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Friday, January 4, 2008
It’s a giveaway - and you’re doing the giving
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sometimes the best thing you can do with a computer is give it away.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because I say it around this time every year. Many of you got computers for Christmas, which means you may have a surplus machine sitting around. The worst place for an extra computer is an attic or basement, where it will just take up space until dampness or critters destroy it.
Let someone use it instead.
It could go to a member of your extended family, or to a friend’s family. Or you could check with your church or synagogue, a civic club you belong to, or a school.
Young people enjoy messing with computers. And, for old people, the Web and e-mail enable travel to places where legs will no longer go.
A computer that was cruising the Web, writing letters and e-mails, and helping create documents before the holiday season is still capable of doing all that, probably for quite a while to come.
It’s fun for me to find someone who would enjoy having the old computer. But there are also organizations that take old computers and refurbish them. I live in Atlanta, and the group closest to me is called Tech Corps Georgia. You can find information on making a donation at this Web address: . If you live in another area, just use Google and type in this search: donate computer.
Many of you want to give a computer away but worry - with good cause - that the information you saved on the hard disk could be used by someone else. And you know that merely erasing, or even reformatting, the hard disk isn’t a surefire method of getting rid of data.
Here’s what I do with a computer that I plan to donate: I open the case and remove the hard disk. Some people physically destroy the hard disk, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But, for me, I simply stick the hard disk in a drawer.
That way, if I need some data from the old computer and can’t rely on my backup data, I can retrieve it by temporarily installing the hard drive as a second hard disk in the new computer. That’s an easy task. I’ll include a link here that will offer some tips on doing that
In some cases, you can give the computer away without the hard disk. Other organizations may want a fully functioning computer.
There are two ways to go if you’re in that boat. You can buy another hard disk -it’s easy find one for $50 or less. Or you can use a program that reliably removes data. For a discussion of that process the names of various programs- including a free one that claims to do it safely, check out this Web address:
So if you have a computer that isn’t being used, go ahead and have some real fun with it. Give it away.
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