'Digital' Steve Gibson: Where to Get Rid of Your Old e-Stuff

No lie—Americans are addicted to their digital toys. But it's also no lie that we're a fickle bunch. Every time a new gadget comes out, the old gadget hits the shelf, or the attic, or the basement—or a landfill. And after a while, our houses seem to be filled with this e-junk.

So what should we do?

Well, if you are so inclined, take a positive step and collect that junk together and drop it off at one of the local recycling centers. Fox Valley residents have a lot of options, so the first step is yours.

What to do before discarding your computers

If the device has a hard drive in it, you are going to want to insure that the hard drive has either been completely wiped of data, or else you'll want to remove the drive and destroy it yourself—I recommend a 5-pound sledge hammer or several holes drilled into it with a quarter-inch drill. That may be overkill, since most recycling places promise to wipe any drives before they reuse or recycle your equipment, but there is a lot of information about me on most of the hard drives in my computers. So I feel safer knowing I destroyed the data.

Check to be sure you have backed up those old photos, videos and documents. Back up data from banking or business accounting programs. An external hard drive will come in handy here. And make sure you have removed any CDs or DVDs from the CD/DVD drive on the computer.

Where to take your old electronic stuff

Best Buy has a good recycling program set-up that will take most of your computer stuff, and in some cases, they'll actually give you coupons to use in their store on new electronic stuff. Other retailers offer similar programs, but Best Buy has a fairly comprehensive plan. Check out this link for more information.

Some charitable groups will also pick up your electronic equipment and recycle it, just Google "charitable computer recycling." Here's a link to one such group—I do not have any experience with these people, so be sure to read the information thoroughly.

And of course, there are local and county government recycling programs.The Batavia Public Works Department located at 200 North Raddant Road in Batavia has a recycling program open Monday through Friday 8am to 3pm. And there is a monthly recycling program at the Kane County Electronics & Book Recycling Drop-Off Center at 540 South Randall Road in St. Charles. They are open on the second Saturday of every month from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

What shouldn't you do?

Don't dump it in your trash can or leave it curbside. Besides the obviously un-green aspects of that, you're leaving the door wide open for someone to get hold of your hard drive and try to recover your data. Even with the hard drive removed, thieves can recover software serial numbers from the case and attempt to re-use those serial numbers on stolen software, for example.

So, after you successfully recycle your gadget, your ready to resume the hunt for the "perfect computer", right? Well, let's leave that discussion for a future blog post, OK?

Reader Questions

Here are some questions I received after my last blog post—feel free to leave your own in the comments or email me at steve@completek.biz.

Q: What's the difference between the free anti-virus software, like Microsoft Security Essentials, and the paid for stuff, like Norton? -- Mark C., Geneva

A: You mean besides cost, right Mark? <smile> Well, I like to tell customers Norton and programs like that are like "Swiss Army knives" in terms of protection. They try to pack every tool you could ever need into one package and then you load that whole package of tools onto your computer. For almost everyone, that's an overload of protection that clogs up precious memory and slows down data processing—in other words, your computer feels like it's dragging. Free packages, like Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE), are more targeted, and they work on preventing you from executing programs that have viruses. MSE also works with other tools that are already part of Windows, like Windows Defender, and Windows Firewall, so you don't duplicate protection. All in all, MSE is a perfectly workable—and FREE—alternative that will provide plenty of protection for day-to-day computer use.

Q:Should I use DVD+R or DVD-R to record my old home movies on? - Sandy H., St. Charles

A: I always use DVD+R at my shop and have not had any problems. According to the DVD experts, though, DVD-R is slightly more compatible (as of 2009, at least). You should verify with the device that you are going to play the DVD on that it will be compatible.

If you have questions, please leave them in the comments below, or email them to me at steve@completek.biz. Thanks for reading this!