A reader has a question about something I’m very familiar with.
“Do you have any tip on teaching your cat how not to mess with the touchscreen? I have an all-in-one with a touchscreen. My cat found that if he rubbed his shoulder on the screen, the stuff on the screen moved, he was hooked. Fortunately, he hasn’t figured out that his tail does the same thing. I’m glad you are continuing the tech tips. They are useful even if I’m just scrolling through to see what’s there. Sometimes I find an answer I didn’t know I needed.”
As the proud property of a string of feline friends, I can attest that cats feel a true affinity towards technology. They love computers more than catnip. Keyboards are more attractive than any cat bed you could purchase. Touchscreens are as fascinating as a red laser dot on the floor.
My advice for those with curious pets and kids is to set the screen lock on your device to a very short period of time. I know it’s a pain to keep logging in. But consider the pain of having a pet delete a file.
If having a password-protected lock screen is an option, make sure you turn it on. Every single time you put your device down or get up from your workstation, lock the screen. That protects both touchscreens and keyboards. My late much-missed kitty Krypto once managed to not only replace a day’s worth of writing with the letter q, she also managed to save over my cloud file of the work with the copy from my PC.
While we’re talking about cats, I found a fun little app sponsored by Friskies called Cat Fishing that allows your kitty to go after virtual fish. The sights, movement, and sounds really intrigue kitties. Mine had a great time playing.
Cat Fishing 2 is available in the Android and Apple app stores.