old computers

[doowooper]

hello, what should be done with old computers before I put them
to the curve.Is there any way some one can retrieve all your
personal information. beside putting them to the curve,any suggestions on who may have a need for them.

doowooper :D

[zipulrich]

Wipe the hard drive clean, do a reformat, and donate it to a local library, Salvation Army/Goodwill-type-of-place, a Boy's/Girl's club, Scouts, etc.etc. It's probably a $20 tax writeoff! :)

[doowooper]

thank's Zip.

[zipulrich]

:)

You might also want to consider, if it's an older (say,486) PC, a local tech school may want it to teach A+ or computer repair classes.

[Baser-X]

You could set it on fire as an offering to the computer gods that they may bestow upon you their favor and good fortune with your current computer(s). :p

[MishY]

At work we donate all ex-PCs to local schools.

[doowooper]

My Question has been answered,thank's to all who responsed.

doowooper :) :D ;) :cool: :no:

[tweakthis]

Personally I'd reformat (do an unconditional one); load an OS and then reformat again. You want to overwrite the sectors so data is non-recoverable. You might also save a few big pictures to overload the drive before the 2nd reformat. It's harder to do, mind you, with these larger 40g drives, but I doubt you're ditching something that large. (Ummm, just in case, save some large modern art pics, not ...... cheesy ones. LOL)