In larger corporations, PCs (otherwise known as "end user desktops") all have this stickers and/or metal badges with an numerical or alphanumerical sequence on it. This is called the asset tag.

When a corporation decides to get rid of computers as per the end-of-life cycle (anywhere between 3 to 5 years usually when the warranties finally run out), what’s supposed to happen to those tagged computers boxes is one of the following:

They are either sent "whole" or with wiped drives or gutted/stripped to…

1. The computer recycling center.
2. Destruction (literally).

But even in the largest companies this doesn’t always happen. Sometimes a computer box or two will "fall thru the cracks" so to speak. You may know a friend that works in a large company that can get his hands on a computer for you.

Most people would say "Cool! Free computer! Yes, I’ll take it!"

Trust me, you don’t want it for several good reasons:

First, the license of Windows you get on it will be 100% illegal to use and operate because you don’t own the license.

Second, the box is almost guaranteed to be slow and obsolete.

Third, it’s most likely true that any upgrades you add to it (hard drive, more RAM, etc.) won’t do a darn thing to improve the performance at all.

Fourth, it’s most likely true that box has been banged around quite a bit. It’s probably been moved from cubicle to cubicle, office to office, building to building.

Fifth, it’s probably riddled with dust on the inside. In many office environments the box is kept on the floor – right next to a space heater that throws a bunch of dirt, debris and crap right into the power supply and inside the case.

Sixth – and the most important reason – the box you get was most likely on the chopping block to get sent to recycling or destruction. That means the company who had it already deemed it useless to them.

Is this the kind of computer you want?

Absolutely not. You’re just asking for problems if you take one.

Granted, there are some instances where getting a box like this turns out to be a good deal (it was free after all) and may provide a few years of use. But the end result is that you still get an old crappy PC box – and it will always be an old crappy PC box.

Stay away from these.

As a long-time Windows user I’ve seen a few BSODs in my day. The version of Windows I had the most BSODs with was Windows 3.10. Not 3.11. Not 3.11 WFWG. Just plain ol’ 3.1. I never really had BSOD trouble with Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000 or XP unless I had a hardware failure (usually right before the hard drive was about to go FUBAR on me).

There is actually a Microsoft TechNet article called Demystifying the ‘Blue Screen of Death’ that does truly help in making sense of that blue screen, should you get one.

Some of the BSOD messages I’ve received have been:

INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

This simply means Windows can’t read the hard disk correctly. I’ve encountered this when an older hard drive develops a few bad sectors. It doesn’t mean you have to throw the hard drive out. You can perform a regular (meaning not "quick") format which will mark those bad sectors, making the drive hopefully usable again.

NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM

In my experience this usually happens when your hard disk just has too much stuff on it and the data corrupts easily. For example, if you have a 120GB hard drive and 118GB is in use, you might get an NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM error until you free up some space, DEFRAG it (and run a CCleaner too just for safe measure).

Poorly programmed or too-old driver

In extremely rare instances I’ll download a driver and Windows doesn’t "agree" with it too well usually because it’s too old. For example, if I install a brand new nVidia video card but then use the drivers meant for a GeForce 6 (several generations ago), yeah, you most likely will get a BSOD out of this – and will be listed as such.

Solution: Always use current drivers. Head into "Safe Mode", kill the driver, reboot normally, install the newer version and this fixes driver-specific BSODs 99% of the time.

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The TechNet article has a ton of info on how to read BSODs and understand what one is trying to tell you. So if your Windows installation happens to be "going blue" a lot, that article will certainly help.

Giving credit where credit is due, the GOOG updated their Terms of Service for the Chrome browser. Section 11 now reads:

11. Content license from you
11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.

For those not aware, it previously stated something that literally said GOOG owns everything you do in the browser – but no longer.

Much better.