Severed finger found in PC
And other tales from The PC World HellDesk
Posted in Business, 21st March 2000 14:59 GMT
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From the bizarre to the ridiculous - severed fingers, dead mice and love-letters are all items to be found lurking in the innards of PCs, a report claims. Dixons, Britain's biggest computer retailer, assembled the list after quizzing its technicians on the weirdest objects uncovered in customers' computers over the past six months. One claimed to have discovered part of a finger - the customer having lost the tip of the digit while trying to install a graphics card. The monitor, precariously balanced to one side, slammed onto the lid of the PC casing, leaving the severed flesh inside the computer. Another customer took the instruction to enter credit card details literally while shopping online. He or she lost their card when they decided pay by shoving it into the floppy drive slot. A technician reported finding a chicken wishbone inserted inside a PC - the customer thought it would act as a talisman and stop the PC crashing. There was also a case of a user placing pot pourri inside the PC case to "improve the machine's smell". The survey, published on Dixons' Web site, quizzed experts working for PC World's 'healthcheck' clinics. At these healthcheck sessions, punters take their PCs into one of the retailer's outlets, and for £39.99 get a technician to prod around inside the machine and advise how to get better performance - or an upgrade. It could be worth your while - one technician found £125 tucked away in a computer's casing. The delighted customer claimed he'd bought the PC second-hand at the local church fair. Also uncovered at the clinics were a two-inch spider, a dead mouse and several love-letters - which the latter customer denied any knowledge of. ® See Also For a full list of Dixons' findings, go here. Related Stories UK PC retailers don't rip off customers Profit jumps at Dixons
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