What to do when you get rid of a computer

You are going to get rid of a computer at some point. Whether it is because it just stops working or the hardware and software are outdated it is going to happen. There are numerous places that will take your old computer off your hands and some will even give you a little cash to help out. Just remember a few things before you do so.

Remember that if you use your computer with your business there is going to be a good deal of data on it. That is perhaps the most important thing that you need to take care of. Your browsing history will show anyone that hooks the computer up where you have been and chances are your passwords are also saved on it. If you have any of your customer’s data on that computer like email addresses or credit card info you need to do more than just hand the computer over to someone to recycle. You need to wipe its data out.

You can do this a few ways. If there are any data security laws or disposal laws where you live follow them. That will tell you who to dispose of you electronics with. Also don’t forget that when that computer is gone so is your access to it. If you don’t have one already buy an external hard drive to copy any information that you need off of it. Clear the browsing history and temporary files, delete personal files like photos and uninstall any programs. Numerous programs exist (here’s one) to make sure deletion of sensitive files like tax documents is secure and some of them are free. Then format the hard drive. If you are not comfortable doing that yourself there are plenty of computer pros out there who can do it for you. And worse comes to worse you can always just take a drill to a hard drive or dunk it in water. If you don’t want to destroy the hard drives consider restoring the PC to its factory settings with the restore disk that came with the computer or by going through the system restore option on the computer.

Let’s face it, data is an extremely valuable commodity to today’s identity thieves. They scour the internet looking to buy second-hand computers to steal any information that is on them. It’s an even bigger score when they get a business computer. Be proactive in getting rid of your computer and do it right. You will save yourself a lot of time and hassle.