Computer Shopping

Computer Care: Tips to find the right holiday computer

By Arthur Glazer
arthur@glazerthepctech.com

POSTED Dec. 13, 2008 5 a.m.

You've put off buying that new computer and now, with the holidays around the corner, there are sales everywhere. The trouble is, you may not be very tech-minded, not knowing RAM from a rake. But I'm here to help you. I'll be that voice on your shoulder while you talk to the sales geek.

To begin with, set a budget for yourself. Don't be persuaded into spending an extra $200 on an upgrade you may not need. Pricing is very competitive in this economy. Many stores, as well as online merchants are offering deals. Be a comparative shopper. See what the other guys are offering before you commit.

Figure out what type of computer you'll need. You can get a decent desktop or laptop for $600 to $1,000. Sure, you could still spend $2,500 if you want a screaming honking machine, but do you need one?

On the other end of the spectrum, there are new sub mini-notebooks. Dell, Acer and others now offer a small laptop from $350. They are good, slimmed down and weigh only 3 pounds. The screen is approximately 10 x 7 inches. They won't be great for video editing, but will do well for general computing.

There are a few terms you should be familiar with prior to shopping. You should know RAM, processor, hard drive, Ethernet, optical disc and LCD.

Deep breath — let's begin with the RAM, which is the memory. It is the computer's temporary storage. Three years ago 512 MB was the norm. Two years ago, a gigabyte (GB) was considered plenty. Now, most PCs ship with twice that. If you find a computer with 1 GB RAM and only check e-mail and browse the Web, you'll be fine and might save a few bucks.

The processor is the brains of the computer. It will be something like a Pentium, Athlon or Centrino. You will hear dual core, which relates to the processor. It is one processor, with two cores, making it work twice as fast. They already have quad cores on some models. The clock speed will be a number like 3.2 GHz CPU. That is the central processing unit speed of 3.2 gigahertz. The more cores, higher speed and faster the processor, the more expensive it will be.

The hard drive is the permanent storage. This is where you keep your music, videos and photos. You will see something like 160 GB or 500 GB HDD or hard disk drive. How much storage do you need? To give you an idea, figure using 5 MP (megapixel) images, you could fit about 600 shots per gigabyte. That's 300,000 high quality photos on a 500 GB drive.

The optical drives are the CD, DVD and Blu-ray drives. Each holds more than the last. A CD is good for general storage and file sharing. Each holds about 700 MB of data. (1,000 MB equals 1 GB). A DVD holds about 4.7 GB of data. The Blu-ray holds 25 GB on a single-layer, 50 GB on a double.
Determine which ones are on the computer you are looking at. Be sure to ask if they read and write to disc, or just read.

You will hear about wireless Ethernet on laptops or 802.11 b, g or n. This is your Internet connection. All laptops now come with a wireless connection. All you have to decide is how fast you want it to be.
If you have more than one computer, you'll need a router along with the DSL or cable modem, to split the signal. If you still have dial-up, look at the calendar. It's the 21st century; get a fast connection.

Most computers will probably ship with Vista installed as the operating system. Some may have an XP disc as well, allowing you to choose which you want. Windows 7 will be out by the holidays next year, but for now you'll have to settle on Vista or XP.

If you still have an old cathode ray tube monitor, you might consider upgrading to a thinner LCD (liquid crystal display). They have come way down in price recently. A 19- or even 22-inch could run less than $250.

If you buy a printer, consider the cost of its replacement cartridges. Also, not all printers produce quality photos. Ask for output samples. Wireless printers are much less than you may think and are as handy as a laptop.

Get a USB flash drive. They too, have dropped in price. You'll find them useful in copying and sharing files, especially music and photos. A 1 GB drive costs only $15. Compare that to 10 years ago when we used floppies. They were a buck a piece and held a mere 1.44 MB of data.

Save some money for software. Computers don't come loaded with programs as they used to. This keeps the prices down. Get at least an anti-virus, anti-spyware program. The rest is optional.

As far as extended warranties, I would only get one for a laptop, as they are easier to break and more expensive to fix.

For a desktop, call a tech to take care of it. We have to eat too, you know.

Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly. Arthur welcomes your computer questions and ideas for future columns.

Computer Malware

Computer Care: Protect your computer from malware

By Arthur Glazer
arthur@glazerthepctech.com

POSTED Dec. 12, 2008 5 a.m.

The Internet is a virtual dark alley. Unscrupulous dealers lurk in the shadows; you’re never sure who you can trust. In this cyber-city, potential infections lay in wait under each hot link and e-mail attachment, ready to corrupt your system with malware.

Malware is the all-inclusive term for malicious software that is in abundance on the Internet.

The computer virus, perhaps the most infamous, is a program that spreads within a computer or from one computer to another without the users’ knowledge or consent. Damage from a virus can be as little as a pop-up or as destructive as wiping your hard drive. It can degrade your system by corrupting it and robbing it of its resources.

Not only can a virus change or delete data, it can bring your computer to a crawl by using memory, disk space and bandwidth.

Many viruses come disguised as other programs and will try to trick you into either replicating it or initiating the spread of personal information.

In the case of the current XP 2008 Virus, a pop-up warns of infected programs and eminent danger. It appears to originate from Windows, with the same format and color schemes as the operating system.

The only thing though is that Windows doesn’t warn of viruses. That is not its job. Your antivirus program would do that. But the program preys on your fears, hoping you would click on it to "fix" what supposedly ails it. In reality, you would be spreading the virus with a click of the mouse. The best thing you could do is to get, keep updated and use a good antivirus utility.

A bot is a specific type of virus that runs automated tasks across the Internet. It mostly initiates click-fraud, harvesting personal information as user names and passwords. A worm is specific form of virus that runs itself. It doesn’t need a host to cling to in order to replicate itself across the Internet.

Spyware is a program you get unknowingly by installing certain shareware applications. A free download is tempting, but everything has its cost. Even though you may not have to pay for that program, its author is paid by a marketing company to include code in it to spy on you. Big brother is watching.

What it can do is track your browsing habits and report back to the mother ship. Spyware collects data with the purpose of informing advertisers what you’re likely to purchase. Ever wonder why, for example, after you browse some car sites, you start getting spam from auto companies or car dealers?

Adware is software sponsored by advertisements. These free programs have ads within them, either promoting a higher-end product for sale or others of that company’s products. Sometimes it will even take you to their web site. Others may hijack your homepage, replacing it with their own. All of this will slow down your system, again due it being robbed of its resources.

A Trojan horse is an Internet version of the same old thing. In this case, don’t trust spammers bearing gifts. The Trojan is a program masquerading as another, clandestinely hiding in its host until it’s ready to strike.

Phishing is not done from a pier, but there is bait involved. You are being baited by a bogus e-mail into thinking it is something it is not.

The phishing scam will have a link in a disguised e-mail asking you to provide personal information. It appears legitimate, as if from your bank, eBay or a company you may have done business with. It will ask you to click on a link and update your information, usually including your user name, password and credit card information. The link will take you to the scammer’s site, not your bank’s.

The best way to spot these frauds is by the generic greeting. They will say, "Dear customer, " or "Greetings." Your bank will not only not contact you by e-mail for something like this; they will call you by your name. The phishers will not. So don’t get caught.

Cookies can be good or bad. Some programs use them to track you, others to identify you. When you join a Web site and need to log in with a user name and password, a cookie is formed. This way when you return to that site, you’re greeted with, "Welcome back, Bob," because it knows who you are. It saves you the trouble of logging in each time.

But if you want to delete the tracking cookies, get a program like the free Ccleaner (www.ccleaner.com) that allows you to pick and choose which cookies to keep. Really, the best defense is to judiciously choose which e-mails to open and what sites to visit.

That said, I agree with Murphy: What can go wrong, will. Back up everything. Viruses happen.

Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly. Arthur welcomes your computer questions and ideas for future columns.

Computing Basics

Glazer: Use this basics to get to know your computer

By Arthur Glazer
arthur@glazerthepctech.com

POSTED Nov. 4, 2008 5 a.m.

Sometimes my wife doesn’t understand me. Occasionally my daughters don’t know what I’m talking about.

And now I discover my readers are often left in the dark by my techno-babble. Perhaps it’s time for a little Computing 101.

Let’s begin with the box, which some erroneously refer to as the CPU. The Central Processing Unit is actually the computer chip, like the Pentium.

On the front of the box you’ll find two drive bays. This is where your optical discs go. That’s your DVD or digital video disc, usually on the top, with your CD or compact disc drive beneath it.

The main difference between them is capacity. A DVD holds 4.7 GB (gigabytes) of data while a CD holds 700 MB (megabytes), with 1,000 MB equal to 1 GB. The newer Blu-ray media holds 50 GB on a dual layer disc.

The DVD drive is usually a read-only, meaning you can’t burn a disc with it. The CD drive on the other hand is able to read and write. If there is just one drive it is a combination for both media. If it says ROM (read only memory) it’s a reader. If it says “Re-Writeable,” it will write a disc. The disc itself will say CD-RW or CD-R.

Inside the box is the RAM (random access memory), power supply and expansion slots, all on the motherboard. The power supply is the silver box with a fan. Never open it. Also never touch anything inside without grounding yourself first. Electrostatic discharge in the smallest amount can fry a circuit. You can turn a stick of memory into a bookmark simply by touching it.

The RAM is next to the CPU, which has a heat sink (the slotted aluminum thingy) on top of it with a fan. There will probably be a couple of empty slots next to the full ones. The slots are about 5 inches long with plastic clips on the ends. RAM holds temporary information.

The expansion slots (PCI mostly) are for your modem, video, sound and Ethernet (Internet connection) cards.

The hard drive holds all of the permanent information. It is the C drive, your storage device. It has the operating system (Windows) as well as all of your data (documents, e-mails, photos). It is called a hard drive because in comparison, the original 5.25-inch floppy disc (and 8-inch before that) was actually flexible, unlike the rigid 3.5-inch disks most of you know.

On the back of the box, all those ports can be confusing. But you can’t put a cable in the wrong port — except for the PS-2 devices, the mouse and keyboard — and they’re color-coded. They both use little round connectors, although now both can use a universal serial bus. Just about anything from a printer to a camera can be connected via a USB port. They’re the narrow, flat rectangular thingies that connect to not only the rear panel, but usually to at least two on the front of the computer as well.

The pin plugs for the speakers, microphone and headsets are also color-coded. The blue trapezoid with holes in it is your video port. That’s where your monitor connects.

Next is the software. That would encompass the programs, applications and utilities that run on your computer. As explained before, Windows falls under operating system, as would Linux or Leopard. They run everything on your system.

A browser would be Firefox, Safari or Internet Explorer. An e-mail client would be Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Thunderbird or IncrediMail.

Word and Photoshop are programs or applications. A suite is a bundle of programs like Office or Norton Utilities. A utility is a program used as a tool. Your antivirus and antispyware programs such as AVG and Spyware Doctor are utilities.

Many computer users confuse upgrade with update. The former is a newer version of a program you have, usually at a cost. An update is an improvement to a program, usually downloadable and free. Version 3.2 would be an update while Version 4 is an upgrade.

The Internet or the Web: What’s the difference? The World Wide Web (www) is where we explore with our browsers. The Internet is all else including e-mail, chat rooms, ftp (file transfer protocol) sites and the Web.

A driver is a tiny program that allows hardware to work with your system. Your video card, for example, won’t work without a driver installed.

The registry is a database and records all hardware, software and users and is the backbone of the operating system.

There is so much more. We need to discuss cookies, viruses, worms, spy and adware. There are firewalls, defragmenting and system restores. But that will have to be another column.

So for now you should know the difference between a round thingy, a flat doohickey and silver gizmos. Perhaps computing, and hopefully this column, won’t be so confusing anymore.

Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly. Arthur welcomes your computer questions and ideas for future columns.

Vista

Computer Care: Vista’s not all bad once you learn its quirks

By Arthur Glazer
arthur@glazerthepctech.com

POSTED Nov. 1, 2008 5 a.m.

It's been two years since Microsoft released Vista, and I still don't like it. I have two desktops and a laptop; they all run on XP. When I replace my laptop, I'm sure I'll replace Vista and install XP Pro in its place.

But I do have a system partitioned with Vista Business on it and, I admit, there are some enhancements worth mentioning. We're not here to bash Vista today, but to praise its limited glory.

So let's talk utilities, gadgets and permissions. It's the latter that drives me nuts. I grow weary each time Windows asks for my permission, on my computer, practically every click of the mouse. Then I discovered how to disable that feature. It is in fact a safety feature built in to Windows for our protection against rogue programs and spyware, but it is annoying just the same.

To turn it off, find your way to Control Panel in Classic View and double-click User Accounts. Then simply click User Accounts Control (UAC) off by unchecking the box. But be forewarned that you are disabling attempts to advise you of programs that may not be kosher, so tread carefully. Know what you install and what you click on.

Vista, for some reason, will let you delete the recycle bin. By right-clicking on it, you can inadvertently delete the icon and the ability to tidy up your desktop instead of simply deleting the trash. Should this happen to you, right-click on the desktop and choose Personalize from the shortcuts menu. In the task pane on the left, chose Change Desktop Icons and check the box next to Recycle Bin. Click Apply and OK and you're back to recycling.

Some things are missing from Vista that XP had, but are still accessible. There is no more "Run" command in the Start Menu, but you can access it by hitting the Windows Key + R. Also Control + R should do it.

Network Places is also gone. Find it by clicking Start, then Network.

Outlook Express has become Mail and has lost the ability to check web mail such as Yahoo and Hotmail. You can still do it from your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox) though.

Add/Remove Programs is now hidden. To find it, click Start, then Control Panel, then Programs and Features where you'll see Uninstall.

System Restore is still there, but also difficult to find. In Control Panel, it's in the Backup and Restore Center. Easier yet, from the Search box, type Restore.

One of the things Vista can do that its predecessors could not, is partition unused hard disk space.

"What is that?" you ask. There is a built in utility that lets you create storage outside of Windows. Why put your photos or music in jeopardy by storing them with your system folders. Should your computer crash, you may lose the images of your last vacation.

From Start and All Programs, go to the Administrative Tools Control Panel and then to the Computer Management Console.

Also in the Administrative Tools area is a RAM tester if you suspect a memory glitch. Click on the Memory Diagnostic Tool and choose the first option, allow the system to restart and choose Basic when it reboots to the DOS screen. F1 will take you to the tests and F10 will initiate them.

Another plus from Vista is the Health Report. In Control Panel, click System and Maintenance Performance Information and Tools. On the left in Advanced Tools, the last item will say, "Generate a system health report."

While there, look for Problem Reports and Solutions that will not only discover what's wrong in your computer, but will try to fix it.

If you have a USB thumb drive with extra memory on it, you can use it to boost your system. Upon insertion, you'll be asked if you want to use it for storage or for a memory boost. Just choose.

Windows Defender is a utility that XP users can download, but Vista comes with it installed. It is Microsoft's defense against spyware. It will monitor attempts of hijacking, stop rogue programs from running and prevent pop-ups. It's accessible from the Control Panel by going to Security, then Windows Defender. It will run automatically, but you can initiate a scan at will.

Vista has other benefits, but considering my space restraints, I can't mention them all. Sure there are some cool tools and nifty gadgets to behold. But if I want weather gizmos or another clock, I'll add it to my XP desktop.

Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly. Arthur welcomes your computer questions and ideas for future columns.

Email and Spam

Computer Care: Foil spam with filters, dual e-mail accounts

By Arthur Glazer
arthur@glazerthepctech.com

POSTED Oct. 17, 2008 5:01 a.m.

Along with error messages, system crashes and blue screens of death, let’s add spam to the list of things you don’t want to see on your computer. Aside from it being a tasty luncheon meat, spam is the unwanted 90 billion junk e-mails we all get in our inboxes daily.

Incorrectly, the spam acronym has been deciphered as Stop Pornography and Abusive Marketing or Superfluous Pieces of Additional (or Annoying) Mail. Originating from an old Monty Python Viking skit, it actually doesn’t stand for anything.

Officially, it is referred to as UCE, which does stand for Unsolicited Commercial E-mail.

There are various ways to cut down on this onslaught of excessive junk mail. Some are defensive, others proactive. To begin with the most basic, I suggest you sign up with an Internet Service Provider that offers spam protection. Gmail is one of them. Everyone I know with a Gmail account doesn’t have much of a spam problem. It apparently filters well.

Aside from relying on the ISP filtering your mail, you can get a program to do it at your end. There are many on the market, some free. Mailwasher, available at mailwasher.net, is a good free one; another is Spamfighter Standard, found at spamfighter.com. They also offer a paid version with more bells and whistles for $29.

Most programs learn as you use them. You train them to know what is good or bad e-mail. They have "Approve" and "Block" buttons in a toolbar on your e-mail client.

If you do use an anti-spam program, don’t trust it completely. It will have false positives from time to time. By that, I mean that when you check your spam box, you may find an e-mail from someone the program thought should be isolated, but in fact is a friend of yours. It scans for address types and certain keywords in the body of the mail. It’s always a good idea to scan even the rejected mail for something that may not be spam.

Many security suites have anti-spam filters built in to them. You may have an anti-virus or spyware program that already has spam protection, so check it out before you add something else.

The easiest way to prevent spam from getting to you is by being careful. Get two e-mail accounts. Use one exclusively for online registrations and to sign up for newsletters, chat rooms or bulletin boards. Use the other only for your friends and those you trust. Just remember which is which.

You might consider naming your alternate account with something like (your_name)temp@blank.com or (yourname)signup@blank.com, whatever works for you. Once your address is out on the net, it spreads, so be careful. Many companies buy and sell e-mail lists regularly.

When you do sign up for something, be aware of the checkboxes near the submit button. By default, they remain checked. That gives the site owner permission to use or sell your personal information, including your e-mail address. All you have to do is uncheck them before you submit the form.

In some instances, you can use a fake e-mail address to sign up for things. If they just want you to register and are not sending you a link to activate an account, make up an address. I’ve used bob101@xyz.com and got away with it.

Use free e-mail accounts and treat them as disposable. When you begin to get too much spam, toss the address and get another. Aside from Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo also offer free accounts.

Even paid accounts will allow multiple e-mail addresses. One of my ISPs is Charter, which allows five addresses per account. You could always delete the abused one and add a new one on a rotating basis.

Don’t respond to spam or click on any links in the message. Just delete it. Once the spammers know you are there, their mail will be relentless. Many times you’ll see a link to click for address removal. Don’t do it. Also don’t reply with "Remove" as the subject or ask to be removed. Again, all it does it confirm that they’ve hit a live address.

No matter what type of spam you receive, by no means should you ever threaten anyone, not even the Nigerian minister of the treasury.

Programs, filters or whatnot, by far the easiest way to cut down on this nuisance is to have multiple e-mail addresses. It is the least amount of effort, the most effective, and like my advice, it’s free.

Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly. E-mail Arthur with your computer questions or suggestions for future topics.

What To Do If Your PC Gets a Virus

Computer Care: It's virus season, so use protection

By Arthur Glazer
arthur@glazerthepctech.com

POSTED Oct. 12, 2008 5:01 a.m.

The cold and flu season has yet to hit, but there is an outbreak among us spreading worse than a cold through a middle school. There is an old virus with a new name and it is looking for your computer.

Pop-ups are rampant and they are the type that won’t go away. Warnings of imminent danger abound. Click here or you’ll never see another e-mail. Buy this program or be doomed.

The fact is, those warnings are the virus. It goes under the name of Antivirus 2008 or 2009, mostly. I have also seen it called XP Antivirus. Just to be clear: Those are not real antivirus programs.

I have worked on an inordinate number of computers lately with this infection. The pop-ups appear genuine and just threatening enough to make you take notice. But once you click on them, they spread. There is no shutting them down. If you close one, another appears.

The warnings tell you of a specific number (in the thousands, usually) of infections and intimidate you to buy a product that in fact does not even exist. The pop-ups look so legitimate that they seem to come from Windows.
But Windows won’t tell you that you are infected; that’s not its job. Some have Google inform you. Wrong again. Your antivirus or spyware program will give you that information, and then only after it scans your system.

That’s not the worst news. These viruses are resistant to removal via the conventional method. To date, there is not a program on the market that will eradicate these infestations. They must be removed manually, which is a tedious job.

Once you scrutinize what is on screen, you may realize it is bogus. The name is a bit too generic. There is little or no information to be had about the program or the company (because neither exists).

I came across one instance of the virus where the warning box did not even have an “x: in the upper right-hand corner to shut it down. When there is an “x,” it doesn’t work. Even if you succeed at shutting one down by using Control + Alt + Delete, another will take its place.

The infestation needs to be removed, if you have one. If you don’t, you need to be ever-vigilant in watching how you compute. Get protection from viruses, spyware and adware. Be careful where you go and what you click on.
It is now easier than ever to spread things on the Internet. Malware can be attached to messages or embedded in photos. You can get them from rogue programs or unsecure Web sites.

In the past you had to open an attachment to an e-mail to get infected. Not so anymore. Many times you may never even discover where your infection came from. All you can do is be careful. If you get an invitation from someone on Facebook or MySpace that you don’t know, don’t click on it.

Antivirus 2008 may not be stoppable, but others are. Get a couple of good utilities and use them. These programs won’t work through osmosis. They take just minutes to set up.

Make sure you update the malware definitions on a regular basis, whether for viruses or ad or spyware. Then be sure to setup the scheduler in the program. Set it for a time when you’re not using the computer so it doesn’t slow you down.

I’ve had clients with infected computers who insisted they had protection. They did; they just didn’t bother to either update or even use them. Go to the settings area and be sure the update box is checked and that the scan is not set to manual.

If you don’t have protection, do a Google search. There are a bunch of good programs out there, many free. Also look around at download.com or majorgeeks.com. You might also consider a better firewall than the anemic one that comes with Windows. Consider one at pctools.com/firewall or another at personalfirewall.comodo.com, both good freebies.

A few things you could do to help discourage infections are to disable the file and printer sharing and not allow remote connections or invitations. They just make it easier for hackers to have access to your system. If you do need to share files, just set up a password to be more secure.

If you think the pop-ups from the utilities are annoying, deal with it. It’s nothing like what you’ll get from Antivirus 2008 when it strikes.

Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly. E-mail Arthur with your computer questions and ideas for future columns.

Recycling Your Old PC

Computer Care: If you get rid of that old PC, be sure to clean it out

By Arthur Glazer
arthur@glazerthepctech.com

POSTED Sept. 20, 2008 5 a.m.

More than 10 million computers are discarded in our nation's landfills on an annual basis. As prices for home electronics drop, many consumers prefer to toss their old PCs rather than fix them.

Aging computers fall into a few groups. There are those that would serve only as doorstops and need to be discarded. Then there are those that can be fixed. You can have them repaired and either keep them or give them away. In between are the computers that have salvageable parts.

There are things to consider prior to disposing of your PC in any fashion. First, if it's more than 5 years old or is less than a Pentium 4, it's time to get rid of it. Save the power cord; toss everything else.

Next, why consider spending $800 on a replacement PC when you may not have to. I have looked at many computers that were thought to be dead but in fact were fine after a bit of work. A loose cable, a virus or one bad part could make an otherwise good computer appear worthless.

Should you decide to either pass your computer on to someone else or dispose of it, precautions should be taken to ensure that your personal data is not seen by whoever gets it next. Simply erasing or deleting files or even reformatting the hard drive is not all that secure. The process could be easily undone with an undelete utility.

What you need are programs like Hard Disk Eraser from www.killdisk.com or Eraser from www.heidi.ie/nod/6. Both have free and paid versions. The free programs write zeros all over your data making it unreadable. The better utilities produce more secure results by writing zeros plus random characters many times over, making it impossible to get to the original data. You don't want someone seeing your old financial information, your browsing history or your passwords, do you?

Once the data is secured, the next thing to consider is whether the components in your aging PC are worth salvaging. If the computer is not too old, you may be able to recycle the RAM (memory), the hard drive, power supply and optical (CD/DVD) drives. Remember why you are discarding the PC in the first place and save only what you know works.

A recycled hard drive makes a good second drive in another computer. All you need to do is hook it up. Windows will find it. It's a good place for all that music or photos you have.

The RAM literally pops out after spreading the two clips apart that hold them down. The power supply is held in place by four screws and some cabling. The optical drives and hard drive are attached by two screws on either side with two cables each. Push the optical drives forward and remove them from the front; all else is removed from within.

Remember to ground yourself prior to poking around inside the box. It's not so much for your protection, since the computer will be unplugged. But by grounding yourself, you protect the circuitry from static charges you may transfer to them, rendering them useless.

As far as monitors and printers are concerned, if they don't work, toss them. They have no user-serviceable parts and monitors hold a high charge that could prove dangerous.

If you decide to just give the computer away as is, again there are options. You may consider offering the non-working PCs to local schools for their computer labs. They need specimens to take apart. For working PCs, there is Craig's List or FreeCycle.

If you need to dispose of your computer locally, Hall County runs the Recycling Center at 1008 Chestnut St. in Gainesville. They accept computer equipment 24/7/365. Rick Foote of Hall County Resource Recovery says it is not illegal to dump it at the landfill, but that it isn't necessary because of the Recycling Center. For more details, check out the Web site.

Outside of Hall County, you might check with the municipality to see what their regulations are on disposing computer parts. Not only do old computers take up space, they have dangerous components in their circuitry, so many towns don't allow their disposal. Even if recycling isn't mandatory, it's a good option.

So when you decide it's time to part ways with that old Pentium, you could either fix the glitch, trash the cache or be green with your machine.

Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly and on gainesvilletimes.com. Send Arthur your e-mails with computer questions or suggested topics for future columns.