Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Using A Donated Computer

The other day I was "given" a 5 year old PC that wasn't needed by the user any longer. But in order to use it properly, I needed to know some information.

The first thing I did was to look through old documentation that came with it. I'm looking for CPU speed, RAM and Hard Drive size.

I also searched on line using the model number to see what should be in the computer when it was built. The only way to see if its been upgradeed is to start it up and take a look.

It's also a good idea to take an inventory of the ports and other visible parts of the PC. See how many USB ports there are, parallel ports, network ports, etc.

Once you do that, you'll understand the limitations of the PC, and make a determination on whether you should upgrade any parts of it.

You'd be surprised how many PC's still have life in them, especially for a second computer for a child, or surfing the net.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

My computer is over 3 years old and working fine, i have 3 other computers over 5 years old not online that my kids use to play games on and they work just fine.

Michelle HD said...

Here's a suggestion, for the "donaters" of computers. Format it! I don't know about you, but I don't want my personal information/passwords/pictures, etc getting in the hands of the wrong person. I like my identity, thank you very much :)

If for some reason you don't have the original manuals that came with the computer you can find the Ram/HD/Processor info by trying this:

Windows: Right click on My Computer, left click properties. It should show you the information there. Alternatively, you can go to Start -> Settings -> Conrol Panel and into "System"

Macs: You can find more information about your system by clicking the apple menu, and then clicking "about this mac".

Hope this helps!