May-June 2004 Newsletter

1. What kind of computer do we need (we are a nonprofit/school/teacher) to do our work?
2. I want to donate my computer. How do I remove all my personal information?
3. I have old computers to recycle/good computers for reuse. Where do I go?

Answer to 2- Please go to www.crc.org/erase for FREE one-time use sample programs to remove all your personal information from the harddrive.

Answer to 3- Please go to www.crc.org/donate/index.html for FREE speial events in the City of Benicia, San Mateo County, and Napa County. Certain business/residents only.
San Francisco: 2 events each in May and June open to all businesses and residents, some fees may apply.

Answer to 1- What kind of computer do we need? www.crc.org/apply/index.html
Nonprofits and schools have special access to reuse/refurbished computers from multiple programs around the U.S. CRC is approved as a Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher to provide Windows98 and 2000 MS Operating System licenses with refurbished computers.

The Best: You want to maximize your limited resources and funds. Purchase a new computer where you need the highest amount of computing power; to run the latest or most complex software applications, and high resolution video. The newest computers have Operating System software like WindowsXP, MAC OS 10.x, and newer releases of Linux. (P4's, G5's and G4's)

Next Best: Reuse/refurbished computers on a network and/or connected to a high speed internet connetion will give you the next fastest computers. Use the previous generation Operating System software like Windows2000, MAC OS 9.x, and Linux versions [that work on earlier hardware] to provide good performance. With the high speed internet / network connection, these computers are good "terminals" in computer labs and libraries. (P3's and G3's)

Good All-around: Reuse/refurbished computers older than P3/G3 using Windows98, MAC OS 8.6.x, and some Linux versions. Good mix of workprocessing, spreadsheets, presentations, email, websurfing, early DVD and writable CD Roms. Processor speeds approx. 200 to 400 MHZ; with high speed internet or network, will download and send at acceptable speeds.

Most Simple -If you are only using the computer for word processing or older DOS applications or (games) educational software, you can still use Windows95 or MS DOS 6.22 / PC DOS 7.0 with GEOWORKS, and without DOS support MAC OS 7.5.1 + . The small harddrives and memory found in older machines is supported by these OS.
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