Yell at it. Curse it. Throw the mouse around (only costs $10-$40 for a replacement). Smash the keyboard (10-20 dollars replacement, and oh so durable), hit the monitor (reasonably durable, though hella expensive in the unlikely event you jar something loose, but nevertheless extremely satisfying to beat on).
But for heaven's sake. Do not. ever. shake the box. I mean, there are hard-drives in there whirring away at up to 15k rpm ('really freaking fast', in laymen's terms), and with heads floating off the surface of the platters closer than the thickness of a human hair. The slightest jar can leave a gouge that, although hard to see with the naked eye, is like the grand canyon in hard drive terms. If you want to kill the data, and therefore risk the computer working at all, then go ahead and shake it or kick it. Otherwise... play safe! Smash the keyboard like the rest of us who get the red-outs. 😉
Hey, has anyone seen Office Space? I've done the 'fax-machine routine' on many an old computer. Nothing beats the smile on a young lad's face as he drives his foot into a a delicate computational instrument.
But for heaven's sake. Do not. ever. shake the box. I mean, there are hard-drives in there whirring away at up to 15k rpm ('really freaking fast', in laymen's terms), and with heads floating off the surface of the platters closer than the thickness of a human hair. The slightest jar can leave a gouge that, although hard to see with the naked eye, is like the grand canyon in hard drive terms. If you want to kill the data, and therefore risk the computer working at all, then go ahead and shake it or kick it. Otherwise... play safe! Smash the keyboard like the rest of us who get the red-outs. 😉
Hey, has anyone seen Office Space? I've done the 'fax-machine routine' on many an old computer. Nothing beats the smile on a young lad's face as he drives his foot into a a delicate computational instrument.