Laptops have never been more hardy and easy to repair, but that does not mean that you cannot opt to destroy this kind of device. You might have a variety of reasons to want to undertake this process, but you do need to be sure that you are not trying to destroy the device to seek a replacement. This will usually not be accepted by the manufacturer under any kind of warranty agreement. Destroying a laptop is usually done to try and prevent someone else from using it for purposes that you do not approve of.
It is possible to destroy a laptop, but you will need to consider the reasons behind the destruction before you decide how far to take the work of making it stop working.
Crashing a Laptop Without Evidence
Crashing a laptop is a great way to make it unusable without evidence. You will want to be sure that you are not attached to any of the data on the device before you do this. The machine will probably be fixable, but the data on it will be lost. High voltage, using a poor-quality multi-charger or multi-plug-in, or connecting your laptop to a circuit that you know tends to get overloaded will definitely crash the laptop.
This kind of power surge will almost always send a laptop into a spiral that is hard to fix. It might take a few reboots for the laptop to fully cease to work, but a large power bump or some other kind of power surge can cause a lot of harm to a laptop and render it useless.
If you do not have access to any of these kinds of solutions for your problem at home, you can buy a USB killer to cause this issue. This is something that is used by police and the military to fry computers and make them unusable. These items are legal to use, and it is not likely that anyone will know that this is what caused the demise of the laptop.
Overwriting the Master Boot Record
If you have some coding skills, you can install some malware that will overwrite the master reboot record. This will stop the laptop from being able to boot up, and it will likely cause the machine to be unusable in the future as well. This can be fixed, but it will take time and skill to do so. This also will be easy to pass off as an accident related to malware being installed while the laptop was being used.
Making a Laptop Stop Working is Actually Really Easy
These are two of the most reliable ways to make a laptop stop working. You can employ other kinds of options, like physical damage, but these two choices will be hard to trace and will definitely get the job done. Always be sure that you consider why you want to cause this damage to the laptop in question and make sure that it’s worth undertaking this action for the reasons that you have in mind.
Wipe The Harddrive
If you want to prevent anyone else from using your laptop illegally, the best approach is to wipe the hard drive completely. This will erase all of your personal data and programs, making it very difficult for anyone to use the laptop without installing a new operating system.
To wipe the hard drive, you can use a program like DBAN (Darik’s Boot and Nuke), which is designed to erase all data on a hard drive. This program can be downloaded and burned to a CD or USB drive, which you can then boot from to erase your hard drive.
It’s important to note that wiping your hard drive will permanently erase all data on your laptop, so be sure to back up any important files before proceeding. Also, if your laptop is still functioning properly, you may want to consider donating it to a charity or recycling program instead of destroying it.
This article was last updated on March 21, 2023 .
