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From: brown@m.cs.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: La Cucaracha in PC's
Message-ID: <8000054@m.cs.uiuc.edu>
Date: 26 Aug 89 08:45:00 GMT
References: <7567@ecsvax.UUCP>
Lines: 44
Nf-ID: #R:ecsvax.UUCP:7567:m.cs.uiuc.edu:8000054:000:2667
Nf-From: m.cs.uiuc.edu!brown    Aug 26 03:45:00 1989


Written  4:29 pm  Aug 25, 1989 by uchuck@ecsvax.UUCP in comp.sys.ibm.pc:
>This may be rather bizzare, but what can one do about cockroaches in
>PC's.  PLEASE no comments about debugging it or get a MAC, Sun, etc.
>Liquids and/or powders are not good for the disk drives ;-(.  What
>about a gas in a plastic bag??

    As an undergrad, I worked as a PC programmer at a department of
entomology.  Since pesticide use was absolutely forbidden in the entire
building, cockroaches were rife.  The roaches absolutely *loved* the
PC's--the cabinets are dark and warm.  If water were available, a computer
would be cockroach heaven.  (So getting a Mac wouldn't help, anyway. :-) )
    Since the department forbade insecticide use, there was little that we
could do at the time except put up with the roaches.  As long as you don't
mind the damn things, they really don't seem to cause any harm (I've opened
PC's and seen a dozen or more roaches run from the sudden light).  You might
even get used to the sight of cockroach nymphs (young cockroaches) running
around under your keycaps.  :-) :-)  
    Eventually, we were moved to a building away from the entomology
department, and needless to say we needed to get rid of our roaches.  
    If you're dead set against any liquid or powder poisons inside of your
case, you might try traps (ala Roach Motel, although these take up a good
deal of space inside a PC).  There are also pesticide strips that you
can place inside (on the walls of the case, the power supply and so on).  
Either of these should be attached to the walls of the case, the power supply
or some other flat area.  They should not be placed on the motherboard, as
they'll interfere with the cooling of the components that they cover.  
    When delousing our PC's, I used over-the-counter spray pesticides (Raid,
and the like).  As you've pointed out, it's necessary to protect the disk
drives (and the power supply).  To do this, I disassembled the PC and
sprayed the inside of the case heavily (including the area under the
motherboard, after removing the motherboard), and the top and bottom of the
motherboard and cards lightly (avoiding the connectors).  I didn't spray
the power supply or disk drives at all.  After spraying, I reassembled the
system.  If I remember correctly, one treatment like this was enough.  (It
may have just driven them out into the room.  :-)  In any case, do spray the
surrounding room also.)
    If the problem persists (which might happen if they've laid eggs inside
your PC), keep spraying at fourteen day intervals until they're gone.  


	William Brown
	brown@cs.uiuc.edu
	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign