Travelling On

Grogged

Delurking to say try ccleaner or similar to securely delete files and then wipe your drive.  It's free to use and has paid option as well.

rtandon27

Karmacat said:

...if I can find a loophole to cancel the cruise and get our money back, but I can't - online cooling off period doesn't apply to transportation or accommodation, according to Citizens Advice, and a cruise is kind of both...

KC - we are having a similar pondering over our pre-booked & pre-paid trip to Italy.  Given OH's chronic asthma, we may just take the financial hit and decide not to go.  The only way travel insurance covers it is if the government puts out a travel advisory.  Going to give it a few more days and see what happens... 

Karmacat

edinburgher said:

I wouldn't fret too much KC, Coronavirus is going global whether we like it or not!

Hi Ed.  There is that, isn't there ... And though I don't believe it's "only" the same mortality as winter flu, it's obviously  not the Black Death or anything .... Another thing is my energy levels: although they're low, I don't get lurgies the way my sister does.  She got one after out Norway cruise; and all *during* our Baltic cruise, when we were sharing a room, she was really ill, poor lamb.  But I didn't get it.  I've been worried about being somebody with "underlying health issues", but in these terms, I'm probably not.

Karmacat

rtandon27 said:

Karmacat said:

...if I can find a loophole to cancel the cruise and get our money back, but I can't - online cooling off period doesn't apply to transportation or accommodation, according to Citizens Advice, and a cruise is kind of both...

KC - we are having a similar pondering over our pre-booked & pre-paid trip to Italy.  Given OH's chronic asthma, we may just take the financial hit and decide not to go.  The only way travel insurance covers it is if the government puts out a travel advisory.  Going to give it a few more days and see what happens... 

Your poor OH!  Is it northern Italy you'd be going to, RT?  The only possible "out" for us is that we paid via cc less than a fortnight ago (I think it expires on this Friday), but it still may not be good enough, because there was  a clause I saw today about the cc £100 thing not including accommodation or transportation, and a cruise is kind of both!  Yes, I'm hoping the advisory changes, though I have my doubts. 

Karmacat

Grogged said:

Delurking to say try ccleaner or similar to securely delete files and then wipe your drive.  It's free to use and has paid option as well.

Delichon said:

Very interested in how you anonymise an old laptop.  I'm always worried that whatever is on there can be unearthed by some tech wizard somewhere (think Gary Glitter, not as a tech wizard but as someone who didn't obliterate his footprints ).  Not that i have anything to hide but I mean things like personal or  financial info etc.  Someone told me to just remove the hard drive and destroy it.  If I could fathom out how to do it I'd probably do that.  Any advice please?

Also, I was really interested to read about your toasting eggshells before using in the garden.  We've always  just crushed ours and thrown them on the soil but now I see that's not such a good idea.

Hello Delichon, Hello Grogged, welcome!  Thanks for delurking, and the focus on the anonymised laptop.  Apologies for my quoting you the wrong way round, the end of the page got in the way.

All I've done for the anonymised thing is to delete everything I can lay my hands on, including whatever bits of the operating system will let me tamper with them.  I tried to find a "factory settings" button, but I couldn't.  CC cleaner sounds a great solution - I'm not sure it will connect to my current modem, but I could transfer CC cleaner via a cable and take it from there.  And no, I don't have anything to hide either (except names and addresses of people who came to me as clients when I was working as a therapist) (plus my own financial info) but no one wants even their ordinary private stuff misused by some hacker, or read by someone.

I've carried on bits of tidying, fair bit of cleaning (its spreading upstairs   ) genuinely starting to get my act together for the cruise ... heaven only knows if we'll go, but if we do, I want to be able to enjoy it.  Sigh ...

themadvix

Just wondering if either nephew works somewhere with a decent IT department? If you removed the hard drive they might be able to dispose of it securely for you (cheekily, granted). My dad has just taken three old drives into work to be destroyed - I think a ‘shredding’ company collects them periodically.

Karmacat

themadvix said:

Just wondering if either nephew works somewhere with a decent IT department? If you removed the hard drive they might be able to dispose of it securely for you (cheekily, granted). My dad has just taken three old drives into work to be destroyed - I think a ‘shredding’ company collects them periodically.

Erm ... of the two we may meet on Satuday, one owns his own business, yikes, and the other one is mega qualified - chartered something - but his wife is actually higher up in her organisation, so I'm sure that could be done, and I know this sounds strange, but we don't really have a close enough relationship to ask for favours like that.  A long, tricky family history casts its shadow even these days.  I heard yesterday that IT guy up on Merseyside told my brother that his subordinates use Lenovo, which is very accessible to me, so thats what I'll do.  Thank you for the idea, though!  

This morning, I've been researching the use of face masks, sigh ... rather than articles even in respectable news websites, I'm going direct to government and research websites, and the situation isn't nearly as cut and dried as the advice on newspaper and broadcast websites.  Bookmarked everything, and I'll try to get something coherent going later today.

I need my cup of coffee!  And then I'm going to research cancellation through the credit card company again.  I know the virus is likely to reach every corner of the world, but I'd really rather be at home when it reaches me, not stuck on a cruise ship loitering about the Canary Islands with no access to fresh air (we'll have an ocean view, 2 portholes - but they don't open!).   

[Deleted User]

Karmacat said:

I need my cup of coffee!  And then I'm going to research cancellation through the credit card company again.  I know the virus is likely to reach every corner of the world, but I'd really rather be at home when it reaches me, not stuck on a cruise ship loitering about the Canary Islands with no access to fresh air (we'll have an ocean view, 2 portholes - but they don't open!).    

That's the aspect of the whole coronavirus thing that would bother me the most, the quarantining for up to 14 days far from my home comforts.  I think I'd cope better than DH though, he goes stir crazy even at home when things like bad weather keep him indoors for even one day.  Goodness knows how he'd cope for a fortnight.  I still have memories of a nightmare holiday with him in a caravan in the Lake District when the rain and gales were so bad we daren't even open the door for about 48 hours.

I'm sure you'll opt for the right outcome for you when deciding your next course of action.  Is your sister worrying too, given her history of 'lurgies' even in normal situations?  Good luck.

Karmacat

Hi Delichon!  Yes, exactly, the being cooped up, even for someone as low energy as me, is appalling.  I've seen a few videos of healthy Chinese people trapped in their (very small) apartments, running marathons, and fitness instructors live streaming to their usual clients, which is very ingenious, but obviously, if I can avoid the situation,  I'm going to.  My sister *is* worried too, no doubt about it, she's got an extra lurgy proofer that she used for years when she was a teacher, and one for me too.  Our first aid kits, if we go, are going to be substantial   Thanks for your good wishes - to you too, it may not be described as a pandemic yet, but its around, and I doubt its going away.

themadvix

Karmacat said:

This morning, I've been researching the use of face masks, sigh ... rather than articles even in respectable news websites, I'm going direct to government and research websites, and the situation isn't nearly as cut and dried as the advice on newspaper and broadcast websites.  Bookmarked everything, and I'll try to get something coherent going later today.

I need my cup of coffee!  

I think the proof that I need my cup of tea is in the fact that when I read face masks I thought of beauty treatments (and wondered what the government had to say on the matter!!), rather than protective wear!

Fair enough about the hard drives - it was just an idea.