However you choose to dispose of your computer, remember to remove personal and financial information that someone else could access.

You can just toss that old hard drive in a drawer, which is the cheapest way to be sure nobody will access it, but if you’d just like to be rid of it, I’d recommend destroying it.

For computers, use software like DBAN or built-in factory reset features to overwrite the hard drive. Mobile devices, including phones and tablets, usually have reset options in their settings menu.

Volunteers clean the hard drives and donate the computers to deserving organizations.

What Mr. Sun Spots does is remove the hard drive from the computer before recycling. He makes notes about what computer it came from and the date and puts it in a drawer.

Safely dispose of old hard drives with a really big hammer — or maybe a rifle To really get rid of the data on those drives, it's best to damage the platters inside, then recycle the pieces.

If you remove the hard drive, then you can feel safe donating or (properly) disposing of your computer. However, you still have to make sure that the hard drive is destroyed in a way that makes it ...

For computers, use software like DBAN or built-in factory reset features to overwrite the hard drive. Mobile devices, including phones and tablets, usually have reset options in their settings menu.

Have an old computer lying around the house? Don't just throw it away. Computers house all sorts of toxins -- and your personal information.