WEBVTT

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there are plenty of things to watch out for as a PC Enthusiast dust buildup

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leaky water Loops CPUs failing on you

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but one thing that might not immediately come to mind is ants yes ants there have

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been a number of posts making the rounds on social media lately about those

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little critters invading people's PCS and even appearing to eat thermal paste

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and thermal pads why the heck are they doing this is thermal compound made of

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some tasty goop that ants just can't resist no there's likely nothing magical

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about thermal paste or even PCS in general that attracts ants although some

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ants might be attracted to Electric fields to some degree it turns out that

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what's more likely is that a forager ant from a nearby Colony whose job it is is

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to find new sources of food water and shelter made its way into your home and

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found a crumb near your PC then that forager ant might go back to the nest

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leaving a recruitment pheromone trail behind that other ants can follow it's

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kind of a signal it say hey guys look at what I found once the forger ant's

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buddies follow the trail they might happen upon your computer which happens

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to be a warm enclosed environment the exact kind that ants tend to love but

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contrary to the reports of ants eating thermal materials in a few Tech

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Publications it is very unlikely that the ants are actually consuming thermal

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paste in fact the chemicals and thermal paste are toxic to them and it's far

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more likely that they are chewing on the thermal pad instead not only do ants

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like to chew things in general but it's likely that they're chewing on the

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thermal paste in particular because they might see it as a good nesting material

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wait nesting like eggs we'll tell you more right after we thank private

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back to the subject of eggs some users have reported seeing ant eggs in their

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thermal paste but ant eggs are actually

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really small and hard to see it's more likely that these users are seeing an

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larvae gross probably not going to help your FPS although ants obviously prefer

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to have their colonies underground they do also like to build secondary nests

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away from the hill and the tight space underneath the heat sink where they can

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stay hidden would be an attractive place to raise their young and if conditions

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outside are too hot or too cold it might increase their motivation even more to

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carry their larvae away from the main nest and find an alternative location to

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put them like inside your computer Compu but even though ants like warm spaces

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they've also been seen running out from heat sinks once a PC is turned on or

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when a load is put on the CPU or GPU this is because insects start getting

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very uncomfortable when the temperature gets up to around 50° C and thermal

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paste can obviously get quite a bit hotter than that especially while gaming

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so they might be attracted to your warm PC initially but once things get too hot

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under the heat sink they're going to start to scatter or worse something like

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excessive heat or an electrical jolt from a PC component could result in the

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ant emitting alarm pheromones these send a warning signal to other ants in the

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vicinity that something is wrong and once this happens it attracts more ants

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to rush in and help which can make the infestation even worse I guess that's

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what you get for having high CPU temps so what do you do if you find your PC

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getting attacked by ants obviously you can't seal up the vents as it needs air

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flow so the best advice we can give you is to clean your room if there are any

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pieces of food or moisture anywhere near your PC get rid of it and while you're

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at it get rid of any other obvious clutter around your PC that might

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shelter ants like with any other insect infestation by the way sealing up any

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holes in your home is also a good idea but an even better one might be to buy

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some ant poison specifically ant bait as

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products marked bait will consist of chemicals that the ants will carry back

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to the Colony and hopefully wipe it out

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I'm I know that sounds cruel but having those little Invaders mess up your

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components is no picnic either in this economy who put that line in there

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anyway have you had problems with ants or other pests getting into your PC let

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us know in the comments and if you'd like to know more about cleaning your PC

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in general go watch this video next