If you have an old computer you're thinking about giving away or just throwing out, STOP!

Think about it - you wouldn't toss paperwork with credit card, bank, or social security numbers in the trash without shredding the heck out of 'em would you? Of course not! However, day in and day out, people toss out old computers and think that just deleting or formatting a drive is going to get rid of all the personal info they had on it - not a chance!

When you delete a file, it's not really gone. YES - You read that right! The area where the file sits on the hard drive gets tagged as free space, but until it's overwritten, that data is VERY recoverable. I formatted a test drive and ran recovery software on it awhile ago just to see what would happen. Nearly EVERYTHING was easily recoverable! No problem at all! Recent studies show that 74% of hard drives sold or given away contain data that can be easily read and recovered - and 36% of those hard drives had even been reformatted! Scary Stuff!

If you've ever used your computer to check on your banking, buy a product online, or anything that involves your personal info, then that info might be easily available when you get rid of your old hardware! Yikes!

Don't think it can happen to you? Well, two MIT students did a study. They went and purchased 158 used hard drives for less than $1000 from a web swap-meet type site. When they went through the drives, they found over 5,000 credit card numbers, medical reports, lots of personal and corporate financial information, and gigs of personal e-mail. And get this - 60% of the drives had been formatted!!!

There are people who look for old computers at the curb or in the dumpster just to pull info off the hard drive or sell the drives to others! Plus, if you just "donate" an old computer you have no idea what really is going to happen to it! If this doesn't scare the heck out of you, then you shouldn't be using a computer!

It is a very simple process to wipe your drive. Don't think this wont happen to you.
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Do you know that most of the computer slowdown problems can be resolved by performing a few simple PC tasks?

We will show you some of the common reasons for slow computer problems and what you can do to avoid them and speed up your computer.

Computers usually slow down due to one or more of the following:

*Large, fragmented, corrupt and slow registry.
*Too many startup programs unnecessarily feeding on your system resources and CPU.
*Virus or spyware infections.
*Cluttered, filled up, and fragmented hard disk.

Registry problems usually happen when a large amount of unwanted, invalid, and obsolete data within it. This causes the registry to grow to a very large size, which, in turn, corrupts and fragments its files. A large, bloated and corrupt registry slows down, and as a result slows down your computer. To combat this problem, you may use a reliable registry cleaner tool to regularly scan the registry and remove unwanted data from it. Using a registry tool, you can also defrag the registry which enables you to compress and reindex its files to speed up registry data access time.

Excessive usage of CPU and other system resources by unwanted startup programs is also a major cause of slow PC performance. To decrease CPU usage and speed up your computer, you need to disable unwanted programs to launch at startup. To do this, perform the following steps:

* Run the msconfig command to display the System Configuration Utility dialog box. On the Services and Startup tab, clear the check boxes of all programs and services you do not want to load at startup. While doing so, you must be careful to not disable programs and services that are essential for your Windows system.
*Delete unnecessary program shortcuts from the Startup folder in Start menu.
*Press Ctrl + Alt + Del to open Task Manager. Here, on the Processes tab, close all programs that are running unnecessarily on your computer. (This is a temporary operation that helps you free up the CPU and other system resources while your PC is operational.)

To prevent computer slowdowns due to virus and spyware infections, it is important to take measures to prevent these malicious programs from infiltrating your system in the first place. You can do this easily with the help of reliable antivirus and antispyware tools. You must always keep these tools updated with the latest definitions. It is a good idea to opt for tool that comprises the automatic or live update feature. It is even better, if your antivirus and antispyware tools have the real-time protection feature. Enabling this feature will provide you with real-time protection against virus and spyware attacks.

Finally, you must use the Disk Cleanup tool regularly to remove unwanted files and data from your computer. You can use this tool to get rid of unwanted Internet Explorer and Program setup files, clean the Recycle Bin, uninstall no longer required programs, and delete old system restore points. After cleaning up, you can use the Disk Defragmenter tools to restore the contiguity of the hard disk data and optimize it for high-speed performance.

This information was found here

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