Signs Your PC is Done for and How to Properly Dispose of It

When it’s time to replace your technology, it might bring about a sense of panic. How can you replace your technology without breaking your budget, or worse, exposing data on your old technology to potentially threatening actors? Only one thing is for sure; you need to make sure that you have a solid strategy to adhere to when you need to replace your broken-down technology.

One thing to keep in mind before we even get started is to be sure to take preventative measures before you’re in a situation you regret. By this, we mean that you don’t wait until your desktop is rendered obsolete before replacing it. Therefore, you need to look for warning signs that your computer is failing… before it inevitably fails to work properly.

Warning Signs
Here are five possible warning signs that hint your technology might not last much longer. Keep in mind that some of these could mean multiple issues--for example, a slowdown might not mean that your computer is about to break down.

• General PC slowdown
• Freezing or even operating system crashes
• Corrupted files or data loss
• Random shutdowns
• Startup errors

Know When it’s Time to Replace Your Technology
Of course, nothing lasts forever, so it’s natural that you’ll need to plan for the end of a PC’s life cycle. When your PC has reached its limit, you need to make sure that your old unit is properly replaced and disposed of. If you don’t have a clear policy surrounding the disposal of your old computer equipment, then you may find yourself in a jam if there’s a data breach and you’re investigated by authorities to prove that the source wasn’t your fault from improperly disposing of old computers that contained sensitive data. Gartner explains, “Best-practice PC disposal processes provide an audit trail documenting the serial-numbered inventory of disposed PCs, certification that proprietary and personal data has been removed and made unrecoverable, and transfer/reuse of software licenses, where applicable.”

If your business would like help disposing of your old technology the right way, contact Directive. We can help you with the process by eliminating data found on your old PC’s hard drives so that it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. Furthermore, we can help you recycle your old devices in a way which causes minimal impact to the environment. Our organization’s trained IT professionals will be able to help your business handle the transition to new technology as painlessly as possible.

To learn more about what Directive can do for you, reach out to us at 607.433.2200.