Life in old computers

Computers and laptops, with £10bn spent on them, are in second place behind TVs. But what happens to the old ones?

Techno buffs may assume that laptops are so cheap no-one would want to repair a computer that doesn't work.

But surprisingly enough, the message from Oxford business Computer Assistance is that someone, somewhere in the world will probably be grateful for your cast-offs.

The company, set up by US-born Raphael Maroney, recently expanded into bigger premises, moving from the corner of Howard Street into the former Lloyd's Bank near Cowley police station.

He moved to the UK in 1976 from Chicago for family reasons, having worked in IT support for IBM.

Mr Maroney said: "I came over for three weeks, but I got a job and have been here ever since. I always wanted to have my own business, and started doing work around Oxford."

At first he worked in his garage, off the Cowley Road. "I used to talk to the grocer opposite, who was giving it up," he said. "It happened to work out that I could rent his shop. He didn't know he was going to work in computers, but now, coincidentally, he has a job with Microsoft."

Computer Assistance focuses on smaller businesses with up to 50 employees, offering long-term support for those without their own in-house IT. Clients include Oxford's Turpin & Miller solicitors and the Banbury-based Summerton Mill TV production company.

When new systems are put in, Computer Assistance takes away the old equipment to dispose of it - and usually puts it to good use.

"There are some people who need more and more processing power because they are running huge databases, but many don't need that," Mr Maroney explained.

"At the other end of the spectrum, one of our customers is an elderly man called Bert, who used to get things from the dump at Redbridge - apparently they have stopped him now. But we try to help him get them working."

Very little equipment is not worth stripping down, and a client disposing of fairly modern computers might be offered £50 a go.

Here, I should declare an interest. I discovered the unofficial recycling scheme when I went into the shop with Deylin, a visitor from Nicaragua, who now runs a computer training project which I helped to set up in an area near Oxford's Nicaraguan twin town of Leon.

Someone had given the charity an old laptop for Deylin to take back, but the previous owner had been banking online, and wanted all the confidential information removed.

Having heard that the only way to remove data was to smash the hard disk with a hammer, I was worried. But I had come to the right place.

Mr Maroney said: "If you are working for the military, that may be true. If you are some average user, there is not much you can do to find data, once it is wiped off. We write the software ourselves, and it wipes them clean."

General manager Tim Profitt-White added: "We pretty much recycle everything. The only big problem is printers. They are designed to be obsolete within a year, because they make more money from the cartridges. From computers, I don't think we waste much.

"We might get one in and then someone might come into the shop and want something quite basic. Plenty of people just need a £150 computer to surf the Internet and write essays on. And other people come in wanting old ones to send to Africa. It is very satisfying to bring a laptop back to life.

"There is always someone out there who needs a cheap machine. We can get them set up for £80 to £100.

"But if a computer is more than about eight years old, we will probably knock it on the head. And some companies won't sell spare parts."

He said the repair service was vital to the company's image.

Mr Profitt-White said: "We can't compete on price with places like PC World, so we compete on service. People think they mended my computer, I'll buy my mouse there'. If someone buys a computer here, we give advice over the phone, and then we hope they will remember and come back next time they need to buy something."

One of the secrets of the company's ability to repair cast-offs is a pool of highly-qualified staff from abroad.

Michael Dycha, from Poland, who has a masters in electronic engineering, poured cold water on my suggestion that computer experts from poorer countries might have more experience in mending things, compared to those from a stronger, and more wasteful, economy such as Britain's.

"I had all the theoretical background from my masters degree, but I learned the practical side here," he said. "Perhaps we are more willing to experiment. Maybe you don't like to persist. Some English people might think that it is a waste of time to mend things. If I get a laptop that is packed up, I think maybe I can fix it' ."

Name: Computer Assistance Managing director: Raphael Maroney Number of staff: 20 Annual turnover: £500k Contact: 01865 451177 or e-mail shop@computerassistance.uk.com