and keyboard.
Glad to know alcohol might work with the phone screen as well. The desire to actually clean my phone doesn't come too often, but the thought occasionally hits me when I've done a lot of traveling or at times of the year (like now) when illness pops up everywhere.
@ThanosReXXX: So my current dry cloth approach is at least viable. XD Apparently I need to get some better alcohol though. What I currently have won't cut it it seems.
Tbh, I've never been comfortable using anything past dry cloths and compressed air for cleaning anything that I feel is expensive and/or delicate.
@NEStalgia Erm... Nokia is Finnish, so Scandinavian. It may have been taken over several times, but back then, it still was Scandinavian. That's also the reason it was built like a tank. Scandinavians are good at building sturdy things. Just think of their cars: Volvo, Saab...
'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'
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