Windows 3.1 Computers - Question on old computers "losing memory"

I recently got a question from a newsletter subscriber named John who asks:

"Hello Worth. I have a question. Do computers lose their memory? I had an old one stored for some time. I want to give it to someone but first I hooked it all up - but it gives me this message "Drive nor ready error Insert Boot diskette in A: Press any key when ready" Whats the problem.? {This has Windows 3.1 } Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. John"

Thanks for the question, John. I guess you could say that computers can "lose their memory", so to speak.

Computers store their "memory" (their files) on something called a hard drive. You can think of it as storage shelves, or a filing cabinet, that you're storing information in.

The problem is, the hard drive is part of a machine, and like all machines, it breaks down over time, and can break down even if it's not being used.

If this old computer was running Windows 3.1, it's not likely to be less than 13 years old, since Windows 3.1 was replaced in 1995 when Windows 95 came out. Some computers did get Windows 3.1 installed on them for a while after that, but chances are the computer is at least 12 years old.

Now 12 years old may not sound that old to a lot of people, and it's not if you're talking about a person. But if you're talking about, say, a dog, that's pretty up there in years.

And when you're talking about a *computer* -- well, that's positively ancient!

So John, while the thought was a nice one, to give the computer to someone, it's no surprise that it doesn't work well, and even if it actually still worked and started up into Windows 3.1, your friend would not have gotten much out of having it.

Even if it was working, the computer would not be able to do much more than maybe use it as a word processor, and unless you still had the old printer that came with the computer (and it still worked) they wouldn't be able to print out what they'd written, since modern printers wouldn't work with such an old computer. And they'd be saving their files onto an old, untrustworthy hard drive and may have big challenges moving them to another computer to print, etc. since it wouldn't have a CD burner, has no USB port for a flash drive, and only uses very out of date floppy drive that might not be working anymore.

If your friend wanted to look at web pages and check email, they probably wouldn't be able to view the vast majority of websites, and might not be able to connect to the Internet at all -- the modem (if it has one) would be too slow for most Internet Service Providers, and it's highly doubtful that it came with a network card needed to use cable or DSL, and it'd be nearly impossible to find one that you could add to it.

So basically, trying to use that computer today would be like trying to drive a horse and buggy on a major highway -- *maybe* possible, but probably not a good idea.

So my advice to you would be to take the computer someplace for recycling (don't just throw old electronics in the landfill -- they leak toxic chemicals) and let it rest in peace.

And for anyone who is still keeping an old computer like that (Windows or Mac), if it's still working and you have *any* important files on it, do yourself a favor and get them moved to a more modern computer right away.

Because you never know how long it will keep working, and the longer you wait, the harder it will be to move the files since everything changes so quickly in the world of computers.