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The old PC can become the backup computer.
  technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

That old PC can be networked to the new one, so don't toss it out


Nov. 25, 2001


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2001, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2001, The Post Standard

   Used PCs don't have much value when you try to sell them. They drop in value so fast that a 3- or 4-year-old personal computer probably couldn't sell for more than 1/7th of its original cost.
   Most stores that sell new PCs don't want your old one as a trade-in, either.
   So what should you do with the old PC when you buy a new one? The answer is easy. As long as it's able to run a modern version of Windows ? Windows 95, 98 or Me ? you should keep it.
   Hang onto it so you can connect it to your new PC with a couple of cheap network cards, one for each PC, along with some inexpensive network cable. It's also easy to share Internet access so that both PCs can be online at the same time, using a single Internet connection.
   A home PC network has more advantages than you might realize. Here are some of them:
   1. The kids can do their homework (let's be real: they can chat online with their friends) on one computer while you do all that work you brought home from the office on the other one. A big plus: Programs and games the kids install on the PC they're using won't mess up the PC you're using.
   2. You can hook up your printer to the old PC and do all your printing across the network. Both computers can use the same printer.
   If you have two printers, one on each PC, each computer can use both printers. My wife, Nancy, and I do this on our home network. We have a black-and-white printer connected to one PC and a color printer connected to another one. Printing works the same for either one. (The PCs don't care where the printer is. They print across the network as easily as they print to a locally connected printer.)
   3. The old PC can become the backup computer. You can install inexpensive software that makes periodic backups (copies) of important files on the main computer. Since these backups are stored away from the main computer, they're safe and easy to get to if the main computer stops working.
   4. Problems that disable one of the computers won't keep you from going online to get help. Nancy and I have used this fail-safe technique at home many times. If her Compaq PC acts up, I can fire up my own PC and go to the Compaq Web site for help. I've also done this from the opposite direction, using her PC to track down a problem that kept mine offline.
   5. You can use the older PC as a different kind of safety net. The newer PC probably would have a newer version of the Windows operating system ? Windows XP, for example ? and the newer operating system might not cooperate with some of your older peripherals.
   In that case, you should be able to use the peripheral on the older PC. We performed that kind of "downgrade" when we realized that the software that extracts pictures from our digital camera balked under Windows 2000 on my main PC. I installed the same software on an older PC on our home network and found that it worked perfectly. (Because files and folders on one PC can be accessed from another one on the network, I was still able to get at our digital images from my Windows 2000 PC.)
   6. You can back up important files on the other PCs. Doing this on a third, or spare, PC leaves the two other computers free for normal operations while making sure no backups get missed. We've used this technique on our home network for about three years.
   7. You and the kids can try out all those freeware and shareware programs all of you have been downloading. I've done this for years, using a spare Windows PC. Why should I risk messing up my main PC when all I want to do is try out a new program? An old Windows PC that can test programs can be a lifesaver.
   8. Anyone in the family can give Linux a whirl. Nobody can deny that Linux is a fascinating operating system, but you'd be crazy to toss out your Windows programs without a trial run. Putting Linux on that spare PC gives you a safe way to see how it works. You get really crazy and try the Be operating system (it gets my vote for the smoothest running modern operating system) without messing up Windows on the other PC.
   9. Monitor grandma or Little Effie. It's not hard to set up a Web cam ? a simple video camera that sends its pictures over the Internet or over a home network ? on a computer at grandma's house or in baby's room. You could let that old PC monitor the video.
   10. Use that old PC for decoration. Stick it where visitors will see it and tell them it's "the spare." You're not likely to find a good use for that old computer if it's hidden away. PCs that are relegated to the garage might be lost forever.