TechByter Worldwide 2021-01-22: What To Do With An Old Computer. Short Circuits. Spare Parts.

If you've recently bought a new computer, or plan to buy a new computer soon, you may be wondering what to do with the old one. There are many options, and the worst possible choice would be to put it in the trash. Let's consider better options. In Short Circuits: Last week I described how I gave up on repurposing an M.2 drive from my primary computer as a fast cache drive. Using a $15 case for the M.2 drive, I turned it into a fast cache drive anyway -- just not the way I had planned. • If you're trying to get rid of spam, maybe you've thought of changing your email address. There are other steps you might consider, but a better path involves an application that examines email before it gets to your computer so that it can flag suspected scams. In Spare Parts (only on the website): It's easy enough to rename the boot drive on a Windows computer, but there are good reasons why you shouldn't. • I ran across some ancient history a week or so ago. In June, it will be 26 years since I spent a week at New York City's Javits Center for PC Expo -- Windows 95 was about to be released. I have pictures. • Twenty years ago: Amazon still hadn't turned a profit. That's hard to imagine, isn't it?