Recently, I have been asked to oversee the computer department–of all things–of a non-profit church related resale store in Indiana that helps inner city children and a home for men recovering from their problems. Although I have grown up with the computer industry (since 1985, pre-DOS and beyond), I have not had any formal training; so all of my experience has been hands-on as an end user.
My question is:
I would like to find internet sites that could give me step-by-step instructions on how to troubleshoot and rebuild older machines. Most of the machines we get are Win98, but some are even 286 and 386s. If it doesn’t work, I salvage what parts I can and trash the rest.
If a site has free instructional videos (not mearly streaming, like YouTube), or white papers I could download, that also would be helpful. A site that has diagnostic freeware for older machines would also be helpful. If it is not out of order (and TechRepublic is free to edit this part of the request if they wish), I would also like to ask anyone who has anything they would like to donate, like instructional videos, computers, software, etc., you may email me and I will send you the store’s address.
I do not get paid for this job–it is totally volunteer and a labor of love to help the less fortunate. All donators may request a tax receipt for anything donated.
Thanks for your feedback and help.