Windows Diagnosis and Repair

Speeding Up Windows

Clean Your PC for Optimal Performance

Preventing Virus Attacks

Disaster Recovery

Learn to Resolve Software Conflicts

Looking for performance degradation

Tweeking and Optimizing your system

How to Avoid a PC Meltdown

How to avoid a Hard Drive Crash

Speed Up Your Hard Disk

Disk Clean Up

Clean Up Your System Tray

Recycle your PC

How to Recycle your Old Computer through the Computer Club

Before you dump your obsolete system, consider these alternatives for repurposing, salvaging, and donating it to charities.

Does it feel like every time you buy a new PC, it's either going to become obsolete in 2 to 3 years?   This trend became known as "Moore's Law," and amazingly continues to this day. One of the primary effects of Moore's Law is that personal computers become obsolete faster than any consumer item in history. In 1965, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore noticed that computer processor power was doubling every 18 months. If you've been using personal computers for any length of time at all, you've probably faced the reality of needing to upgrade or replace your system so that it can run the latest software. And if you're like me, you probably have last year's PC gathering dust in a closet or basement (maybe even several).

So if you're tired of using your old 486 as an large paperweight, lug it out of the closet! There are ways to repurpose an old PC, identify components that may still be of use, and options for recycling and donating computers and their components. Since many components in modern PCs include toxic materials, the need for proper handling and recycling is especially important--in fact, there are companies that can deal with old PCs in an environmentally-friendly way.

If you've already determined which components you can reuse and which are no longer valuable to you, then let's take a look at how to recycle the rest of your old computer system safely. If you want to dispose of that old PC in a way that will keep it from heading directly to the dump, you can hopefully do some good at the same time. You may even be able to earn some money towards your next system or a nice tax-deduction along the way.

Options for passing on that old computer include taking it to a PC recycler or toxic waste disposal center, trading it in towards a new system, or donating it to a worthy charity. As the personal computer has risen in popularity, the need for dealing with all the old hardware accumulating in homes and businesses has become a significant problem. Filling up landfills with large computers that are only a couple of years old is not a good idea nor environmentally friendly, especially considering the foul substances that can leech out of old computers

The best reason to avoid trashing old PCs in the family garbage bin or the local dump is that some parts of PCs are actually considered toxic waste. Increasingly, waste from the electronics industry is being looked at as a potentially dangerous environmental problem. With a rapid replacement cycle and the high number of PCs that have been manufactured in the last few years, the personal computer is considered to be one of the worst offenders.

To appreciate the magnitude of the problem, consider these statistics: The National Safety Council has predicted that in the year 2002 the number of PCs becoming obsolete will overshadow the number of new PCs coming to market by approximately 3.4 million systems. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that electronics equipment, including PCs, make up 220 million tons of waste annually in the U.S. alone.

Contact the computer club by emailing us and we can arrange pick up of your used PC. Please be sure to include you phone and address to arrange pick up or click here to see our list of places we recomende for computer recycling and donations.