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Of messages, mayhem and strange little boxes

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Why you can trust SCMP
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If you are a PC user, you have experienced the annoyance of the 'are you sure you want to trash this file' pop-up box that gives the answers of 'yes', 'no' or 'cancel' to click on.

First of all, what does the computer do if you click no? Give you another reassuring pop-up box to tell you someday you will figure this complicated stuff out? Really, how patronising - even if you are not a computer buff.

I recently had an experience, however, where I probably should have listened to my pop-up box.

On a rainy day, I cuddled up to my computer and noticed my desktop was clogged with overlapping icons. The poor PC needed some serious clean-up action, and I was just the one to do the job - I thought.

Windows 95 comes with a convenient recycle bin, a 90s replacement of the decadent 80s trash bin from the Macintosh. Sadly, recycle is a misnomer.

Mopping up the desktop required a quick dropping of icons into this recycle bin. There were some program folders and files that fell indiscriminately beside these, and that - with a figurative slapping of dusty hands - was that.

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