IT/Computer support

[chrishill255]

Hi Everyone,
My name's Chris and I've recently moved onto the estate with my sister.
Just wanted to advertise my services/knowledge of Computer/IT related problems, questions etc.  I've worked in IT for around 8 years and currently work as a software engineer, so if anyone needs any help with networks, computers, IT in general etc just drop me a message on here or on my mobile [phone]). 
Always happy to help.
Chris

[robt38andcounting]

hi, 

whats your advice - I've two laptops which are very old and lets just say not working properly, I've tried wiping them but despite various methods I've tried I can't - is a sledge hammmer the best solution or is there a more tech way to erase and dispose of them 

rob 

[chrishill255]

Hi Rob,
As my dad says, Brute force usually does the trick! haha. In all seriousness, the hard drive is the important part of the laptop. If theres nothing on the drive you want to keep, then I'd see if you can take out the drive and then use some tools to destroy it (hammers, screwdrivers etc).
You can ask companies to dispose of them for you, but I usually just try and bash it until theres very little chance of getting any data off.

[Shaun]

As Chris has said, smashing it up is enough to save it from all but the FBI

But I run an IT company in Barnsley www.cultrix.co.uk and we work with a Social Enterprise that takes old IT equipment off our hands for free and uses the best of the parts they collect to build working machines and donate them to good causes; as part of this they train apprentices, kids in local schools, and even train college students and people out of work to get them back into work - we think it's a great cause for old machines. See: www.airedalecomputerrecycling.co.uk. They also take all of our old customer hard drives and provide us with a certificate of destruction. We only pay for old-style CRT computer monitors to be taken off our hands, the rest they take for free. The hard drive service is also free but if you want to be sure of its destruction then they charge us just £2 to destroy those in their expensive hard drive shredder.

You can drop your equipment off for free with them but if it's a bit out of your way (they're in Castleford) I don't mind adding it to our pile for our regular collection. Just PM me if anyone wants me to do this - Waverley residents only, don't want to become a local dumping zone!

Also, just to clarify and so not to hijack Chris' post any further - Cultrix only serves business customers so direct any help you need with your home computers to the original poster! And Chris, if you want domestic customer referrals, give me a shout