Breathing New Life Into Your PC

Updated: March 13, 2009

In these awful economic times you don't want to spend money on a new computer if you don't have to. Unfortunately, you may be forced into doing just that. Windows computers are prone to being attacked by viruses and hackers. Removing viruses from Windows computers or recovering from a hacker attack can be a big expense. It's often cheaper to buy a new computer.

A friend's computer was impossible to use after a virus attack. She paid the Geek Squad a few hundred dollars to get rid of the viruses on her PC but the system was still not running properly afterwards when she used the Internet Explorer browser. Not wishing to spend more money, she installed the Firefox browser and her immediate problems went away. She knows that her PC is still infected and may be doing nasty things but she can now use it again. If she could do it all again, she would have purchased a new computer - this time a Macintosh.

Small businesses can't afford the expense, downtime, and uncertainty. They're taking the attitude that, all things considered, it's less expensive to buy a new computer.

One problem with buying a new computer is what do you do with the old, virus-infected computer? Throw it away?

The Green Solution

Well Tempered Computers, a local company, wants to keep these computers out of the landfill. The company has developed a method of rapidly reconditioning your old computer. If they think your computer still has a lot of life left, they'll perform needed maintenance, then install new software. The new software is called a "sealed system" and installs quickly. It's much more secure and less troublesome than the software you were using before and may run faster than newer computers. Getting attacked by viruses is far, far less likely. In fact, it's more secure than your new Windows computer!

If you do online banking or order things over the Internet using your credit card and you're worried about identity theft, you'll be better off using your sealed system computer than your new Windows computer.

The software also provides server capabilities, such as hosting your Web pages, email, instant messaging, file sharing, shared printing, and many other services. My company has been using sealed systems for about six years without the kind of problems that cause you to have to reboot other systems. One company near the top of the Fortune 500 list has used it for about three years.

Disposing of the Old Computer

If you don't want to recondition your old computer, there are places where you can bring it in Portland. There's Free Geek in SE Portland or any Goodwill drop off. If you'd like to offset the cost of buying a new computer, Well Tempered Computers may buy your virus-infected computer, though they don't pay much. The price depends on the vintage of the technology. Expect to get under $100. If you're interested and you're in Oregon or Washington, email them.

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