A bug inside your monitor? Don't panic, here's how to get it out
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Help! There’s an insect inside my PC screen!
What should I do?
Well, first of all relax and do not press the screen with your fingers.
As long as the insect is moving it means it’s alive, and as long as it’s still alive we can do something to get it out of the display.
Why they end up inside the screen
They look like a few burnt pixels, but then they start moving. Then they stop again and start over.
No, it’s not a joke: there’s a particular tiny insect — whose name and species I honestly don’t know, and I assure you it’s completely irrelevant — that enjoys taking walks inside our LCD screens.
Especially in summer these useless little creatures, similar to midges, are attracted to heat and light and so they often end up on pilgrimages inside our computer monitors. They don’t care whether it’s a desktop, a notebook, an all-in-one, a PC or a Mac… Any warm, bright source will do. Since this happens to me often in summer, and lately it’s also happened to some friends of mine, I decided to share a very effective method to get rid of them without damaging the display.
* By following this guide you agree to proceed at your own risk. The author accepts no responsibility for any damage or malfunction to your system, hardware or software. *What not to do
First of all, here’s what you must not do:
- Don’t push on the surface of the display with your fingers. By pressing near the insect trying to steer it towards the edge, you’ll probably kill it and it will stay there forever. If you’ve already done it and it’s no longer moving, hope it starts walking again over the next few days. If after four or five days it’s still stuck there, there’s nothing left to do but replace the display or have it repaired by the manufacturer.
- Don’t take the monitor apart. These insects are particularly small and flat, they can slip through any crack, joint or gasket, and they often settle in the innermost part of the display. That makes any attempt at forced removal pointless, unless you plan on destroying the monitor with your own hands.
How to get it out
So, if the little creature is still alive and keeps strolling across your liquid crystals, do this:
- Turn off the display immediately. If it’s a notebook or an all-in-one, shut the computer down entirely. The key thing is to let the device cool down first.
- Take a flashlight and point it at one corner of the monitor (pick the corner closest to where you last saw the insect). Try to bring it as close as possible, so the monitor gets slightly warmer in that spot. Stay like that for a few minutes, and at some point the insect should come out. It might also come out from the side or the back, so keep an eye on it and take care of it the moment it leaves the display.
If it does not come out
If you’re lucky, this simple procedure might save your screen. If it refuses to come out even with the flashlight, try leaving the device off for as long as possible; with no light and no heat, sooner or later it will be forced to move elsewhere. If it dies inside the display and hasn’t moved for a few days, check whether the case is covered by the warranty — it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, always within the second year from the purchase date — or decide whether you’d rather live with that little black dot on the monitor than buy a new one.
Happy bug hunting!
Frequently asked questions
Why shouldn't I press the screen with my fingers?
For two reasons. The first is that squashing the insect kills it right there, and from that moment the black dot is permanent. The second is that pressing on the liquid crystals can leave smudges or stains that stay even afterwards — you can make the damage you were trying to fix worse.
How do they get inside a sealed monitor?
It isn't sealed: between the bezel, the gaskets and the air vents there are gaps big enough for a creature a couple of millimetres long. They're drawn to heat and light, which is why it happens almost only in summer and almost only in the evening.
What if it dies inside the screen?
If it hasn't moved for four or five days, unfortunately there's not much you can do without opening the panel, an operation that on modern monitors almost always ends badly. The warranty generally doesn't cover foreign objects, but it depends on the manufacturer: it's worth asking before giving up or buying a new monitor.
