What To Do With An Old Computer

10 handy ideas on what to do with your old computer. It doesn't always have to be thrown away!


If you own a computer, eventually there will come a time when you need to upgrade to something newer. Perhaps it's because your computer has died a slow and painful death, or maybe it's simply too old and slow for current computing demands. Whatever the reason, here are some ideas for what to do with it.

1. Throw away/recycle it
Most people end up throwing away their old computer. A far better option would be to recycle it. Take a look through the phone book or ask Google - there are tons of companies out there that'll happily take a computer off your hands. Just make sure you adequately wipe the hard drive, though; you don't want your personal data lurking around on there. Click here for more information on how to securely wipe your hard drive.

2. Upgrade it
Sometimes upgrading may be possible, other times not. If you're unsure, ask a computer-savvy friend or relative. Upgrading a computer can often be a lot cheaper than ditching it entirely and buying a new one. For instance, if your computer has slowed to a crawl and takes forever to load anything, it might simply need an investment in new RAM. It's possible to extend the life of the computer by quite a bit, this way. Again, whether or not upgrades can be performed really depends on the make/model of the computer and its components. Many ancient components aren't compatible with more modern hardware.

3. Donate it
If you're feeling particularly charitable, a donation could be the way to go. If you know somebody - family member, friend or otherwise - who is in need of a computer, why not see if they want it? Many people are grateful for even a slow computer, given the alternative of having nothing. There might be schools in your area that would benefit from an additional computer - ask around and see.

4. Use it for backups
You might wonder if backups are really necessary, but let me tell you now: they are. There's nothing worse than losing data and realising, to your horror, that you don't have copies of it. Whether it's family pictures, financial spreadsheets, the latest draft of your novel or your newest article for Hubpages, you should always take precautions, where possible. Disaster can strike at any time; there's no way to predict when a hard drive might decide to fail. Having an old computer up and running, regularly backing up data from your new/current computer could be a very handy use for an old machine.

5. Run your own webserver
If you're looking to get yourself a website and want to host it yourself, an old computer could easily serve as a webserver. Of course, if your website began gaining in popularity, the box may need upgrading to cope; but for small/personal websites, it could be ideal. Don't forget that you'd need a static IP address if you decide to go down this route. A Linux distribution with Apache doesn't take up much room at all and there are plenty of guides online on how to get started with that.

6. Use it for storing media
If you're anything like me, you've got a lot of music. Rather than having that sitting on your current computer, taking up precious space, why not dump it on the older machine? Or to take things a step further, you could use it as a media server and stream music to your current machine(s). Have a look at http://ushare.geexbox.org/ for more information.

7. Keep it as a file server
The great thing about file servers is that, without a GUI to slow them down, they can be lightning fast. Something I'm quite fond of doing is installing a minimal Linux distribution on a box and using something like Samba or NFS to access it from my current computers over the network. Quick, easy and convenient.

8. Test server
Depending on how you use computers, this may or may not be useful. But for those who perhaps indulge in coding, web design or other creative endeavours, having a test machine on which to test your creations can often be very useful. For example, if web design is your thing, you might like to have Apache on there and configured in such a way that you can easily test and access all your projects. Or maybe you like experimenting with code and want an environment in which to run it, where there's no danger of destroying anything valuable. See what appeals to you.

9. Turn it into a Firewall
A very popular use for older machines, this. Many people like setting older computers up as Firewalls and putting them in front of their networks as an additional line of defences. There are dedicated Linux distributions built for this very purpose - IPCop and Smoothwall being two good examples. Linux is great for this - very fast and stable - and provides a great deal of control for those who like the DIY approach.

10. Plunder it!
Plunder it! Strip it down and see what you can use! Old computers can be a great source of handy bits and pieces, everything from hard drives and RAM, to PSUs and cases. You never know when something might break down and you need a replacement. I personally like to have a store of spares parts, for those situations. For some reason, I always find myself short of SATA cables, so those are among the first things I look for!

If you decide the give any of these ideas a go, you may find the books listed below very useful.

I hope these suggestions have been useful. All comments/questions are, of course, welcome.