Another twelve months before I do it again, thankfully.
Isn’t it crazy how time flies or the perception of time at least?
Don’t know about you, but it feels like Christmas was a very long time ago now.
Back to the office early last week and got a pleasant surprise when I opened the door.
The week before Christmas, I did my annual activity.
It’s not something I particularly look forward to but find it quite a therapeutic experience once it’s done.
It’s the office de-clutter and tidy-up.
Having done this before the break and forgotten about it on my return, it was quite a nice surprise.
I’m sure it won’t take long before it returns to the usual look!
The amount of redundant equipment I no longer use and collected from jobs throughout the year adds up pretty quickly.
So once I’ve gathered all the equipment, I do my regular once in a year trip to the recycling plant in Richmond.
Most of the equipment can be disposed of as it is but when it comes to computers and mobiles…..
A WORD OF CAUTION…
If you have a computer that you’re about to get rid of, even if it’s faulty, you need to physically remove the hard drive (the part that stores all your data) from it.
It’s hard to know for sure where recycled equipment ends up; could be the UK, Sweden, France, Russia or Africa but the concern remains the same….
The last thing you need is a complete stranger looking at your photos or any of your personal documents.
Once you remove the hard drive, which is held in by no more than four screws, the computer is perfectly safe to dispose of.
What about mobile phones then?
It’s not quite as straight forward with mobiles as there’s nothing in a sense to physically remove.
What you do need to do is reset the phone to factory defaults.
Assuming you don’t have an ancient brick of a phone, this option will be available.
But BEFORE you do this….
For god’s sake make sure you’ve got a copy of all your contacts and other files…. I know it’s obvious but you’d be surprised.
Once the reset’s done the phone is completely wiped, but there’s one more thing you need to check.
If you have a memory card slotted in the side of your mobile, you’ll need to remove it as this doesn’t get wiped during the reset.
A memory card is commonly used for storing pictures so to avoid your summer selfies ending up in the hands of a Swedish plumber, I strongly suggest you take this out.
So there’s my tip to kick off 2016.
Off now to fill up the office!
P.S. Let me know if you have a stack of old hard drives that you want disposed of safely; and when I say safely I mean disc cutter security. Once I’m done with them, the chances of anyone accessing any of the information is a big fat zero.
