The only site I'll ever need...

[Andre Dawson's Creek]

My current laptop is four years old and is dying on its arse.  The company won't buy me a new one while it's still running.  So. I need to kill it - I mean, it needs to be absolutely stone fucking dead with absolutely no chance of revival.

BUT ideally, I need to do it in such a way that it will look like it simply passed away peacefully in its sleep - dropping the thing out of a window is going to look too suspicious.

Any ideas?

The 9 Volt Solution is a good idea.  Take a 9 volt battery and rub it on the motherboard.

Just be sure there are no security tags that get torn if you open the bottom of the laptop.

That would certainly be a nice clean way to do it, but the cheap bastards will just replace the motherboard and then I'm no nearer having a new machine.  I think I might end up having to drop it down the stairs, actually.  Or spill a couple of pints of coffee into it.

By far the easiest thing would be to get it "stolen", but the problem is that my last one actually was stolen when our house was burgled, so somebody's bound to smell a rat.

It would be highly odd if they replaced a mobo on a notebook.  It's more cost effective to buy a new one/get reissued a new one.

[Tank]

Whatever you do, Tonk, I hope the machine isn't in good enough shape that they can still find traces of this thread in your web cache.

[Tonker]

Whatever you do, Tonk, I hope the machine isn't in good enough shape that they can still find traces of this thread in your web cache.

Who is this?  PRANK CALLER!  PRANK CALLER!  I'M HANGING UP!

[RD]

I have two suggestions.  1) Do you travel for work?  My wife said that at her old job, when people wanted a new laptop, they would drop it while handing it to the xray folks at the airport and then blame the xray dude to the company.

2) Block up the vents on the computer and set it to work on a cpu intensive task.  Maybe SuperPi to a ridiculous number of digits.  The cpu should be toast.  If you're not against cracking it open, pull off the cpu and scrape away the thermal paste, and stick the cpu back on.  That will really speed things up.

Also, I agree with ADC.  Replacing a motherboard on a laptop is normally something that is just not done.

[Philberto]

Alright. I want audio of my PS3 to go through my Panasonic HomeTheater system. I didn't plan everything as I should have so I had to improvise on my set up. The Panasonic doesn't have the video inputs that I should have got and I have to run all of my video to my TV. I have a Joytech Control Center that all of my audio runs through (DirecTV, Xbox, etc) and it outputs to the Panasonic. Well I have the HDMI cable for the PS3 and I ran that to the TV. I tried using the audio out on the TV to the Control Center and I think the Audio out on the TV only works from the main tuner, not the miscellaneous inputs. I bought an optical cable to run to the Panasonic. Of course, it doesn't have an optical input. So, I went to the control center. It has an optical input which I plugged the optical cable into.. However, the sound didn't come out. Is it possible that the Control Center cannot convert the optical audio input down to the composite audio output?

[CT III]

My current laptop is four years old and is dying on its arse.  The company won't buy me a new one while it's still running.  So. I need to kill it - I mean, it needs to be absolutely stone fucking dead with absolutely no chance of revival.

BUT ideally, I need to do it in such a way that it will look like it simply passed away peacefully in its sleep - dropping the thing out of a window is going to look too suspicious.

Any ideas?

The 9 Volt Solution is a good idea.  Take a 9 volt battery and rub it on the motherboard.

Just be sure there are no security tags that get torn if you open the bottom of the laptop.

That would certainly be a nice clean way to do it, but the cheap bastards will just replace the motherboard and then I'm no nearer having a new machine.  I think I might end up having to drop it down the stairs, actually.  Or spill a couple of pints of coffee into it.

By far the easiest thing would be to get it "stolen", but the problem is that my last one actually was stolen when our house was burgled, so somebody's bound to smell a rat.

You've got two young kids in your house and you can't arrange a little "accident"?

"Sorry boss, I have no idea how the kid got ahold of the acetone and matches, but now I need a new laptop!"

Or if that's not realistic, just submerge the goddamn thing in water and tell them your kid wanted to give it a bath.

[thehawk]

Tonks,

Even see that science fair exhibit about what a coca-cola will do to a nail that's submerged?  It will eat through a printed circuit board much much faster.  Will generally eat through and short out anything that it touches.  So remember, keep your kids away from the cola and the computers, or else you'll likely to end up with a pretty useless piece of plastic.

[Pre]

I have two suggestions.  1) Do you travel for work?  My wife said that at her old job, when people wanted a new laptop, they would drop it while handing it to the xray folks at the airport and then blame the xray dude to the company.

2) Block up the vents on the computer and set it to work on a cpu intensive task.  Maybe SuperPi to a ridiculous number of digits.  The cpu should be toast.  If you're not against cracking it open, pull off the cpu and scrape away the thermal paste, and stick the cpu back on.  That will really speed things up.

Also, I agree with ADC.  Replacing a motherboard on a laptop is normally something that is just not done.

I agree with 2, just wrap it in a blanket and run something crazy on intensive on it, then play dumb.  No way to identify the results from a fan failure or something

[Tank]

Alright. I want audio of my PS3 to go through my Panasonic HomeTheater system. I didn't plan everything as I should have so I had to improvise on my set up. The Panasonic doesn't have the video inputs that I should have got and I have to run all of my video to my TV. I have a Joytech Control Center that all of my audio runs through (DirecTV, Xbox, etc) and it outputs to the Panasonic. Well I have the HDMI cable for the PS3 and I ran that to the TV. I tried using the audio out on the TV to the Control Center and I think the Audio out on the TV only works from the main tuner, not the miscellaneous inputs. I bought an optical cable to run to the Panasonic. Of course, it doesn't have an optical input. So, I went to the control center. It has an optical input which I plugged the optical cable into.. However, the sound didn't come out. Is it possible that the Control Center cannot convert the optical audio input down to the composite audio output?

Try hooking it up to one of these.

[Philberto]

Alright. I want audio of my PS3 to go through my Panasonic HomeTheater system. I didn't plan everything as I should have so I had to improvise on my set up. The Panasonic doesn't have the video inputs that I should have got and I have to run all of my video to my TV. I have a Joytech Control Center that all of my audio runs through (DirecTV, Xbox, etc) and it outputs to the Panasonic. Well I have the HDMI cable for the PS3 and I ran that to the TV. I tried using the audio out on the TV to the Control Center and I think the Audio out on the TV only works from the main tuner, not the miscellaneous inputs. I bought an optical cable to run to the Panasonic. Of course, it doesn't have an optical input. So, I went to the control center. It has an optical input which I plugged the optical cable into.. However, the sound didn't come out. Is it possible that the Control Center cannot convert the optical audio input down to the composite audio output?

Try hooking it up to one of these.

You know, that might actually work better than what I have right now.

[Tank]

Alright. I want audio of my PS3 to go through my Panasonic HomeTheater system. I didn't plan everything as I should have so I had to improvise on my set up. The Panasonic doesn't have the video inputs that I should have got and I have to run all of my video to my TV. I have a Joytech Control Center that all of my audio runs through (DirecTV, Xbox, etc) and it outputs to the Panasonic. Well I have the HDMI cable for the PS3 and I ran that to the TV. I tried using the audio out on the TV to the Control Center and I think the Audio out on the TV only works from the main tuner, not the miscellaneous inputs. I bought an optical cable to run to the Panasonic. Of course, it doesn't have an optical input. So, I went to the control center. It has an optical input which I plugged the optical cable into.. However, the sound didn't come out. Is it possible that the Control Center cannot convert the optical audio input down to the composite audio output?

Try hooking it up to one of these.

You know, that might actually work better than what I have right now.

Be sure to read the news crawl at the bottom, by the way.

Bush wants his Roadhouse back, dammit.

[Eli]

I have a friend who wants to advertise some available office space in her doctor's practice.  She's taking out some paid ads, but also is looking for good free sites on the Internet that offer lots of exposure and are fairly reputable. Craigslist obviously comes to mind, but has anyone else had experience with or know of other good free classified sites? 

[Simmer]

I have a friend who wants to advertise some available office space in her doctor's practice.  She's taking out some paid ads, but also is looking for good free sites on the Internet that offer lots of exposure and are fairly reputable. Craigslist obviously comes to mind, but has anyone else had experience with or know of other good free classified sites? 

I'm not sure about other sites, but I tried Craigslist for the first time here recently.  I was beyond skeptical, but I have to say that I am pleased with the results.  I'm not entirely sure it is a reputable site, but there is lots of exposure.  I'm sure you know this, just throwing out my own experience! 

If you find the right place, it sounds like a good idea for your friend.

[Saul Goodman]

I'm not sure about other sites, but I tried Craigslist for the first time here recently.  I was beyond skeptical, but I have to say that I am pleased with the results.  I'm not entirely sure it is a reputable site, but there is lots of exposure.  I'm sure you know this, just throwing out my own experience! 

If you find the right place, it sounds like a good idea for your friend.

Just stay away from those other sections or the gubment will come get you...

[Tonker]

I have a friend who wants to advertise some available office space in her doctor's practice.  She's taking out some paid ads, but also is looking for good free sites on the Internet that offer lots of exposure and are fairly reputable. Craigslist obviously comes to mind, but has anyone else had experience with or know of other good free classified sites? 

I'm not sure about other sites, but I tried Craigslist for the first time here recently.  I was beyond skeptical, but I have to say that I am pleased with the results.  I'm not entirely sure it is a reputable site, but there is lots of exposure.  I'm sure you know this, just throwing out my own experience! 

If you find the right place, it sounds like a good idea for your friend.

I do hope you weren't advertising for ghey stuff, SD.