A laptop bought for a fiver in a charity shop. How do I turn the thing on?

[bikingdad90]

https://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/InventorySearch.aspx?brandId=3&c=uk&cs=ukdfb1&l=en&s=dfb
Also any of these will be far superior to anything from Currys

Only thing about Dells is that they can be a bit temperamental when it comes to ancillary things like the microphones and webcams on windows 11. The gremlins come out to play and they don’t work properly.

 

[HMS_Dave]

On about laptops heading to landfill sites, what became of that bloke's computer, who said his girlfriend accidentally binned it with info' on worth hundreds of millions of Bitcoin stuff?

The council refuse to let him have a look for it, whilst the council secretly and furiously looking for it themselves...

 

[Drago]

On about laptops heading to landfill sites, what became of that bloke's computer, who said his girlfriend accidentally binned it with info' on worth hundreds of millions of Bitcoin stuff? He went to court asking to be allowed to dig for it in the tons of rubbish it's buried under. Did he get the court's permission to use JCB's to search for it I wonder. Even if he did find it, would it still hold that vital info' potentially worth many many millions, or would rain, damp etc damage make it impossible to retrieve?🤔

An interesting one.

The carncil can't let him search because to do so breaches several environmental laws.

The court quickly concluded there was no legal argument over which they could order the carncil to break the law, and the case was thrown out.

On an unrelated note the manager of the site now arrives for work in a helicopter.

 

[Accy cyclist]

An interesting one.

The carncil can't let him search because to do so breaches several environmental laws.

The court quickly concluded there was no legal argument over which they could order the carncil to break the law, and the case was thrown out.

On an unrelated note the manager of the site now arrives for work in a helicopter.

I just could not see him finding it, even if granted permission to search for it. Those council tips are massive, very wide and very deep! Imagine the disgusting things you'd encounter trying to find it! Plus you'd have to battle with the seagulls, rats and flies! https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co....se-whinney-hill-tip-frustrated-100s-seagulls/ They've been on about this tip on a local Facebook page, saying it's been stinking for days due to the low air temperature forcing escaping methane gas to settle at ground level.

 

[presta]

what became of that bloke's computer, who said his girlfriend accidentally binned it with info' on worth hundreds of millions of Bitcoin

Is this a made up story, how can you have a system where you lose your life savings if the computer gets lost/broken/catches fire/whatever?

 

[HMS_Dave]

Is this a made up story, how can you have a system where you lose your life savings if the computer gets lost/broken/catches fire/whatever?

It is true. It was a hard disk drive though I believe and over ten years ago now and before bitcoin exploded in value.

 

[DCLane]

Is this a made up story, how can you have a system where you lose your life savings if the computer gets lost/broken/catches fire/whatever?

It is true. It was a hard disk drive though I believe and over ten years ago now and before bitcoin exploded in value.

Definitely true and he's been told he can't dig to find it earlier this month - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj0r0dvgpy0o

 

[presta]

Definitely true and he's been told he can't dig to find it earlier this month - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj0r0dvgpy0o

Yes I saw it in the media myself, but is it correct that you can't recover your money without a working hard drive? How could anyone be so stupid as to create a system like that, or invest in one?

I think he was living in cloud cuckoo land if he thought they'd let him dig. In 2017 Suffolk Police looking for Corrie McKeague spent millions digging a landfill site for 5 months before they gave up without ever finding him, and I suspect they may not have even been that accommodating had his mother not been a police officer.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Yes I saw it in the media myself, but is it correct that you can't recover your money without a working hard drive? How could anyone be so stupid as to create a system like that, or invest in one?

Its not the hard drive, it's the info on it. Imagine he has a safe and the combination is in a file on the drive. Now sprinkle that with random buzzwords like crypto, NFT, blockchain and prime factorisation and general woo and you understand it as well as I do.

Edit. The safe contains a tin of beans that he bought for 50p. Due to the fact that the world is insane it is now worth £99,000,000

 

[MontyVeda]

I bought a reconditioned expensive one before I bought my current cheaper one. The reconditioned one's screen went blank. The seller supposedly fixed it, but it went blank again soon after. I just chucked it in the bin and went to Currys to buy one.

Reconditioned means they've wiped some dust off the lid and checked that it turns on. Nothing more.

 

[presta]

Its not the hard drive, it's the info on it.

Of course it's the info on the drive, but how do you get that without a working drive?

 

[Dogtrousers]

Of course it's the info on the drive, but how do you get that without a working drive?

Print out hardcopy and put it in a safe. (And don't forget the combination)

 

[Conrad_K]

Those council tips are massive, very wide and very deep!

The main trash disposal site for most of the county I live in is just off Interstate 67. In the early 1970s it was swampland. It's now a mountain, probably 100 acres or more, and several hundred feet high. Actually, two mountains; they covered the first one with sod and grass and they're working on a new one.

All the locals call it "Mount Trashmore", more a play on words than a description, as it's not obvious it's a trash pile from the freeway. There are pipes sticking out to vent methane gas from food waste. They used to light them at night to burn off the methane, which I thought was rather decorative, but now they just vent it without lighting it up.

I fully expect some time in the future when the site is completely full, it will be sold to developers who will rename it "Eagle Crest" or "Falcon Point" and build roads and McMansions all over it.

 

[Accy cyclist]

It is true. It was a hard disk drive though I believe and over ten years ago now and before bitcoin exploded in value.

Heck, ten years! I thought it'd been binned a few months ago. There's much less a chance of finding it than I first thought! If it's in that tip it'll be well compressed now and have tons of 'ancient' rotting rubbish over it. If he's still after digging for it he's just going to have to accept his loss and try and move on. I thought my loss of a Wilko plastic watering can, when I kept it in my cardboard and paper recycling bin to avoid it being nicked. Only forgetfully leaving it in the bin to be taken away by the binmen was bad, but losing hundreds of Bitcoin millions is pretty bad indeed!!

 

[Accy cyclist]

The main trash disposal site for most of the county I live in is just off Interstate 67. In the early 1970s it was swampland. It's now a mountain, probably 100 acres or more, and several hundred feet high. Actually, two mountains; they covered the first one with sod and grass and they're working on a new one.

All the locals call it "Mount Trashmore", more a play on words than a description, as it's not obvious it's a trash pile from the freeway. There are pipes sticking out to vent methane gas from food waste. They used to light them at night to burn off the methane, which I thought was rather decorative, but now they just vent it without lighting it up.

I fully expect some time in the future when the site is completely full, it will be sold to developers who will rename it "Eagle Crest" or "Falcon Point" and build roads and McMansions all over it.

The railway line about 200 yards from our then family home was filled in by household waste in 1972/73. I remember as a child watching the endless bin wagons tipping their contents to eventually raise the the dip in the land to ground level. At one stage a pool of black stinking water formed which must've been quite deep as we'd drop red house bricks from the above railway bridge into the pool to hear the splashing sound, helping to fill the land in of course. Like your 'Mount Trashmore' they put those methane release pipes in and they are still visible 52 years later.