Adapted from Ed Bott's Your New PC: Seven Easy Steps to Help You Get Started!

You know how to set up a new computer. But what do you do with an old office computer? Hand it down to someone else? Give it to charity? Throw it in the trash?

Before you decide, take a few minutes to review your options. Then, to reduce the chances that you'll have sensitive information compromised, make sure that you wipe out all traces of the data on the old computer.

Know your options

You have several options for what to do with your old computer: reuse it, give it away, cannibalize it for spare parts, or recycle it.

Reuse it

That old computer is no longer fast enough to serve as a primary computer, but it might have enough oomph to handle occasional Web browsing or light word processing. Consider keeping the computer to use for lighter duty elsewhere in your office.

Another option is to extend its life with a few well-chosen upgrades. Add a larger-capacity hard disk, some extra memory, and a new operating system, and you might be surprised at how zippy that old computer becomes.

To determine what sort of hardware is installed on the old computer, do the following:

1. Right-click Start, and then click Explore.
2. Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
3. Review the information on the General tab in the System Properties dialog box.

Consider a hard disk or memory upgrade if your old computer doesn't meet at least the following standards:

• CPU: Minimum 366 MHz (preferably 500 MHz or faster)
• Memory: At least 128 MB (preferably 256 MB or more)
• Hard drive: At least 20 GB (preferably 40 GB or more)

Hardware upgrades typically make the most sense if you can perform the installation yourself or if you can convince a tech-savvy friend to help you for free.

After you've upgraded the hardware on the computer, you can improve its performance further by upgrading the operating system.

Give it away

Giving a computer away might not be as easy as it sounds, especially if your computer is more than three or four years old. Check with schools or charities to learn whether they might have any minimum requirements for accepting computers.

If the computer includes any software, the school or charity typically wants physical copies of the software licenses along with your signed agreement to transfer those licenses.

Cannibalize it for spare parts

You might be able to use your old computer's hard disk as a secondary drive in a new computer. Likewise, the memory chips, video card, network adapter, keyboard, and mouse might have value as spare parts. If you can't use the salvaged parts, you might know someone who can.

Recycle it

If you conclude that your old computer has reached the end of the road, don't just toss it in the trash bin. Some components are toxic. The following organizations can help you dispose of your old computer in a way that is friendly to the planet:

• Local government   In some cities, the local waste disposal facility holds recycling fairs every few months. These facilities accept old consumer electronics products and computers for recycling or disposal.
• Mail-order computer manufacturers   Some computer manufacturers take old computers regardless of who manufactured them or what condition they're in. These manufacturers typically send old computers to a firm that disassembles the computers and recycles the pieces. Among mail-order computer manufacturers, Dell and Gateway have developed excellent recycling programs.
• Local electronics stores   Some retail stores, such as Best Buy and Office Depot, allow customers to drop off old computers, cell phones, and consumer electronic devices for recycling.

Erase your old data … completely

No matter what you do with an old computer, you owe it to yourself to wipe out its data first. The hard disk in an old computer is probably packed with business and financial details that might cost your company dearly if they fell into unscrupulous hands.

Data has a way of sticking around long after it should be gone. Traces of passwords and business information can be saved in temporary files on the hard disk. If you wipe out the contents of the folders where you normally store data, you might inadvertently overlook these hidden files.

And even when you delete a file from your hard disk, it doesn't really go away. The bits of data remain on the hard disk until they're physically overwritten by other data. This data can still be recovered by anyone who knows what they're doing.

There are literally dozens of utilities that can completely erase data from a computer. Most of these utilities repeatedly write random bits of data to all parts of the disk where files are stored, and then wipe those bits away. You can find one of these utilities by using your favorite search engine to look for the terms disk-wiping utilities for Windows.

Protect your company and the environment

Disposing of your old computer in a responsible way ensures that you safeguard your company's sensitive data. Doing so also protects the environment from the computer's more toxic elements.

About the author   Ed Bott is an award-winning journalist and a former writer and editor for PC World and PC Computing. One of the most recognized voices in the computing world, he is a two-time winner of the Jesse H. Neal Editorial Achievement Award and a three-time winner of the Computer Press Award. This article is adapted from Ed Bott's Your New PC: Seven Easy Steps to Help You Get Started! (2005), which is available from Microsoft Learning.