Does anyone actually use anti-static wristbands?

Ever since I got an anti-static wristband just recently, I've been using it.
To the person who is overly self-conscious about how he looks with a wristband on... I'm apart of a fight team, and train in mixed martial arts for UFC cage matches here in Michigan (where I live). Yet I also build computers and wear an anti-static wristband. What do you call me, I wonder...? Jerdy (jock nerd?). That is how I am coining it. ^^

 

Never used one, and haven't had a problem yet. I always have to learn the hard way I suppose.

 

Same for me I have to admit...

We're meant to wear one, but no-one ever does.

If your PSU has an on/off switch you can turn it off at the PSU but leave it plugged into the wall socket. This way it'll be grounded.

Don't do this if your PSU doesn't have an on/off switch though, because the 5v will still be live.

 

Really? - that's not what is says in my ComptiA+ 2008 book.

Guess they were wrong...

 

Should we call up Mythbusters?

lol, i actually think they should dedicate an episode to crack computer myths.

deltatux

 

Yep, and maybe they could use jed_tb's motherboard to test that myth?

 

My computer case is grounded so I just touch it, or touch the wall before I mess around with parts. Also I work on the floor so I always grounded. No anti-static wrist band for me.

 

Is it not enough to just hold your case for 1-2 seconds to de-static yourself? At least that's what I am doing every time I'm going inside the case, and I have carpet in my rooms.

 

When you're working with $200-300 motherboards and a few graphics cards, maybe once or twice a month, no.

However, if you're working all day handling $2000-$15,000 routers & other electronics yes. Also consumer electronics are generally not as sensitive as some of the lower volume / custom stuff.

 

I just work naked.
That helps against static . . . right . . .?

Anywho, in many places I worked in, when Installing big computers, and I mean BIG (IBM storages, mainframes etc) its mandatory to use a well grounded bracelet.
The slightest spark, during construction, can destablize a system.
For my PC as I said, the best way is to work naked.
Ok . . . you dont have to be naked. But it helps.

 

Touch the radiator (obviously not painted part) and case. Don't wear nylon.

 

I plug a Soldering Iron in to the mains and use that to de static myself.

 

I put my hands on the radiator for 30 secs. Then its all game

 

That sounds rather painful.

 

I use one. They're so cheap that it's just not worth taking the risk.

There are too many things that can already stop a new computer setup working, without having to worry about static damage!

That said, I know guys who don't even think about it, and have always been fine.

 

if I was drunk I might, but if not then I'd probably just touch a bare piece of metal on the PC case before touching anything.

 

Define small amount of static? I remember an older bro of mine lost his RAM for his first computer build ever. He felt a small shock between the memory sticks when he'd picked them up, very minor, on the heatsinks, and they were fried. Wouldn't work at all. When he RMAd them, he was later informed that they were lost to static (Newegg), and denied a refund.

You are probably referring to background static of some sort, so minor that you could never actually feel the shock of touching something, aren't you?


EDIT:
Anyways, at my place, I have to use a static wristband. Every couple of hours, when I go to flick a light switch, pick up a screwdriver, etc... I feel a zap. When I am working on my computer bit, I never put any of my stuff on the carpet floor. It is either on my desk, in the tower (on its side), or on a piece of cardboard. Lets make a crappy formula to describe my place.
Carpet+socks=fingers*ache=staticshocks

 

I cannot agree more with netrogor.
Static electricity can fry electrical equipment easily.
As a cat person, having already killed a cpu with cat static (dont ask), i have learned to earth myself before and while touching my computer.

Not a myth, just physics. The tiny pathways in todays electronics simply cant take an suprise jolt of electricity, even from a tiny source such as a static jolt.

 

I know what you are talking about smnoamls. When I lived with my mom, back in middle school (independent & finishing high school now), she had a couple of cats (or rather, she had a cat, and then each of my six sister's had a cat - I grew up in a large family, and am child #8, with three after me). Picking up the cats (perhaps to help them perform a backflip and play "ragdoll" with ze kitteh?) I could feel static rub off on me like that of a TV, or a trampoline (with cotton socks on). I used to play ragdoll with ze kittehs, then poke a brother in the face (effectively zapping him).

It's actually quite amusing. ^^

When ze kittehs decide they like clawing more than doing backflips, though, it loses its humor. -_-

 

off topic, kitty zapping is amazingly fun. My carpet like cats , during winter days, accumulate electricity like a generator.
Pet them twice, and touch their nose. Hillarious every time.
Less hilarious, pet them 5 times and touch my wifes nose.
Painfull. Pulling out the kitchen knife from my bleeding arm really hurts.