Search
Related Links

 

 

Informative Articles

Easy File Recovery - Basic Backup Guidelines
You can skip these backup guidelines and do not backup if you have never misedited a file and saved, deleted a file by mistake or have never had to recover from a hard disk crash, a virus, a computer theft or other similar computer disaster. ...

Options for Computer Data Recovery
Losing files on your computer can be a frightening experience if the files are of importance to you personally or professionally. Computer data recovery techniques include the most simple of operations, like simply retrieving an accidentally deleted...

Reduce TCO: The Java Database Way
TCO (Total Cost Ownership) is the buzzword in today’s business world. This metric helps enterprise managers assess direct and indirect costs and benefits derived from their investment on IT components and services. A vital component of overall...

Top 7 Reasons You Should Back Up Your Data Online!
How much is your data worth to you? In this modern electronic-age we rely more than ever on our computers to supply us with the information we need. Chances are every piece of data you might ever rely on to make an important decision has been...

What is Data Recovery? - A brief Introduction
What is Data Recovery? Data Recovery is the process of retrieval of inaccessible or corrupt data from digital media that has become damaged in some way. Data Recovery can be used to recover data from devices as varied as Hard Disk Drives, Memory...

 
Computer Disposal - Throwing Away Your Computer, Money, and Idenity

You may reprint or publish this article free of charge as
long as the bylines are included.

Original URL (The Web version of the article)

------------

href="http://www.defendingthenet.com/Newsletters/Throwing
AwayYourComputer-Money-And-Identity.htm" target=_blank>
Computer Disposal - Throwing Away Your Computer, Money,
and Identity?

Title
-----
Computer Disposal - Throwing Away Your Computer, Money, and
Identity?

Computer Disposal and Security
------------------------------------------------------
Computer Disposal - Security is not only important while
using your new PC, but when disposing of your legacy or old
computer equipment as well. Information can be retrieved in
several different ways once your system leaves your house or
office. In my state we have a recycling container at the
solid waste authority which you can bring your old PC’s to.
On May 31st, 2005, I decided to do an experiment and see
what people actually throw away. So, I took my trusty
laptop, an external USB hard drive shell, and waited for my
first victim. (All identities have been changed to protect
the newest casualties of the TCAD)

Leaving Your Credit Cards At The Dump
--------------------------
John Doe (age – 46)

I explained my reason for being there and asked if he would
like to participate. After obliging, I asked him a few
question. I got a laugh out of this one.

Jackson – “What would you say your technical skills are?”

John – “I don’t know -bleep-, this is my son’s computer, and
he said it was broke”

So I proceeded to take his hard drive out to see what I
could find. (And boy did I find stuff) I found 64 word and
excel documents containing everything from a book report
titled Trusting Human Nature to a detailed spreadsheet
titled Our Debt. John said "a year ago, we refinanced our
house, and my son helped us put this spreadsheet together of
our credit cards and miscellaneous debts". Believe it or not
it, actually had the names of the credit cards, account
numbers, and amount owed on each one. After I showed John,
he asked me to check if his son was surfing on sites he was
asked not to go on. I told him the system looked clean and
his son was following his rules to a T. (You owe me Junior)

Out of 5 PC’s I saw that day, all of them had recoverable
files. John Doe’s being the worst with the Our Debt
spreadsheet.

What should I do?
-----------------------------------
There are many applications that can help you format your
hard disk drive, but even their lawyers won’t allow them to
say its 100% effective.

So, what should you do? Here are a couple ideas on computer



disposal that may help:

* Go ahead and recycle your computer in an EPA fashion,
but remove your hard disk drive and add it to your new
system for extra storage (Secure);
* Find a local company that will melt you hard disk
drive. Usually a recycler or machine shop will do this for
you (Secure, but it will cost money);
* Find a local company that will use a degaussing
machine in order to eradicate your hard disk drive (Secure,
but it will cost money);
* Use a secondary application to format your drive, but
run the program 3-5 times even if it states it’s not
necessary (99.9% secure, but still possible to recover
data).

Computer Disposal and the EPA
----------------------------------------------
Make sure when you recycle your old system you comply with
the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") guidelines. Here
are some basic facts on computer disposal that will help
you.

According to the official EPA website www.epa.gov:

* The Environmental Protection Agency has strict
regulations regarding the disposal of hazardous materials;
* Penalties for violations are distributed in the form
of fines as well as Public Service;
* Nearly 250 million computers will become obsolete in
the next five years;
* Many people discard computers every three to five
years;
* In 2004, only 11 percent of personal computers retired
in the U.S. were recycled.

Conclusion
----------
TVs and computers can contain an average of four pounds of
lead (depending on their size, make and vintage) as well as
other substances of potential concern like chromium,
cadmium, mercury, beryllium, nickel, zinc and brominated
flame retardants. These materials need to be handled
carefully and are potential health hazards.

On top of all the chemicals and biohazards, your computer
probably contains personal information. If this information
falls into the wrong hands, you could be on the receiving
end of identity theft and various forms of fraud.

Websites that may be of interest:

* The Computer Disposal Requirements section of the
EPA;
* SnapFiles Handy Recovery data recovery freeware tool;
* R-tools Technology R-Wipe & Clean disk cleaning and PC
privacy software.

Jackson Morgan,

President of 'The Technical Coalition Against Dumbness
(TCAD) :)

About the Author

About The Author
----------------
Jackson Morgan is a Sr. desktop support specialist and works
with small to large businesses. He is certified to work on
many platforms and has over eight years experience in the
field. If you would like to contact Jackson you can e-mail
him at jackson.morgan@paralogic.net.

 

Data Recovery Software and Undelete from R-TT
Disk management software including utilities for data recovery, drive imaging, disk wiping and access control.
www.r-tt.com
 
Data Recovery | Email Data Recovery by Ontrack
Data recovery services, data recovery software, file repair software, and diagnostic software from Ontrack. Software for email recovery, file recovery and ...
www.ontrack.com
 
Data Recovery by DriveSavers | Hard Drive Data Recovery
Worldwide data recovery service for all operating systems and storage media. Authorized by all drive manufacturers.
www.drivesavers.com
 
Hard Drive Data Recovery Software Tools, Disk Recovery Utilities ...
Offers data recovery software,data recovery services for hard drive recovery and data safety software services for your computer. Buy award winning data ...
www.stellarinfo.com
 
Data Recovery by FADV – Hard Drive, RAID, Tape, Database and more ...
Offers data recovery services for all hard drive models. RAID, MS SQL, Exchange, Tapes, Camera and USB media, CD and DVD. Service available 24/7.
www.datarecovery.net
 
Data Recovery Software - File System Utilities
Data recovery software for all Windows file systems. Recover deleted files, corrupted hard drives, and partitions.
www.runtime.org
 
Professional Data Recovery Software from Bitmart. File Recovery ...
Data Recovery Software Restorer2000. Undelete & File Recovery utility for FAT and NTFS file systems. Data Recovery from damaged disks and partitions.
www.bitmart.net
 
Data Recovery Services - ActionFront - Critical Server Data Recovery
ISO certified data recovery services with labs in Atlanta, Santa Clara, Dallas, Chicago, Toronto (also Buffalo and Tokyo Japan)
www.actionfront.com
 
Hard Drive Data Recovery Software: Recover Deleted Files- Recover ...
Data recovery software for recovering files that have been deleted or lost due to the hard drive format, virus infection, unexpected system shutdown or ...
www.recovermyfiles.com
 
Data Recovery Group - Hard Drive Data Recovery Services
Data Recovery is Our Only Business! Data Recovery Group's a complete data recovery service that specializes in recovering data from hard disk drives.
www.datarecoverygroup.com
 
Data Recovery by CBL: Hard Drive Recovery Services
Worldwide Data Recovery Services at CBL. Specializing in data recovery, hard drive recovery, hard disk drive recovery and RAID data recovery.
www.cbltech.com
 
Data Recovery Software, File Repair Utilities, Hard Disk Recovery ...
Hard drive data recovery software to perform data recovery & recover deleted files from Novell, Linux, Unix, Mac, Windows & data recovery services for hard ...
www.nucleustechnologies.com
 
AT&DR: Data Recovery and Liabillity
Associated Technologies offers complete data recovery solutions with services for any type of data storage device, including the following: hard drives, ...
www.datarecovery.com
 
Ontrack UK - Data recovery services & recovery software - hard ...
Ontrack offers data recovery services & software for: hard drive recovery, file recovery, server recovery, email recovery, tape recovery, RAID recovery.
www.ontrack.co.uk
 
Beginners Guides: Hard Drive Data Recovery - PCSTATS.com
Beginners Guides: Hard Drive Data Recovery - PCSTATS.com.
www.pcstats.com
 
File Recovery and Data Recovery Software. Hard Drive recovery utility
Data recovery software for FAT, NTFS, Ext2FS file systems. File recovery after FDISK, MBR destruction, FAT damaged, virus infection. Dynamic disk support.
www.data-recovery-software.net
 
Data recovery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Data recovery is the process of salvaging data from damaged, failed, ... Although there is some confusion as to the term, data recovery can also be the ...
en.wikipedia.org
 
Active@ UNDELETE Data Recovery. Recover Deleted Files. Windows XP ...
Active@ UNDELETE - Data Recovery Software for all Windows File Systems. Recover deleted files from lost, damaged, formatted or reformatted partitions.
www.active-undelete.com
 
New Zealand Data Recovery & Computer Forensics Experts
New Zealand data recovery specialists & computer forensics investigation experts. Recovering lost data for businesses or legal evidence is all we do.
www.datarecovery.co.nz
 
Canada Data Recovery Services: Hard Disk Drive Recovery, Raid Data ...
Provides data recovery solutions for companies experiencing data loss from failed hard drives, raid arrays, and server systems.
www.datarecovery.ca
 
 

 

Content Menu
  • 10 easy steps to speed up your computer without upgrading

  • 10 proven tips to survive a computer crash

  • 7 critical steps to protect your data

  • add value by documenting your business

  • an introduction to tape backup

  • an outsourcers passage to india how to do it part i

  • are you prepared for a hard drive crash

  • asset searching for recovery actions the decision makers critical tool part 2

  • asset searching for recovery actions the decision makers most critical tool part 1

  • a beginner guide to web hosting

  • a customer complaint management system

  • a fresh start for family finances in 2005

  • background of password cracking

  • backing up your stuff part 2 a solution

  • before you take the plunge essential information on data recovery

  • booting problem in pc

  • business continuity and disaster recovery a business not a technology issue

  • business continuity and disaster recovery business impact analysis

  • business continuity and disaster recovery reducing your risk profile

  • business continuity and disaster recovery risk analysis and control

  • business continuity and disaster recovery selecting a business continuity strategy

  • business continuity and disaster recovery the business continuity and disaster recovery plan

  • business continuity testing starts with the risks

  • business needs vs network performance critical challenges facing network managers

  • can raid systems fail

  • career paths for a comptia a certified technician

  • career paths for comptia a certified technician

  • choosing a data recovery company

  • choosing data recovery company

  • common problems why hard disks crash

  • comparing data recovery software

  • compensating for disruptions in the oil and gas industry

  • computer data recovery options

  • computer disposal throwing away your computer money and idenity

  • computer viruses the basics

  • coping with a serious data loss from your computer hard drive

  • corporate information security is our information more secure since september 11th

  • datarecoverynet com enters medical industry

  • data backups are the biggest security threats

  • data backups are the biggest security threats surprised

  • data backups one key to business survival

  • data recovery

  • data recovery 1 on 1

  • data recovery and data loss a costly proposition

  • data recovery and data safety tips

  • data recovery beginners tips

  • data recovery for less

  • data recovery from laptops

  • data recovery made easy

  • data recovery software at your rescue

  • data recovery software comparison

  • data recovery the best method is prevention

  • data recovery the easy way

  • data recovery what not to do

  • data recovery what you need

  • data recovery you can get it back

  • data security are your assets secure

  • dealing with your pending pc disaster a guide for small business

  • did you ever want to completely erase everything on your computer

  • dirty little computer viruses and how to protect yourself

  • disaster planning ­v how important is it to you

  • disaster preparedness in a post 9 11 world

  • disaster recovery more than meets the eye

  • disc and data recovery

  • document management features for 2003

  • does it worth to backup emails from clients like outlook express

  • do it yourself data recovery freezer method

  • do i really need to backup

  • drive solutions inc expands data recovery service

  • easy file recovery basic backup guidelines

  • easy guide to raid recovery

  • eliminating the risk of delivering network ready applications

  • email recovery good software can fix your lost mail trouble

  • esecurity

  • exchange disaster recovery with sanrad v switch planning guide

  • e commerce a no nonsense perspective for new business

  • flash usb drive backup easily conveniently and securely

  • focusstor launches a new data backup recovery software

  • getting more bang for the storage buck

  • get down with ocp evaluating dba job applicants in an ocp world

  • got virus

  • got virus your data is not lost forever

  • great plains accounting support overview for it specialist

  • great plains dos support notes for consultant

  • great site ranking in google the secrets out

  • hackers given access to irs computers

  • hard disk data recovery expert choosing yours

  • hard dive failure what is a head crash

  • hard drive crash avoid making a bad situation worse

  • hard drive crash the essential data recovery report

  • health and medical advice on the internet use it wisely to overcome illness and find more happiness in your life

  • highlights of irs list of 2005 tax scam

  • highlights of irs list of 2005 tax scams

  • how multiple server hosting impacts your websites uptime

  • how multiple server hosting impacts your website s uptime

  • how multiple server hosting impacts your web sites uptime

  • how safe is your success part 5 of 8

  • how safe is your success part 6 of 8

  • how secure are online data backups

  • how to avoid everyday sales mistakes

  • how to backup a pc

  • how to backup windows xp home edition

  • how to backup your computer files

  • how to backup your hard drive

  • how to check the status of your tax refund online

  • how to fight cyberterrorism

  • how to prevent computer security risk and how to keep your small business safe

  • how why gps offers affordable fleet tracking

  • how you can avoid my data recovery nightmare

  • hr managers use computer forensics to investigate employee allegations

  • hurricanes wilma katrina and rita force businesses to rethink computer

  • identity theft and credit reports

  • identity theft recovery the road back

  • identity theft safeguarding cant hurt

  • identity theft the road back

  • improving sql performance

  • index

  • information security for smes

  • insure your information backup software

  • internet network security policies need a radical rethink

  • intranet

  • iscsi vs fc for meeting mission critical requirements

  • its all in the planning disaster recovery

  • it department skills to support microsoft great plains and microsoft crm

  • it in house support microsoft great plains and crm

  • keep a diary of your computer

  • learn how to safely backup your hard drive

  • lightning season how to avoid data loss

  • linux or windows which is it

  • loans for bad debtors discarding debt disorganization to recover financial growth

  • local vs remote data backup the pros and cons

  • mcse 70 290 certification primer

  • microsoft great plains customization recovery upgrade for large corporation

  • microsoft great plains customization upgrade recovery visual studio vb 6 0

  • microsoft r exchange server utilities eseutil isinteg

  • microsoft sql 2000 disaster recovery with sanrad v switch planning guide

  • mr

  • need a copy of your tax return information

  • new generation of financial information systems makes crunching numbers faster and easier

  • new iomega tera series desktop hard drive with 1tb capacity

  • nucleus kernel for fat and ntfs

  • nucleus kernel for fat data recovery software

  • nucleus kernel for fat ntfs data recovery software

  • nucleus kernel for ntfs data recovery softwares

  • online investing and trading discussions at www streetplayer com

  • openly sharing your rfp objectives and information with vendors

  • options for computer data recovery

  • outsourcing it asset retirement

  • outsourcing multiplying it services

  • paragon drive copy 8 0

  • planning for 2002 business recovery use public relations firepower

  • protecting your identity on the internet

  • protect yourself before your hard drive crashes

  • quick system restore with asr backups

  • raid disk recovery

  • ready for a business recovery

  • recognizing a pc with malware

  • recover deleted data easily

  • reduce tco the java database way

  • reinstall windows xp on your computer

  • rotator

  • scalability testing 7 steps towards success

  • scalability testing 7 tips for improvement

  • secure offsite backup services and software online file backup and storage remote online backup

  • secure your data windows data backup computer software

  • small business computer security the basics

  • small business network security 101

  • software that takes care of other software

  • sql administrator skills required to support microsoft great plains

  • syi save your identity

  • teosoft cleanspace 9 software

  • the best data recovery choice for you

  • the day my laptop was stolen almost killed my business

  • the devastation of data loss and what you can do about it

  • the essential data recovery report

  • the google patent reveals the secret to great site ranking

  • the importance of engaging a qualified data recovery expert

  • the importance of proper security for your pc

  • the mystery of the unknown

  • the seven deadly habits of a dba and how to cure them

  • the seven golden rules of data backups

  • the worst case scenario how to protect your data

  • think you have a dead hard drive

  • top 10 ways to protect yourself from computer viruses

  • top 10 ways to protect yourself from online identity theft

  • top 5 backup tools you can pick up for pennies

  • top 7 reasons you should back up your data online

  • top computer problems leading to data recovery

  • trouble shooting hard drive problems part 2

  • using sanrad v switch as the vss hardware provider for windows backups

  • using system restore to save yourself from formatting your hard drive

  • webfarms ii balancing the load

  • welcome to the world of knoppix

  • what could macedonia learn from a tiger the asian tigers and the phenomenon of uninterrupted economic growth

  • what is data recovery

  • what is data recovery a brief introduction

  • why usability is important to you

  • will you recover

  • working from home for yourself or someone else

  • your hard disk failed dont panic

  • your hard disk failed don t panic

  • your hard drive is going to explode why a ups is essential

  • your privacy exposed computer forensics international uncovers secrets about recycled hard drives

  • you can recover deleted data

  • you lost your data dont panic

  • you need to backup