WHAT SHALL I DO WITH MY OLD PC

Here are four Webs sites (take your pick) to go to re Start Up in MSCONFIG:

WHAT SHALL I DO WITH MY OLD PC

Problems

You have just purchased a new PC; now you have a plethora of items to transfer or get rid of.

Removal of personal (confidential) information

Use it as extra computer

Trade it in Donate it Recycle it

Recognize and copy personal data to the new one

Donating

Is it obsolete so more of a burden than blessing

To SA, Goodwill or school system

To the Computer Club

Someone in the family

Saving Applications and data

Backup!

Perhaps only My Documents (for each user) need be saved

Applications e.g. Photoshop, Quicken, etc; have own folders; usually must be reinstalled

Moving data from old PC to new one

Many tools and products are available.

Set up a network (hard wired or wireless)

Direct transfer (XP comes with a transfer utility i.e. connect both computers with a special

parallel or USB cable and transfer directly), floppies (limited), CDs DVDs, Zip Disk, Save on

Internet, Flash drive, memory card, external hard drive

Install old PC hard drive on new PC (may invalidate warranty); I plan to install an IDE caddy

in new PC

Perhaps keep old PC for awhile to be certain

Determine what should be moved and what you can actually move

Cannot move programs; you need the disks (problem if old PC programs were pre-installed)

Consider Open Office if applications disks not available for MS Office or MS Works

The following can be copied to disk or transferred directly to the same location on the

new computer:

My Documents folder and contents (note: separate folder for each user in WinXP)

My Pictures folder and contents (you may have picture in other folders e.g. camera program)

Non-standard Windows elements e.g. fonts, wallpaper, favorites/bookmarks

Some downloaded files.

Files from specialty programs like labels, greeting cards, etc. that store files in locations other

than My Documents.

The following examples cannot be transferred directly:

A. Outlook Express (no need re AOL, MSN, Hotmail, Yahoo)

To see the current settings in Outlook Express, open the program and click on tools, accounts.

Select the account and click Properties. Write down all pertinent information or use Print Screen and

paste each page into a word document and print them out for reference in setting up the new computer.

If you have multiple e-mail accounts, do this for each one.

(copied from http://urlsnip.com/227862):

1. File menu; Export; Address Book; click Text File (Comma Separated Values); click Browse;

select destination site; Name; click Next; select desired fields; click Finish. It is saved as an

Excel document.

2. Search (Find). WAB; right click and use Send To.

3. For Folders and Message: Open OE; click Tools; click Options; click Maintenance tab; click

Store Folder, Select the path and copy (Ctr + C); then paste (Ctr + V) in Address of Windows

Explorer; copy and paste all . dbx files to chosen media.

Free Outlook Express Backup software full or selective backup of OE's critical files including

mail folders, newsgroups, address book and identity settings:

http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx Eudora Address Book Copy 3 files from the

Eudora Folder: nndbase.toc, nndbase,txt, rcpdbase.txt

B.Netscape Bookmarks

Find and backup the file bookmark.htm

C.Internet Explorer Favorites

Backup the folder Favorites e.g. C:/Documents and Settings/User name/Favorites

D.Genealogy: Family Tree Maker

E.MS Outlook data file:

Backup the file outlook.pst

F.Quicken data files:

Backup all files with names beginning with qdata

G. Juno address book and messages, copy the Juno folder User000x

Standard Windows elements like sounds, fonts, cursors, wallpaper and

Customized Windows settings

Destroying personal data on old PC

Do you want to leave the OS

Prior to destroying the HD, get the CD key number for version of OS (possible reinstall);

use Belarc; if necessary go to the Registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SOFTWARE,

MICROSOFT, WINDOWS,CURRENT VERSION and select CURRENT VERSION. The CD

key should be listed. There may be 2 numbers. If there is a 25 digit number in 5 segments of

5 each, that is the one to note.)

Formatting the hard drive not sufficient!

Consider using restore/recovery CD to restore to way PC was when it left the factory

Extreme: sledge hammer, etc

Utilities available

Eraser http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/

Leaves No Trace of Internet Activity on your PC

Erases History Files, Cache & Cookies as you surf

No Registry or Index.dat worries

Timer option to Auto shutdown when inactive

And so much more...

Dariks Boot and Nuke http://dban.sourceforge.net/

Darik's Boot and Nuke ("DBAN") is a self-contained boot floppy that securely wipes the

hard disks of most computers. DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents

of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency

data destruction.

Active@ Kill Disk: Hard Drive Eraser http://www.killdisk.com/

Active@ KillDisk - Hard Drive Eraser is powerful and compact DOS software that allows

you to destroy all data on hard and floppy drives completely, excluding any possibility of

future recovery of deleted files and folders. It's a hard drive and partition eraser utility.

Sure Delete http://urlsnip.com/265456

Sure Delete offers a wizard-style interface that guides you through the process of deleting

files, cleaning up your hard drive in minutes. Sure Delete supports the FAT12, FAT16, FAT32

and NTFS disk formats.

BCWipe http://urlsnip.com/585408

BCWipe overwrites the file with random data, making recovery impossible. It integrates into

Windows Explorer, so you can easily select and wipe any number of files, using the normal

one-pass wiping or the more secure seven-pass method. This version of BCWipe introduces

predefined DoD 5200.28-STD and Peter Gutmann wiping schemes. The program can also

be run from a command-line prompt. If you're feeling adventurous, you can even create your

own wiping scheme to shred sensitive information on yourPC.