Digital Home Thoughts: What Do You Do With Old Faithful

Despite everyone's assumptions, we geeks are not always privy to the latest and greatest technology. If you're stuck with an old, slow, crappy computer, there are a few things you can do to make the best of a bad situation.

It happens to all of us eventually. That wonderful buddy that has been serving your Internet for years is finally starting to struggle with your modern demands. There is nothing wrong with old faithful, but it just cannot keep up. So what do you do with your old toys when you have found new love? While there are ways to revive that aging machine, keep in mind that while you can breathe new life into it, it could be a power sink. As computers have gotten newer, and faster, they also have tended to become more energy efficient. Just like how your old refrigerator in your garage could be sucking up more power than a Google datacenter, so to, can that old PC.

One thing I think of that is not emphasized enough is recycling. This doesn't mean that you put your old box into the blue bin, but there are numerous recycling programs, or if the computer is still functioning, some programs that can take your PC and give it to someone who could use it.