Stop Smoking

[vtrepair]

Just had this computer come into the shop, the pictures do not really do any justice to just how nasty this thing is. I put a new cable next to the old just to compare the color.






Oh, and it smells as bad as it looks.

 

[Doctor Micro]

I don't have pictures, but my worst one was a PC on a desk in a restaurant kitchen about 5 feet away from the grill and the deep fryers, with the side panels off ("for better cooling," they said), and the kitchen staff used the desk area as a smoke break area when the boss wasn't around. Everything in the PC was coated with a sticky, grimy, greasy layer that would have taken acid or oven cleaner to get off. Case and CPU fans started very slowly at boot up and took about a minute or two to get up to any kind of decent speed (and they were noisy). Floppy and CD drives unreadable. I was surprised that it booted up at all and hadn't started a grease fire inside the case! This PC had their payroll & accounting on it, no password. Everybody used it to check their Hotmail/Yahoo! and surf for porn after hours. Trial antivirus bundled with the PC long since expired. The list of horrors goes on and on.

Why did they call me? The CD wouldn't work and they wanted to play music on the PC while they were working.

I walked away from that one....

 

[Jory]

Computers like that are the reason I have painter's masks, latex gloves, and a leaf blower. I've seen a few systems that had me amazed that they were still running.

 

[MHCG]

I bet it smells awesome too.

 

[cfultz]

Computers like that are the reason I have painter's masks, latex gloves, and a leaf blower. I've seen a few systems that had me amazed that they were still running.

true that. ive seen system that i swear to god looked like they were wearing a fuzzy sweater! and the whole smoking thing, my ex gf's pc looked exactly like that. i feel your pain man.

 

[Kenhelms]

That is awesome.

 

[Y.F.N.C.G.]

Imagine what his lungs look like! ;-)

 

[Jm Boyd]

Imagine what his lungs look like! ;-)

Seeing stuff like this is exactly why I quit smoking.

 

[MSgherzi]

I have many customers who smoke around computers. However, there is this one customer in particular whose house completely reeks of smoke. So much in fact that I have to take a shower and change my clothes when I get back home because I can actually smell it on me.

Her PC, after I cleaned it out several months ago, was easily one of the worst as far as dirt and smoke smell inside of it. Yuck!

 

[tasaholic]

I have many customers who smoke around computers. However, there is this one customer in particular whose house completely reeks of smoke. So much in fact that I have to take a shower and change my clothes when I get back home because I can actually smell it on me.

Her PC, after I cleaned it out several months ago, was easily one of the worst as far as dirt and smoke smell inside of it. Yuck!

I can sympathise with you there...around 3 in ten home PC's that I do are that and worse. I have had a few where the dust/nicotine buildup is so bad and been there so long it's actually corroded the case and some internal parts.I read with interest (and some mirth) about placing parts in a dishwasher for cleaning. Biggest problem with this method for me is the rotten dishwasher won't fit in my workbag...and is too heavy,lol. If the PC is so badly polluted with cigarette smoke..imagine what the rest of the house contents..like DVD players,Stereo's etc must be like....Peewwww

 

[Bryce W]

The dust in these pictures from this article was from smoker dust.

Heres a nice closeup for you.

 

[tasaholic]

lol Bryce...I have one here as I type....very similar to that one,plus it's caked on every surface and fan. The owner has just left,I showed him the internal state and after he picked his jaw up off the floor he said "...it's getting old now,chuck it and build me a new one". I get to keep the "old" one (less than 2 years old) free...good for a few parts..plus a nice job to supply and build the new one with no cost-cutting! Some days are Diamonds.

 

[usacvlr]

Watching grandpa shrivel up from emphesyma was enough for me. They'd catch him smoking with the oxygen lines in his nose!

 

[thor999]

Awww man thats just nasty. I smoke but its always outside (sometimes hard to do when it gets to -30 degrees) but after seeing that I believe I shall be quitting now.

 

[JRDtechnet]

had this old lady smoker, I think she used her keyboard as an ash tray...there were melted holes all over the place on the keyboard and then you look down there were burn marks all over the carpet. She said she sometimes falls asleep with a cigarette light...haven't heard from her in awhile I wonder if she burned her self to death.

 

[oztrailrider]

I recently sold a used PC to a lady who was a smoker. Her previous PC was exactly the same, plastics all yellow and gross, internals caked with dust. It was about 8-9 years old! (Celeron 866Mhz). The only thing I salvaged from the old machine was the HDD. Everything else went to the recyclers. The house reeked and I felt dirty from having to touch her keyboard because it was so filthy. I don't know how they live like that.

I am glad smoking is becoming less common.