Would touching a butter knife have the same effect? Thanks
LOL - why a butter knife? You need to touch something connected to electrical ground to get rid of static, and butter knives are (usually!) not connected to anything.
A doorknob should work well, not sure if a butter knife would do that
No... wood is a poor conductor... so a doorknob isn't really connected to ground.
OK, it is worth being careful about static when messing with memory... since you can zap the electronics if you've built up a static charge.
The best ways to build up a static charge is to put on or take off a nylon or wool jumper, to wear rubber soled shoes and drag your feet along a carpet. (So don't do those things).
An anti static wrist strap is a conducting strap (usually canvas or nylon with wires sewn into it) which you can hook up to a grounding point (often an electrical plug with only the ground post present). The grounding wire usually contains a resistor for safety - as touching something electrically live while being earthed is usually a bad thing.
Enough background... let's concentrate on what you should do. Firstly, don't be too paranoid... unless you're careless it's difficult to build up a big static charge. I have an anti-static wrist strap, but I don't use it 'cos I'm too lazy - and I usually:
- Take the computer into the kitchen and put it on the table. Don't plug it in.
- Make sure you're not wearing lots of nylon/wool. Cotton is good.
- Go over to the faucet and touch it. Faucets are 'grounded' - and it's a great way to discharge any static charge on your body
- Sit at the kitchen table and do the upgrade. If you need to pause and do something else mid way (go to the hall and answer the phone), just re-ground yourself on the faucet before continuing.
- That's it.
I would buy a antistatic strap the only problem is I would have to buy it online and that could take a while to ship here. So I'll touch some appliances and a faucet to ground myself, thanks a lot!
