I've had a recent epidemic of computers coming into the shop infested with bugs (specifically brown banded cockroaches), and I'm curious how other people handle/would handle it?
I cant really turn down the work because 1) 80% of the time I don't know of the infestation until I open the computer and the customer is long gone and 2) So many of my customers have these infestations that I'd be losing almost 50% of the jobs that come in. And usually I can earn a few extra bucks recommending a hardware cleaning and killing off the infestation.
The way I handle it now is usually I'll take the computer to an open, clutter free area of the shop and work on it there. If I see any roaches make a run for it away from the system I have a bottle of 91% isopropyl alcohol on hand to spray them (usually kills them on contact, seems the safest option for nearby components, and easier to cleanup than other sprays or trying to smash them).
If and when I open up the PC or laptop (always the most fun with these due to all the nooks and crannies), I use a small set of tweezers that came with a repair toolkit I got ages ago to grab them, and spray them with isopropyl on a collection paper towel outside of the device. I also keep the spray bottle handy in-case I hit a big nest and need to just spray wildly into the device itself to kill them in mass before they escape and infest my shop (I hate doing this, and I always thoroughly check that I've dried everything off and soaked up any puddles that may have formed before I dare power anything on). And finally, once I've killed everything I can see/catch, I take the whole device apart and scrub it all down with more isopropyl to cleanup the residue they leave behind and hopefully kill any eggs that could be hiding.
I've fixed several PCs that refused to power on like this (I'm guessing either a roach or the residue was causing a short somewhere), and thus far I've yet to have a customer complain of a re-infection or anymore power issues (I also give all my customers a recommendation to a local pest control company who have proven to be very good at killing off other nests on the premises).
I also try and protect my shop with a overabundance of bait and traps hidden around, and I've alerted my landlord of the issue, so they have pest control spray my shop fairly frequently to help prevent a possible infestation here (I had the startings of one once, but after I put those two preventatives into place, it seems to have killed off what was here and haven't had anything since knock-on-wood).
Has anyone else here had experiences or issues with these types of infections? Any suggestions on ways they'd handle it? Or possibly any safer or more efficient ways I could be handling it?
Also, I apologize if this isn't the correct place for this topic, but this was the only section I could find anywhere to post about hardware.