Spamhuntress

NY Times had a story about people throwing away computers because they got infected with malware.

And that may shock some computer people.

But as one who has been in the trenches, helping people get rid of viruses, it actually makes sense in some cases.

One computer was so old and underspecced, we couldn’t install anti-virus on it. It just wouldn’t run on it. I wish the owner would have bought a new one.

Many of the thrown away computers in the story were around 4 years old. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t many computers ship with Windows 2000 around that time? It makes absolute sense to buy a new low end computer with Windows XP, then have it patched immediately and anti-virus installed, rather than battle with a leaky win2k computer! New computer are almost down to 500 $ these days, so it’s easier to buy a new one with OEM winxp, rather than buy a new windows version retail.

But please, if you do throw out a computer - back up your user files on CD, DVD or USB drive. And consider donating the old one to a school that uses old computers for SkoleLinux (School Linux, it’s a Debian based operating system developed for schools). Unless you have geek offspring that could use it for a Linux server or some other interesting purpose?

*I* wouldn’t throw out a computer as recent as that. I’ve always got uses for it (not including running win2000!). I’ve been known to butcher one computer to get parts for another. I’ll usually only throw away an old computer if I get a newer one and don’t have space or use for the oldest. Oh, and whiny fans are an abomination.

But then I gave away my old 300MHz P2 to my aunt, who won’t take it on the internet. She needs a glorified typewriter. I can’t read her hand writing, so I’m really looking forward to her letters now… Win98 is the best operating system for an old typewriter computer (win 95 is OK for those older than 300MHz). It can handle memory down to around 64 MB (though mine had way more) when it’s newly reinstalled. I also need to clean out the basement of the crud that has accumulated - old this and that…