1. Donate It
One of the best things to do with an old PC? Donate it to your local charity. There are many, many families out there who do not have the luxury of owning even a basic computer system. Do your part to help them get into the world of computers.
Two sites that I like to visit for this purpose are National Cristina Foundation and Earth 911. Both sites are non-profit organizations and have compiled a comprehensive body of information to promote computer recycling and reuse.
One important note about donating computers - make sure you clear out and delete any personal information on the drive. Simple deletion is not sufficient - you will need a powerful data erasing tool like Active@ KillDisk - Hard Drive Eraser.
2. Trade It In
There are many computer dealers (e.g. HP) which offer trade-in promotions on computers and peripherals. Before you buy a new PC, see if the retailer can offer you any trade-in discounts. As long as your old computer is in decent condition, it can fetch some money.'Decent condition' usually refers to any Pentium-class notebook or desktop with a hard drive, monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
3. Auction It
Another option is to sell the computer on eBay or an equivalent auction site. eBay is one huge clearing house where people sell all sorts of old stuff - computers is but one such category of goods. You can also organize a quick garage sale and see if any of your friends or neighbors want the computer.
4. Set Up A Server
If you've been meaning to learn about computers and servers, you can use the old PC as a test system. At home, I use an old PC as a file server for storing and sharing data sometimes. Alternatively, you also tear apart the computer and see what its innards are like (which is what I used to do).
5. Salvage Some Parts
Not the whole of your old PC needs to be thrown away. You can usually salvage parts to be used in a new PC, especially if you intend to build one yourself. Things like the monitor, sound card, hard drive, LAN cards, CD and DVD drives and sometimes even computer memory can be re-used.
Conclusion
Well, I do hope this article has given you some insight into how you can create more value of of an old computer. So the next time you're thinking of junking an old PC, think again - there may be hidden potential in it yet.
Gary Hendricks runs a hobby site on building computers. Visit hiswebsite at Build-Your-Own-Computers.com for tips and tricks on assembling a PC, as well as buying good computer components.