Dell Wants You To Recycle Your Old PC

What do you do with a computer that you no longer need?

You can always give it away, but then there's worries that another person might have access to previous and private information once held on the PC ... or, you can just store it in a garage and watch it take up space and gather dust.

Neither option sounds very appealing, does it? ;-)

Now computer maker Dell is offering another choice to U.S. consumers: If you own a Dell brand PC or accessory, you can recycle it for free. A company worker will come pick it up from your home at no charge.

Computer recycling, however, is hardly a new concept -- and Dell is far from the first company to spearhead the idea. What Dell does differently, though, is enable people to get rid of their computers or peripherals with no strings attached. Other companies often require its customers to purchase a new product in exchange for recycling the old one.

Dell's goal is to encourage those people who didn't recycle before because it was too pricy or inconvenient. (Source: news.com)

"We want to make recycling easy and free for consumers, and are committed to recycling what we make and sell," stated Eric Gates, Dell's worldwide manager of asset recovery services. (Source: indiaprwire.com)

However, if you use this service, you should be aware that Dell will not permanently remove the content on your hard drive.

From Dell's website: "Before you ship your product, you will need to back up any necessary data and remove all data from your hard drive. You are responsible for the deletion of all data that may be contained with the computer hardware. Dell is not responsible for any data left on hard drives." (Source: dell.com)

On a side note: If you want to format your hard drive securely, you can try searching google. One such utility is called Active KillDisk (free version):

http://www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm