The U.K. office of Kroll Ontrack Inc., a firm specializing in data recovery and electronic evidence, recently released a list of the 10 most bizarre computer mishaps its data experts encountered over the past year:
1. An American user became so frustrated with his laptop that he shot it with a gun before realizing there was important data saved on the computer.
2. A man threw his computer out of the window in an attempt to destroy evidence when he found out the police were coming to seize his PC and arrest him.
3. One man’s laptop dropped out of his bag while he was riding his moped. The computer was then run over by a truck before he even noticed he had lost it and needed access to the data.
4. A financial director dropped his laptop in the bath while finishing the company accounts.
5. Burglars disposed of expensive stolen computer equipment by throwing it in a river after police offered a reward for its return. Three weeks later, it was recovered and the data was retrieved from the water-logged hard drives.
6. A business woman spilled red wine over her laptop when she was showing a business partner some information after dinner.
7. One company’s server had been running 24 hours a day, seven days a week for years. The company had never bothered to carry out any maintenance on it; the server had gathered so much dust and dirt over the years that it malfunctioned.
8. In an episode of computer rage, a user threw his computer against the wall.
9. A jet-setting business woman spilled caf