Well, yeah. ANYTHING can be removed if you are good enough (or have a big enough hammer)I'll bet they can... The removal might require taking the system/equipment apart, but it had to be put in, so there has to be a way to remove it..
What I meant was since I work for a gov't agency, the lab gear gets surplussed intact, and cannot be dismantled for parts, unless the instrument already doesn't work, then it's okay, but only if the parts are going to repair another identical instrument (the rules under which we work make zero sense)
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@QuietBob
"For those of us concerned about the security of older systems (and those bold enough to use them online)..."
Some years ago (say...10?) I took a Dell D630 laptop, installed WInNT 4.0 on it, and used it online.
Briefly.
Opera was the only browser I could find that worked, and I had my original copy of AdMuncher, and USB drivers as well.
Tracking down the patches to NT 4.0 was a monumental PITA, having to visit some very iffy sites to find them (nevermind having to remember what order things had to be installed in)
Much of the Internet just didn't work right, and the AV I used (I think an old copy of AVG) complained bitterly, but the system was never compromised. Security by obsolescence I think...
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