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[W761]Why Computers Are Good

by Mehmet Onatli, Meh

You want a computer, but everywhere you look the prices are out of your range. Someone mentions to you about refurbished computers. Should you look at them as a possible choice? What exactly is a refurbished computer? Well it's a computer that is left for dead basically by its previous owner. A computer technician has gotten a hold of it someway and they decide that it won't cost too much to rebuild the computer and bring it back to life, and hopefully make a profit in the end.

Usually there are several websites online that will offer you a "great deal" on these refurbished computers. But if you look at them how do you know your getting a good deal or not? Do you know who the technician was and if they were good at their job? What about the difference in a brand new computer and a refurbished one? These are all great questions.

Let's take a look at a few of the deals you can get on refurbished computers online. There is an Acer Aspire T690 Desktop available for $399.00, you can purchase a two year extended warranty also. Or also available an HP Pavilion M9047C for $759 can't really tell if you can get a warranty on that one or not. Or another choice for refurbished is an Acer Aspire Laptop that is $599.99, and you can get an extended warranty on it.

Now if you were to compare that to some of the new computers you can find on the internet, let's see how they match up. There is a brand new tower from Compaq for $329.99, you will need to purchase the monitor and all with it, and so total price will depend on the monitor you pick out. Or a Dell package deal for $799, which you have speakers, monitor and all pieces needed to go home and hook up. Finally a new laptop price for an Asus laptop brand new you will only pay $399. All of these you are very easily able to purchase an extended warranty on.

Remember some of the most important things to look at when deciding if you want to go with a refurbished computer is the warranty. If the site you're looking at doesn't offer you a warranty, it would most likely be in your best interest to not purchase your computer from there. Obviously as stated above when purchasing a new computer you can get an extended warranty for a certain price. Most people think they don't necessarily need an extended warranty, but you never know when something will happen to your pc making it unusable. You need to get an extended warranty, it's a must.

Still the real question is do you feel safe buying a refurbished computer? Or will a newer one be your best bet. As you can tell by the prices above, it's not always cheaper to find and buy a refurbished computer. Really most stores seem to have sales on some good computers all you need to do is watch to see what is on sale.

Isn't it time to throw out that piece of junk or donate it? The answer is yes, but be cautious. Your quest to finding a new Pentium dual-core processor with 2gigs of RAM and a terabyte of hard drive space, may lead you to overlook one crucial detail...just how much your old computer knows about you?

Behind the Screens ? What your Computer Knows About You and Your Business
Computers are an enigma to most users. The average person knows how to create, open, save, and delete a document. However, what most people don't know is that saving a document will save it for eternity, and deleting it will not actually delete it. In fact, it has only deleted the document from visibility; out of sight and out of mind, but not out of the hard drive. The history of the document remains intact and can be used to recover it in full, even after deleting the file from the recycle bin, or conducting a full system reformat.

Without the proper tools to overwrite or encrypt the data on your computer, you open yourself up to problems that arise from one generous act of recycling an old computer. According to a study conducted by Edith Cowan University, individuals and organizations alike are taking huge risks by recycling or disposing their old computer hardware parts without making sure the data stored is completely erased.

What's At Risk?
More than 300 random hardware parts from Australia, UK, North America, and Germany, were randomly purchased and used to extract data. A bevy of sensitive information was found on those machines like "payroll information, mobile telephone numbers, copies of invoices, employee names and photos, IP addresses, network information, illicit audio and video files, and financial details including bank and credit card account [information]." Imagine how detrimental this could be for a company if this information got into the wrong hands!

Tips To Secure Your Hardware Donation
Well-intended computer users are oblivious to the dangers that come from improper disposal of computer hardware. It's imperative that the average computer person understands how to prevent these dangers. Here are a few tips on securing and erasing data before you donate:

Demagnetize the hard-drive with a Type I or Type II "degausser tool". This is generally known as "erasure". The process changes the magnetic alignment of your data so that its magnetic domain points elsewhere, making your data indecipherable; similar to how you would dupe a compass.

Using a disk sanitizer such as Disk Wipe, which will overwrite your original data with "gibberish" so it, too, will become indecipherable.

Encrypt files with software that provides strong encryption to protect sensitive data, including spreadsheets, word docs, and email messages and attachments

Protecting your Donation, applying Anti-Theft Measures
Compared to the other solutions, encryption is a more effective and flexible method of protecting documents on your hard-drive. Anti-theft measures like encryption can actually safeguard data while a computer is still in use, ensuring that the data is both accessible (to those authorized) and protected at the same time. If a computer gets donated without thoroughly demagnetizing or sanitizing, encryption adds a security buffer. This ensures that the person or organization taking your old machine doesn't get any bonus donations of personal or sensitive information.

Smart Stewardship
Our society has reached a climax never before achieved in the history of technological advancement. This should imply a heightened understanding of proper care, use and disposal of such technologies. If you're still itching to get that new computer and discard the old, just remember that there are many things your old computer knows about you. Make sure you know just as much about your old machine and what can result from not securing or cleaning data off of it. Your charitable donation shouldn't result in years of chasing your reputation or cleaning up your credit.

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Author Bio

Veronica Mun is currently a member of the marketing team at , based in Bellevue, WA. ESS is the leading creator and provider of email anti-theft software, Taceo.

Article Source : Pg. 392

About Author

Both Mehmet Onatli & Veronica Mun are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Mehmet Onatli has sinced written about articles on various topics from Computers and The Internet, Personal Desktop and Computers and The Internet. Mehmet has over 10 years experience in repairing computer. Get everything you can from him. Download a free trial of today! Visit:. Mehmet Onatli's top article generates over 49500 views. to your Favourites.

Veronica Mun has sinced written about articles on various topics from Business Intelligence, Phishing and Software. SourcesEdith Cowan Study, sited in the Sydney Morning Herald. 08/17/2006http://www.smh.com.au/news/laptops--desktops/secondhand-drives-hold-your-secrets/2006/08/16/ 1155407872679.htmlA Guide to Understanding Data Remanence in Automated Informatio. Veronica Mun's top article generates over 4400 views. to your Favourites.