not thrown out of the window, but into a wheely bin
 

I occasionally need to use windows for client work so have an old acer laptop. I thought I'd clean up with a fresh install so used the recovery routine. All worked well until it stalled on
'Sysprep Fatal Error - Windows 7'. Googling around indicated that this happened when Windows 7 had been activated too many times. So without a new licence I was not going to get anywhere, and buying a pirate copy was too much hassle.

If the window was open, out it would have gone to a satisfying crash to the ground. After ripping out the hard drive, the laptop went into the wheely bin, ready for tomorrows collection. I then ordered a replacement from Morgan Computers for just over £100. Never physically abused a computer before!

That's not an environmentally friendly thing to do. I do hope it's figurative, not literal! All councils have electrical / electronic equipment disposal areas in their recycling centres that should be used for computer equipment, as there's valuable as well as nasty stuff in them that shouldn't go into landfill with household waste.

SD

Too late now, but would have been a perfect opportunity to install Mint Linux on it. D/l the installation iso and burn it to a CD or pen-drive on another computer.

Agree with belfrybat. Done this a couple of times for people and their reaction is "Whaaa - and its so FAST!"
Doesn't take long for them to get used to it and now they have a working reliable laptop.

Mac