SELLING OR GIVING YOUR COMPUTER AWAY

1) Attempt to sell it. All that you need to make a posting on an online auction site like eBay are the technical specification of your computer and a few pictures for good measure.

• You may be surprised to discover that people out there are actually willing to pay money for relatively old machines. 
• For instance, certain types of hardware from the 80's and early 90's may be considered "vintage" and thus fetch a reasonable price from collectors. 
• If your computer is so old as to be rare or remarkable, you may actually be able to sell (or donate) it to a computer museum where it will be preserved for its role in history. 
• Also be open to the possibility of selling your computer's parts, rather than the entire machine. If some of your computer's components are higher-quality than others (i.e: after-market video cards, memory, etc.), it may be well worth the effort to remove and sell them separately.

2) Give your computer to a friend. Before you throw your computer out, ask around to see if any of your friends are looking for an older computer. Tech-savvy people sometimes reconfigure old computers for use as file servers or e-mail stations. They may also be able to scrap your computer for parts, taking what they need and properly disposing of the rest.

3) Give your computer to someone with minimal computing requirements. Your old computer may be insufficient for your purposes, but, to someone who's not used to modern computers, it may seem borderline-miraculous.

• Consider giving your computer to an elderly user like a parent or grandparent. Old, slow computers are perfect for the types of basic tasks that elderly relatives are likely to be interested in. 
• When you have time, try teaching him or her how to use e-mail and surf the web - you'll be doing him or her a favor and ensuring that your old computer isn't going to waste.

4) Contact a school, non-profit, or philanthropic organization. Many organizations that exist primarily for the public good have programs to make use of older computers. Contact a local school, church, youth organization, non-profit, or charity and ask if they're willing to find a use for your old computer.

• There are a wide variety of charitable uses for computers. 
• For instance, some charities will recycle or refurbish computers, then give them to the poor, while others charities will send the computers to schools in undeveloped areas of the world. As an added bonus, you will sometimes be eligible to receive a receipt of your donation for a tax deduction.

5) Give it to a willing stranger. When all else fails, giving a functional computer to a complete stranger is still better than putting it in a landfill.

• You might try putting a sign on your computer saying something along the lines of "Free old computer - good for parts or case," and leaving it by the curb on a dry afternoon. Or, you might try making the same offer on an online classifieds site like Craigslist. 
• Finally, you can try taking it to a local swap-meet or flea market and fetching whatever price you can for it. 
• Be extra careful when giving your computer to a stranger, as you have no way of knowing whether they have malicious intentions or not. Be absolutely sure that any personal information has been removed from the computer before giving it away.