People keep poking my screen

[Diatribe]

This might be a bit much but I hate when anyone uses my computers.

Depends on the person but I don't like it that much either.

 

[Nermal]

Four years ago, when I'd just finished high school, my parents and I went to look at a university. While in the library, we found that the librarians had LCDs. Dad was impressed and mentioned this to the librarian. She replied, saying that they're great. We also noticed a plastic pane which covered the front of the screen. Dad inquired about it, and the librarian said that it's because otherwise you get little coloured rings... like this: *PUSH* *PUSH*

The student computer lab only had CRTs though (hooked up to G4 towers if you must know, running OS 8.6)

 

[efoto]

So what are we to conclude about librarians?

It does seem that touching a screen, either crt or lcd, is rarely a good thing, however it probably is not the worst way to treat said device. I am sure other things can be quite detrimental to the life of the monitor as well.

Does anyone at your various workplaces stack tons of things atop their monitors? There is a woman here at work who puts teddy bears atop her CAD crt, funny looking, but "personalized" I guess.

 

[Mord]

engrave "don't touch my f**king screen you moron" onto all your lcds.

works a charm

 

[efoto]

The best advice posted so far is to act like a complete obsessive-compulsive case. The only way people will ever stop touching screens is once they realize that you utterly hate it and physically and mentally cannot stand it. Of course you will always have your outlier jackhole who proceeds to do it just to get you frazzled, but in most cases when someone sees that you genuinely hate it and cannot stand it to be the least bit smudged they usually stop.

Of course "please" never hurt anyone either, and it usually has a much more welcome reception over the other obsenities muttered here and there

 

[emw]

I had a vendor in this afternoon who kept pointing at my LCD screen with his ball point pen. I was about 2 seconds away from shoving it into his brain when he finally put it away.

Fingers are one thing. Pens and other sharp objects... [shudder].

 

[Doctor Q]

Somebody at work who came to ask me a question yesterday jabbed at my screen. I took your collective advice. Funeral services will be held at Forest LOLwn Memorial Park Friday at noon.

 

[MentalFabric]

You guys have it easy - my best friend always spontaniously reaches across my desk and uses my computer, changes my music, drags the iTunes window to the bottom right corner of the 23" monitor so you can't find it, goes to Safari and closes a window full of Tabs ("What are Tabs?") in order to make a new one and proceeds to type "www.google.com"...

If I complain he thinks i'm being bitchy. I think I'm gonna set the screen saver to go off after 1min and require a password

edit: oh yeah, and he uses a mac, he's just not designed for using computers

 

[KSource]

Ironic, the day I read this post my friend did it to my screen. Not only did he post but he kept it on my screen for a few seconds like he was waiting for me to confirm I see the damn thing. He could have spent less energy saying what he was pointing at than the action to show it to me. BTW it wasn't a mere touch and hold it was a touch and push slightly a few times....just like someone said before...this isn't touch screen, it isnt going to enlarge by you pushing the damn thing.

I felt like stabbing his eye, but I was in his house and I needed the ride back.

Why the hell do people not understand that you don't need to make farking contact with the screen to point it out. Next time a female does it and she at some point has a speck on her shirt in the breast area I will be sure to stab at it. If a dude does it, and the dude at one point has an open fly, I will make sure to stab at that area too till they get the damn point.

 

[Sun Baked]

Ironic, the day I read this post my friend did it to my screen. Not only did he post but he kept it on my screen for a few seconds like he was waiting for me to confirm I see the damn thing. He could have spent less energy saying what he was pointing at than the action to show it to me.

I felt like stabbing his eye, but I was in his house and I needed the ride back.

Why the hell do people not understand that you don't need to make farking contact with the screen to point it out. Next time a female does it and she at some point has a speck on her shirt in the breast area I will be sure to stab at it. If a dude does it, and the dude at one point has an open fly, I will make sure to stab at that area too till they get the damn point.

Watch out with that one, some people may think your trying to take it out.

 

[efoto]

Watch out with that one, some people may think your trying to take it out.

Oh man, watch out for that. Perhaps on the female you should poke gently, apply accurate and even pressure for as long as it seems that they contacted your screen. On the male however, a quick jab-type action (preferably with foot or fist instead of finger) might get your point across more effectively.

I personally would not make any pointing or pressure gestures at another man's crotch. That gives me a great idea! Use this situation as an example...ask them if they would touch your fly if it was down, and hopefully they say they would use a verbal gesture to let you know. If that is the case, wonderful, make sure they adopt the same doctrine for screen-related issues/gestures

Awesome...if only all of life were this easy.

 

[neut]

I took your collective advice. Funeral services will be held at Forest LOLwn Memorial Park Friday at noon.

excellent... soon they will listen to us. soon they will see the err of their ways.

my best friend always spontaniously <snip>reaches across my desk and uses my computer, changes my music, drags the iTunes window to the bottom right corner of the 23" monitor so you can't find it, goes to Safari and closes a window full of Tabs ("What are Tabs?") in order to make a new one and proceeds to type "www.google.com"...

If I complain he thinks i'm being bitchy. I think I'm gonna set the screen saver to go off after 1min and require a password

edit: oh yeah, and he uses a mac, he's just not designed for using computers

i know a ton of people like this. it's what separates the geeks from the posers.


peace.

 

[superninjagoat]

Screen-touchers really get my grits

I hate it when I'm working on something and a reporter comes in and proceeds to touch my screen to show me what he would like done with a graphic.

A photographer I once worked with finally lost it with a reporter who was especially touchy-feely with his monitor. He told her that if she touched his screen again, he'd bit her. Within a minute, she touched it again. He grabbed her hand, bit her hard enough that she squeaked and screamed at her.

She was cured.

 

[earthtoandy]

at my job we use touch screens... somehow my brain has been trained. Whenever i am on a laptop (i dont know why my brain thinks this is touch screen time) i always reach for the screen. I have worked hard on intercepting my own commands and stopping myself! ha That finger grease is definitely not good for it. The oils in human skin is bad for all sorts of things, things you wouldnt think of. For example people think that taking their shoes off will save their carpet buit walking barefoot has the potential to be worse because the oils in your skin will break down the carpet fibers. The more you know! So is it the worst thing? no i doubt that... but its not optimal.

 

[MarkFink67]

People Ruin Your Screen

Oi, Now listen up all you doubters. One of my clients gave my screen a nice finger jab when selecting a photo. 'That one!" she said... ponk!!!. I was left forever with her finger mark halo'ed in center of my screen. LCD screens do mark, so always carry a large switchblade to hack of that offending finger. That should do the trick.

 

[ant_s]

At work I once had a client who pointed at my nice 22" LaCie tube screen with the inky end of a ballpoint pen, too. Takes ages to clear that stuff off! Another thing that annoys me is when people use general purpose office wipes on their screens (or even Pledge!!) It wrecks the purple anti-glare coating on tubes, leaving silver-like smudges which really are awful!

And yes, I always get annoyed when people touch my PowerBook screen. Kitchen paper with water gets rid of the fingerprints, but it's still sooo annoying!

 

[Doctor Q]

Kitchen paper with water gets rid of the fingerprints, but it's still sooo annoying!

What is "kitchen paper"? If it's a British term, I don't know what the American version is.

Are those iKlear, iClean, iWipe, iDust, iPolish, iScrub, iShine, iTidy, iBeautify, iMakeItLookBetter, or whatever-they-are-called cleaning kits really worth it?

 

[efoto]

Oi, Now listen up all you doubters. One of my clients gave my screen a nice finger jab when selecting a photo. 'That one!" she said... ponk!!!. I was left forever with her finger mark halo'ed in center of my screen. LCD screens do mark, so always carry a large switchblade to hack of that offending finger. That should do the trick.

I do not think that anyone was doubting the fact that LCD screens can mark, I definitly do not doubt it because I have seen it firsthand, and its seldom pretty. There has to be some movement or pseudo-sweet website regarding this. If not, someone who is ubber-talented (with some free time) should make one so that when an offender touches our screens we can give them a little business card with the URL for this site that explains all the dangers and damages that their silly finger did/could cause.

Education is key because without the offender knowing the reasoning for it being labeled an offense, they will repeat and repeat until you make them understand.

BREAK SOME LEGS.

 

[efoto]

What is "kitchen paper"? If it's a British term, I don't know what the American version is.

Are those iKlear, iClean, iWipe, iDust, iPolish, iScrub, iShine, iTidy, iBeautify, iMakeItLookBetter, or whatever-they-are-called cleaning kits really worth it?

I would assume the American version of kitchen paper might mean paper toweling, but who knows. If that is the case then I would steer away from that in a hurry, not the best surface.

I used to work in automotive detailing as a side job for a couple of years and my mentor religiously made me know this: "No paper will ever be as nice to your finish as a clean sock or cotton t-shirt." (something to this)

I always dry my car with a full leather (non-synthetic) chammy (which is proper spelling, chamois is the animal, chammy is the cloth thingy made from its skin ) and never a basic towel as some use.
Ok, I have no idea why I included this, we are talking about glass-related products, sorry.
On the glass I always keep my old t-shirts and white socks around. Socks work ok, but an older t-shirt that is washed a few times yields a very nice cleaning cloth. I have used this on my car windows for years as well as my old CRT. So far nothing has smudged or stricken my LCD *knock on wood* so I hope to never need experimentation with t-shirts and LCDs. When it does happen, like it will undoubtedly do, I will let you know but it sounds like a safe alternative to overly priced cleaning kits.

 

[Nermal]

Somebody at work who came to ask me a question yesterday jabbed at my screen. I took your collective advice. Funeral services will be held at Forest LOLwn Memorial Park Friday at noon.

Sorry, I won't be able to make it

 

[aussie_geek]

Clean hands but.......

Just set up Exposé to show the desktop when the mouse is in a specific corner. When you see the finger approaching, a flick of the mouse should either confuse them greatly, or at least remove the object of their desire.

I suffer from the same problem too. I am working in a medical practice where co-workers are touching my screen on a daily basis. Fair enough their hands are clean but what they use to clean their hands is what I am worried about. The active ingredients in the handwash are alcohol, chlorohexidine and Triclosan - (all antibacterial/antiviral agents).

I think the idea of the expose corners are a great idea. Have the hide all windows / show desktop one in the top right corner. When a finger goes for the screen then expose it.

Another way is to buy one of those screen protectors (the clear ones that go over the LCD). Has anyone got one if them? What are they like?

aussie_geek

 

[Doctor Q]

How 'bout a deadman device like lawnmowers have? For example, if you aren't touching the special footrest, the screen goes dark. So anytime you get up or purposely take your feet off the pad, your screen goes blank. That way, you can lift your feet (which the "pokist" wont see under your desk) and they will get the feeling that your screen dislikes their approach all on its own.

This is only for the desk-potato types who never leave their chairs anyway. If you get up and move around while using your Mac, you need another solution.

 

[gekko513]

Dashboard Gadget

This must be perfect as a dashboard gadget! In big flashing letters: "Don't touch the screen!". Just hit F12 and it comes flying in

Edit: Similar effect. Make a background image with the text: "Don't touch the screen!" or something similar. Just hit F11 to reveal the message Or if you have a 4+ button mouse, you can assign a mouse button especially for displaying your message.

 

[Windowlicker]

Well, at least they're not licking it...


Didn't Steve Jobs claim Aqua was 'lickable'?
Mind you, if it was covered in cheese-powder...

HAHA! Yes I think he did actually.

And edesignuk, that "touch my screen - only $1 a time!" box rules! I should have one next to my display at home when I have visitors.

 

[tech4all]

Edit: Similar effect. Make a background image with the text: "Don't touch the screen!" or something similar. Just hit F11 to reveal the message Or if you have a 4+ button mouse, you can assign a mouse button especially for displaying your message.

Now thats not a half bad idea *opens Photoshop and starts typing*