Removing Akhilesh's in-built tamper-proof wallpaper crashes laptops

There's no getting rid of chief minister Akhilesh Yadav from the 10,000 HP laptops he distributed on Monday. Students who tried it are in deep trouble. Efforts to change the in-built tamper-proof wallpaper proved disastrous. HT reports.

There's no getting rid of chief minister Akhilesh Yadav from the 10,000 HP laptops he distributed on Monday. Students who tried it are in deep trouble.

Efforts to change the in-built tamper-proof wallpaper -- depicting Yadav and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav -- proved disastrous. The laptops crashed. And when local HP engineers tried to rectify the problem, Linux, one of the operating systems on the machine, got wiped.

Admitting they have received many such complaints, Vishnu Mohan, marketing manager, UP Electronic Corporation Limited, the agency that distributed the laptops, advised users not to tamper with the wallpaper. It can lead to crashes, he said. Even their teachers had sounded similar warnings, but sadly, that was the first thing most students had tried to do.

Mohan, however, had a word of consolation: "The machines come with a one-year warranty. In case of glitches one can contact md@uplclko.in or uplclko@gmail.com."

But students who tried to make a quick buck by selling the laptops, found they have a tougher problem. Local shops turned them down.

The Lucknow administration said it was keeping tabs on the laptops. "Anyone caught selling or buying the machines would be prosecuted as per the agreement signed in the registration forms," said district magistrate Anurag Yadav.