6-7 Short safety measure
I came up with a nice trick for doing the 6-7 short with a little more safety. Being that I'm getting to that "certain age" where my eyes are going, and I have always had iffy fine motor skills, I decided to give myself some protection against goofs when doing the power-on shorting method. It's pretty simple! You take a toothpick with a little red nail polish on it and coat the pins around the 6-7 pair. I put on a couple of coats, use a small amount of polish so it doesn't flow much and get on 6-7! Not only does this insulate them, but it gives you a nice visual cue, and assures that you are shorting the right pins. Comforting to have there. You are going to CVS anyway, get some opaque bright red polish too. (good purchase to get your extracare cashback if you have the 2 day wait thing) Put it on, let it dry, and voila! :D

Interesting idea, I like it. (Im fairly sure most nail polish is non-conductive.)

I think as long as you stick to plain-jane colors that the conductivity factor is about nil. I've used the stuff on circuit boards for years without a problem. Good point to consider though.

i've also just used a permanent marker to mark all pins except for 6 and 7. i doubt it has an insulating properties, but it does make not hitting the wrong pin much easier