Top 10 Clever Fixes for Your Broken Stuff

Lifehacker collected ten handy household repair secrets from around the web that may come in handy when you least expect them. For example, a tip for getting your dying hard drive to survive long enough to make the backup you should have made long ago.
If it looks like mechanical failure is the cause, and you need just a bit more data off that drive before it's gone for good, try sticking it in the freezer until it's good and cold, then let it reach room temperature again and give it another try. This passed-around tech geek tip works, as a last resort, because when worn-out mechanical parts fail to connect and align properly, contracting them with cold, then allowing them to expand again, can sometimes restore things to barely-working order just long enough to give you a little more time before the funeral.

You'll also find quick fixes for stripped screw holes, broken light bulbs, and even hangovers! Link -via the Presurfer

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Newest 4 Comments

squeaky hinges:
All you need is a hammer, nail and lube. Close the door and you will find a small hole at the bottom of the hinge pin. Put the nail in that hole and tap with the hammer. That should loosen the hinge pin and knock it up just about a 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch. Take the claw end of the hammer and pull the hinge out of the top of the hinge. Grease or lube the hinge with OIL or Grease. Don't use WD-40 since it evaporates in a few days. Vaseline works great and last for YEARS. Shortening or cooking oil can be used if nothing else is available. Just lightly grease or oil the pin and drive it back in the hinge. TA DA!
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Use a dishwasher to clean your keyboard. DO NOT USE THE DRY CYCLE. I could melt it.

Allow the keyboard to dry for a could of days and plug it in. (you can rotate and shake excess water out to speed up drying time)
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80's??? Listen, child, I remember him from the black and white early 50's through the early 60's and learned a great deal from him. Never once did I consider him condescending, and to this day consider him the exciting science teacher most kids would love to have — but most schools do not have on their staffs anymore. It was too bad his 80's reprisal was so short lived ... but then again, that's about when schools started de-emphasizing science.
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Brings back the memory of "Bob and Ray" on the radio with their spoof called Mr. Science. Typically Mr. Science showing little Billy his experiment would end up burning down the house or something like that. When I was teaching science/biology my sister would call me Mr. Science. No, I did not burn down the house.
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