WebUser – 04 April 2018

Pressthe pencil’s cloth-covered pointon

thestuck pixeland massageitgently

TheLCD DeadPixelTestclearly highlights
theproblempixel on ourscreen

Discusspixel-fixinghacksatforum.webuser.co.uk 4-17April 201^847

Howwetestedit

Ourfirst step wastogivethe entire

screen agentleclean,tomakesureany

problempixelswe’didentifiedweren’t

merelyspecks of dust.Wethen firedup

ourweb browser, setittofull-screen

modeand ranthe LCDDeadPixel Test

(bit.ly/pixel446). Thetestdisplays

pageswithasolid background colour

(black,white,red,green or blue)

to make it easy to spot anystuck

(ordead)pixels.^1

We were alreadyaware of onestuck

pixelonour test monitor,and used the

solidbackgroundtocheckwhether

therewereany others. Having

established that therewas just theone,

we took abluntpencil and wrapped the

pointinasmall piece of cloth, then

lightly dippedthe end in boiling water.

We then carefully–and gently–applied

pressureinacircularmotiontothe

problempixel,^2 takingcarenot to

press toomanysurroundingpixels.

Theidea hereistomassagethe stuck

pixelsothatthe liquid in itssub-pixelsis

spread equally and it lets throughthe

right amountoflight.

Anotherway to tackle theproblem of stuckpixels is to useaweb-based

solutionsuchasJScreenFix(www.jscreenfix.com). To useit, just click the

LaunchJScreenFixbuttonand drag thepixel fixer(asquare of continuously

flashingand cyclingpixels)over

theproblem area,then leave it

therefor around10 minutes–or

longer,ifyou’renot in anyhurry.

JScreenFix’screators sayitcan

fixmostLCD or OLED screens

andhas a60% success rate.

Unfortunately,itdidn’tworkfor

ourstubbornstuck pixel.

TRYTHESOFTWAREAPPROACH

Y

our monitor’s screen maydisplay

severalmillionindividualpixels so

asingle stuck(or dead)one really

shouldn’tmatter. However, onceyou

spotit, youwon’t everbeable to unsee

it –thattinywrong-coloured dotwill

tauntyou continually. Fortunately,you

maybeable to unstick it with nothing

more high-techthanawarmcloth.

Before we progress,it’simportant to

explainthe differencebetween astuck

pixeland adeadone.Ifyour problem

pixelisdisplaying adifferent colour

from allthe pixels aroundit (slightly

changinghueasthe colours aroundit

change), then thepixel is stuck. If it’s

permanently black,then it’s probably

dead.Astuck pixel, which can be red,

green,blueorany combination of

thesecolours,can be unstuck,but a

dead onecan’tbebrought back to life.

That said,stuck pixels can sometimes

look like dead ones,soit’sstillworth

trying to unstick it.

WayneWilliamstriestoavoid buying areplacementmonitor with

theaid of adamp cloth, apencil and some gentle rubbing

Does it REALLY work?

Fixstuck pixels with adampcloth

We test intriguingtechhacks from theweb

to discoverifthey’re fact or fiction

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1 2 Theresult

Afteracoupleofattempts, we managed

to unstickthe pixel, butabout20

minuteslater,itstuck again. We

repeatedthe process asecondtimebut

–again–itonlyworkedtemporarilyand

thestuck pixelsimplycame back again,

suggestingthisproblemisn’t something

that canbeeasily fixed. However, it’s

still worthtryingasitmay work foryou.

Becausethisfix involves an element

of risk(if you’re notcareful youcould

damage your screen), it should be

treated as alast resort.Wewould

recommend trying theJScreenFix

method first (see boxout,below), or if

your monitor is still withinwarranty, you

couldtry returningitfor areplacement.

JScreenFix claims to unstickmost

problempixels,soit’sworth atry