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How to fix a corrupt Windows user profile

Posted by South City Computer

Activate Hidden Administrator Windows userIf you are typing your password and press Enter and see the error message “The User Profile Service failed the logon” and “The user profile cannot be loaded”, and then are returned to the logon screen, your Windows user profile may have become corrupt.

A Windows user profile is a collection of settings that make the computer look and work the way you want it to. The Windows user profile contains your personalized settings for desktop backgrounds, screen savers, mouse pointer preferences, sound settings, and other Windows features.

While it is hard to say exactly why Windows user profiles become corrupt there are a few more common reasons that this happens. The antivirus software on the computer could have corrupted to profile by running a scan before the user profile was actually logged into the computer. Another reason the user profile can be corrupted is malware has messed up the registry settings for the user profile, and it no longer works and has become corrupt.

If you have recently attempted to log on to Windows and received an error message that says that your user profile might be corrupted, there are a few steps you can try to repair it.

WARNING: You should create a backup of your user files before attempting to fix your user profile. Contact a local computer repair store if you need help to backup your data.

Try a reboot

The first attempt you can try to fix your Window user profile is to simply reboot the computer. Sometimes a reboot will fix the issue, and you will be able to log in to the profile when the computer is completely rebooted.

Try creating an alternative user profile

If rebooting the computer doesn’t seem to fix the corrupt user profile, then a quick and easy fix is to create a new user profile on the Windows computer, and then copy the files from the existing profile to the new one. While this should get you back up and running you will lose all of the Windows user personalized settings by doing this such as the desktop, screensaver, etc. You will have all of your user files ie. Documents, Videos, Pictures, Music, etc.

To accomplish creating a new Windows user you will need to log in to an administrator account on the computer. If you have another administrator user account already created you could log in to this account, however if you only had one administrator account on the computer you will need to activate the default Windows user account.

First boot the computer into Safe Mode by pressing F8 during bootup. On the Windows loading screen choose Safe Mode from the menu. When the Windows desktop is launched, choose the start menu and search for cmd. When the computer finds the command prompt program right click and run the program as administrator.

When the command prompt program is launched type in the command: net user administrator /active:yes

This will activate the “hidden” administrator account on the computer after the computer is rebooted.

You should see a message that the command completed successfully. Log out, and reboot the computer and you’ll now see the Administrator account as a choice.

Log in with the new Administrator account. If you are prompted for a password it is probably not set and by not typing anything in the password input should log into the account.

When you are logged in as the Administrator account:

  1. Open User Accounts by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking User Accounts and Family Safety, and then clicking User Accounts.
  2. Click Manage another account. Administrator permission required If you’re prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
  3. Click Create a new account.
  4. Type the name you want to give the user account, click an account type, and then click Create Account.
  5. Restart the PC.

When the computer has rebooted

  1. Log on as the administrator user.
  2. Open the My Documents folder by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, and then clicking Computer. Double-click the hard disk drive that Windows is installed on (it’s usually your C: drive), double-click Users, double-click the folder with the name of the corrupt user profile account, and then double-click My Documents.
  3. Click the Tools menu, and then click Folder Options.
  4. If you don’t see the Tools menu, press Alt.
  5. Click the View tab, and then click Show hidden files, folders, and drives.
  6. Clear the Hide protected operating system files check box, click Yes to confirm, and then click OK.
  7. Locate the C:\Users\Old_Username folder, where C is the drive that Windows is installed on, and Old_Username is the name of the profile you want to copy files from.
  8. Select all of the files and folders in this folder, except the following files:

    Ntuser.dat

    Ntuser.dat.log

    Ntuser.ini
  9. Click the Edit menu, and then click Copy.
  10. If you don’t see the Edit menu, press Alt.
  11. Locate the C:\Users\New_Username folder, where C is the drive that Windows is installed on, and New_Username is the name of the new user profile you created.
  12. Click the Edit menu, and then click Paste.
  13. If you don’t see the Edit menu, press Alt.
  14. Log off, and then log back on as the new user.

    15. If you have e‑mail messages in an e‑mail program, you must import your e‑mail messages and addresses to the new user profile before you delete the old profile. If everything is working properly, you can delete the old profile.

    Attempt to salvage the corrupt user profile

    If you want to attempt to salvage your old Windows user profile, you can try this more complex solution:

    Restart your PC and boot into Safe mode by pressing F8 before you see the Windows loading screen and choosing Safe Mode from the menu that appears.

    1. To fix the user profile, click Start and type regedit into the search box and press Enter.
    2. In Registry Editor navigate to:
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
    3. Click each S-1-5 folder and double-click the ProfileImagePath entry to find out which user account it relates to.
    4. Once you have located the folder for the corrupt profile (and it doesn’t have a .bak ending), double-click RefCount and change the Value data to 0 and click Ok.
    5. Now double-click on State and make sure the Value data is again 0 and click Ok.
    6. Close regedit and restart your PC. You should now be able to log into your account.

    If you continue to get the corrupt user profile message you will need to attempt to create an alternative user profile and copy the data from the corrupt user profile into it.

    If you are unable to successfully create a new user profile, bring your computer to South City Computer or a local computer repair store near you.

Alderman Vaccaro Says “Be Careful of Scams!”

Posted by South City Computer

Joe Vaccaro PictureJoe Vaccaro is the Alderman of the 23rd Ward in Saint Louis City. He is very involved with the community and frequently passes on tips and information about dangers to people in the community.

Below is an email that we received explaining how peope will try to trick you. Given these are pretty unsophisticated examples that the average person would simply laugh off as a scam. But hackers oftentimes will use more sophisticated techniques like the “You Qualify for a Lower Rate” credit card scam.

Joe Vaccaro
23rd Ward Alderman
cell number 314-718-0131
Ward 23 Website

Yesterday I received a phone call from someone that was told that they needed to go to Walgreen’s and bring $452 in cash to avoid being arrested for failure to appear for grand jury duty. He is not even on the grand jury. This was a scam and I told him not to pay this. I also ran into someone at St Joan of arc’s fish fry that told me they received a call from someone claiming to be with the IRS also asking for money to avoid arrest. DON,T BE TAKEN IN BY THESE SCAMS. If you get a call like this do not react. you can call the police and ask them if this is a scam. 231-1212 is the non emergency number. I talked to the captain of the second district and he told me there is many variations of this scam going around. Please pass this along to to your neighbors especially the elderly who seem to fall victim to this kind of scam.

Joe Vaccaro
6227 hancock
st louis Missouri 63139
United States

Don’t fall for Phishing Scams

Posted by South City Computer

Bank Phishing WebsitePhishing, pronounced like “fishing”, is where a malicious website is set up in order to trick users into divulging personal information such as log in credentials, credit card, banking, or other private information. These website can look very convincing, mimicking a bank website, or a credit card website, or even a social media website log in. The website is meant to fool the user into divulging private information. Many of the sites will actually take in the information that is typed in the form, and then send the user over to the real login website, so that the user thinks that they just didn’t put in their log in information correctly, and never realize that they just gave away their personal information to a scammer.

Most phishing starts via the email inbox. Compromised email accounts will send out hoax emails that contain links to phishing websites that try to mimic a legitimate website. The messages will vary, such as faux emails about “A Recent Money Transfer”, “Account Overdraft Notice”, “Urgent Message from your Bank”, or something like “Your recent purchase at eBay”. Some of the emails even appear very realistic, and often times contain logos and colors that the actual company uses. The emails almost always contain links that take the user to a phishing website where their personal information is “fished” right out of their unsuspecting victims head. Always be on the look out for suspicious emails that don’t seem legitimate, or possibly don’t make sense.

In order to avoid this scam, always be sure that you are on a legitimate website domain. Check the URL bar for inconsistencies such as misspellings or mangling of the real domain like “bank0famericas.in” or “usbank.com.baddomain.cn” or “faceb00k.ru”. Also always check for domain TLDs to ensure you are on a .com, .org, .net and NOT a .cn, .ru, or .in to name a few of the most commonly seen scams.

Another way to protect yourself from Phishing scams is to always ensure that the website your are logging into is secured via HTTPS. Most phishing websites will not have a valid SSL certificate and this is a dead give away that somebody is trying to do something nasty to you!

Some email links look suspicious however turn out to be legitmate. A great example of such a situation is the Healthcare.gov email notices that come from a third party company known as govdelivery.com. The emails appear to look like the Healthcare.gov logo and color schemes however the links in the emails go to “govdeliver.com”. This company tracks the link clicks from the emails before sending the user over to the healthcare.gov website. It appears very “phishy”, however has been verified as trusted by the US government. So you can see how confusing this area of internet security can sometimes become.

If you think you have been the victim of a recent phishing scam then you should be proactive about securing your accounts. Try to remember what log in information or personal information you divulged. Change your account passwords. Contact your bank if you notice any fraudulent behavior with your bank account. Contact the police or FBI if you think you are a victim of identity theft. Seek the advice of a computer repair expert if you think you may have installed malicious software or programs onto your computer by visiting a phishing website.

It is difficult to know for sure if you are dealing with a real website or a fake website. As with all Internet activity, keep your “street smarts” about you at all times. If it seems fake or out of the ordinary, then it IS!

How to fix Proxy Server Isn’t Responding issue

Posted by South City Computer

Fix the proxy server isn't respondingOne of the more common computer issues we see because of malware is a misconfiguration Proxy Server connection setting in the browser. You may be able to do a quick fix to get your Internet connection back up and running, however if this has gotten set and you don’t recall doing it, this is probably because your computer is infected with malware or a virus.

NOTE: This may only temporarily fix your Internet connection issue and malware may change this setting back on reboot. It is recommended you get professional computer repair services.

In Windows Search type inetcpl.cpl.

Right click and choose to Run as administrator.

Click the Connections tab, and then click LAN settings button.

Un-check the Use a proxy server for your LAN check box.

Make sure Automatically Detect Settings is checked.

If you have already attempted this fix, and are still getting a Proxy Internet connection issue then you may need computer repair service. Bring your computer to South City Computer or to a local computer repair service and support provider near you.

Why is the Proxy Server Setting enabled?

While every issue is different, malware is usual the culprit behind this proxy setting being changed on a computer. The setting allows for all Internet traffic to be rerouted and monitored through another computer. This is likely in order to serve pop-ups and/or search your Internet traffic for usernames, emails, credit card numbers,and passwords.

Tips to avoid getting hacked

Posted by South City Computer

Tips to avoid getting hackedWhile there is no fool proof way to avoid being hacked, here is a list of tips in order to avoid from getting hacked.

Never use easy to guess passwords. While “puppy” may seem like a fun password, it is an easily guessed password. A dictionary brute force attempt could guess the password “puppy” in under a second. While there is no real good way to know if your password is fool proof, most security experts recommend using a mixed letter, number, and symbol password combination of a length of 8 or more digits. Try to avoid using easy to guess words or dates.

Try to use different passwords for different website user accounts. Having the same password for all of your user accounts makes it easier for a hacker to gain more access and cause more issues for you.

If you think your password has become compromised, change it right away!

Never share your username or password. It seems pretty straight forward, but some people can be deceived into divulging their username and password by a hacker pretending to be a computer support technician, or somebody from the company IT department.

Never write your password down and leave it near your computer. Lots of people hate to remember their password and therefore write the password down on a sticky note, or piece of paper near their computer. This allows anybody who uses the computer to see your password in plain sight.

Always use password secured login on your computer. Even though Windows will let you just log in without a password, it is best to use a password based login on your computer. Don’t make it as easy as logging right in without a password.

Keep your computer free of viruses, spamware and malware. Most malicious programs will try to proxy your Internet connection or use key-logger programs in order to monitor all the network traffic to phish out usernames and passwords. Any computer that has become compromised by malicious virus should not be trusted with any username and passwords.

Never use a public computer to log into your bank account or other private accounts. Public computer are like public toilets, they are dirty and unsanitary and should not be trusted since you cannot be sure what programs have been installed on the computer, and could have malicious software or keyloggers installed waiting for your input.

Make sure nobody is watching you type your username and password. While it seems like it would be really hard for someone to watch your keystrokes in order to gain access to your password, it is absolutely possible.

Do not believe anyone who calls you and requests your username and password to gain access to your computer. A lot of recent tech scams involve a person calling you claiming they are from “Microsoft” and have detected a virus on your computer. They will request your username and password to login to the computer in order to remove the virus. If you haven’t guessed already, the person on the other end does not really work for Microsoft, and is just trying to cause you havoc.

Always check the url of the website you are logging into for authenticity. Fake emails that look authentic will oftentimes contain links that take unsuspecting victims to phishing website. These are websites that look similar if not identical to bank account login pages. If one looks at the URL bar though, they will notice that they are on another domain such as bankofamerica.hackeddomain.com. Always ensure you are actually putting your password into a trusted website.

Never log in over an unsecured connection or network. While it may seem like a good idea to jump on any open wifi network, just know that somebody could be listening to your network traffic as well. There are programs that allow a hacker to monitor all network traffic on an open network in order to search or usernames and passwords.

Try to change your password on a regular basis for best security measures. If you change your password on a regular basis, you are always staying one step ahead of the game of cat and mouse. It is recommened that users change their password at least once a year, and some banking website will force users to make this change as a security policy.

Anthem data breach could be largest in history

Posted by South City Computer

Anthem hackedAs banks have beefed up their cyber security in the recent months after a JP Morgan Chase announced a data breach, hackers seemed to have turned their sights onto healthcare providers and insurance companies. Last week medical insurance company Anthem publicly apologized to its customers for a data breach that could have leaked over 80 million records that included names, addresses, phone numbers, and social security numbers. The company has described the data breach as a “very sophisticated external cyber-attack”. Anthem is still investigating whether the hackers were able to obtain any sensitive medical records or patient history. The data breach could be one of the largest in history.

The data breach recently came to light after an employee at Anthem notice suspicious activity of their user account. The data breach is currently being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a private security firm that Anthem hired to help audit the data breach.

The Anthem data breach echos President Obama’s recent State of the Union address where he pledged to spend more money on cyber-security in the United States. However most security experts agree that most data breaches are the result of basic flaws in computer security, social deception, failure to protect user names and passwords properly, or failure to encrypt sensitive data, and not the result of weak or faulty computer security methods currently in place.

Internet Explorer error ‘Do you want to view only the webpage content that was delivered securely?’

Posted by South City Computer

Do you want to view only the webpage content that was delivered securely?Are you getting a pop-up in Internet Explorer with the following:

Security Warning

Do you want to view only the webpage content that was delivered securely?
This webpage contains content that will not be delivered using a secure HTTPS connection, which could compromise the security of the entire webpage.

Why is this pop-up showing?
The Security Warning pop-up is telling you that not all the content you are browsing is secured over HTTPS encryption. It is likely that some of the images or scripts may be coming from different website sources and not all are encrypted. It probably does not mean that somebody is doing something malicious to your computer.

Do I have a virus?
Probably not. This Security Warning pop-up probably has nothing to do with having a virus on your computer, and is actually a normal Internet Explorer pop-up message.

Should I be concerned?
Maybe, if you are just checking an email account at yahoo.com or gmail.com, or visiting a website like facebook.com, twitter.com, then there is probably nothing to be concerned about at this time. However, if you are getting this message while using your online banking website or if you are sharing credit card or private information on the website, then you should probably be concerned. It may be a good idea to contact the website owner to notify them of the message so that they can fix this issue.

How should I answer this Security Warning pop-up?
It depends on what you are doing on the website, and if you need totally secure browsing. If you want the pop-up to go away just click “NO” to view the webpage even though some of the content will not be secured.

How do I get rid of this Security Warning pop-up for good?
You can disable this Internet Explorer pop-up alert by:

  1. Go to Tools->Internet Options->Security
  2. Select the Security tab
  3. Click on the Internet zone icon at the top of the tab page
  4. Click the Custom Level button
  5. In the Miscellaneous section change Display mixed content to Enable
  6. Repeat steps 1 – 5 for the Local intranet and Trusted sites zones

How to prepare your computer for repair

Posted by South City Computer

Mac Laptop Repair in St. LouisRemove computer from any computer case, computer box, computer packaging, or computer bag. Do not leave us with your computer case, computer packaging box, or computer bag. We do not have room to store this stuff for you.

Remove all usb drives, usb dongles, external hard drives, blue tooth dongles, and any extraneous hardware such as mouse, keyboards, printers, speakers, microphones, headphones, and monitors, attached to your computer or device before dropping off at South City Computer.

Remove all CD/DVD or other media from drives. We can not be responsible for your 2nd season of “Friends” DVD left in the DVD drive so please remove it before dropping it off at South City Computer.

Bring the power cord with your laptop, tablet, phone, all-in-one computer, or device. Most desktops use a standard power cord. Bring it, and the service technician will instruct you whether or not South City Computer will need it to perform your computer repair service.

Ensure your computer is clean and free of food, dust, and other debris. We know that most people eat, drink, and even pick their nose at their computer. Please do not bring us a computer covered in food, dust, boogers, and other unspeakable fluids! We are trying to provide you computer repair service, we are not a computer cleaning service. We will disinfect the computer at the time of drop off, however we do not want to have to scrub boogers and debris from the keyboard and cracks of your computer. If your computer is exceptionally disgusting, we may have to charge you a cleaning fee.

Let us know if you or somebody else is sick and has used the computer or if you are bringing your computer in because you or somebody else vomited on/in it. Let us know ahead of time so we can make special preparations to handle your computer with latex hospital gloves and respiratory masks.

Let us know if you dropped your device into a toilet or other unsanitary conditions so that we can prepare to handle your device accordingly with latex hospital gloves.

Provide the service technician clear and accurate description of your issue. Be sure to include what you were doing when the computer stopped working, any error messages you recall, any strange pop-ups, any strange behaviors or sounds your recall coming from the computer, any programs you installed or uninstalled before the issue started, also if there were any other anomalies such as power outages or electrical storms that could be related to the computer issue.

Provide all passwords and user accounts that South City Computer will need to access the computer.

Let us know if you need the data backed up on the computer. If data needs to be backed up, provide the service technician all files, file types, directories, and file names that you would like attempted to be backed up.

Inform the service technician of any programs you use that put their data files in places outside the Windows user directory such as Quick Books, Quicken, or Microsoft Outlook.

Be prepared to wait for service. Our typical turn around on a computer diagnosis is 2 to 5 business days. If you need expedited service talk to a support service technician about the options South City Computer offers customers who need computer repair service fast! Also, South City Computer Club Members always enjoy concierge services and get moved to the front of the line on most computer repair services. Don’t call or email constantly to check the status of your computer repair, this does not speed things up, as we are answering your phone calls and emails instead of repairing computers.

Bring cash, check, or credit/debit card to make the initial payment for service. We cannot begin work on your computer repair service until we receive payment up front.

Please know that we do not offer refunds on any payment you make to South City Computer, even if you choose to forgo the initial diagnosis or other service. If you are professional, friendly, courteous, and easy to do business with, we will most likely offer you in-store credit if you decide to not move forward with a repair, but this is not a guaranteed, and totally up to managements discression.

10 ways to avoid getting a virus

Posted by South City Computer

Registry Reviver JunkwareThe Internet can be very tricky at times, much like the streets of a large city, people can easily be fooled if they don’t use their “street-smarts” in every situation they encounter online. People who let their guard down online can easily be fooled into installing unwanted spamware, ransomeware, malware, virus, trojans, or worms. Avoide the following 10 most common ways our customer’s typically have gotten a computer virus on their computer.

1. Have an anti-virus program installed and running. Having anti-virus protection can help to reduce your risk of getting a computer virus. But do not rely too heavily on these programs, as many new viruses are still unknown to the anti-virus programs and there is always a lapse in full protection. Many new viruses have not been documented and released in the most recent virus definitions. Also most anti-virus software only do system scanning and do not do real-time system monitoring, and the ones that do offer real-time system monitoring may not always catch viruses getting installed on the computer.

2. Keep anti-virus software up-to-date with the latest virus definitions. Just having an anti-virus software installed on your computer is not enough to protect you from the latest virus and computer threats. Keep your anti-virus definitions up-to-date with the latest virus definitions. It is recommended to run anti-virus definitions updates on a daily basis to ensure the most effective anti-virus protection.

3. Keep your operating system up-to-date. This means run those pesky Windows Updates whenever your computer prompts you to. Updates oftentimes contain security patches and fixes that have been identified by the software distributor as vulnerabilities. It is best to set your computer to automatically update at a time that you would most likely not be using your computer, such as 3AM. Just remember to leave your computer on and connected to the Internet overnight to install these critical updates.

4. Only open email attachments from trusted sources and in believable situations. Most people get computer viruses by downloading attachments to emails. The attachments can seem legitimate such as a attached document, media file, or picture sent to you from friends or family. However you should be very careful not to download a virus. Sometimes friends, family, or coworkers email accounts can get hacked and will send out malicious software. Always check the file extension that is attached to an email before downloading it onto your computer. If the file extension is a .exe, .bat, .msi, .zip, .msm, .msp, .mst, .idt, .cub, .pcp file this could be a malicious software application. Common pictures file types are .jpg, .png, .gif, .tif, .bmp, and some common document file types are .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .odt, .txt. If you get an email with a strange file attached to it that doesn’t look like any of these common extensions, it is probably best to first verify with the trusted sender that they indeed sent the file. Also never click on links sent in emails that seem vague like “hey look at this link” or “click here to see my pics”.

5. Never install programs from the Internet that claim to fix a computer issue. While it may seem like a good idea to ask “Google” to fix your computer issue for you. Unfortunately most websites that claim to fix a computer issue by installing a program are not legitimate and are likely just fishing websites to get spam-ware, and other malicious software installed on your computer. Always take your computer to a legitimate computer repair business to fix your computer issue, and never search for a fix using a software program from the Internet.

6. Never illegally download pirated software, music and movies. Most illegal pirating networks, file sharing networks, and file link website will contain malicious software disguised as the newest software, movies or pop music albums. Always purchase software, music, and movies legally to avoid getting a virus from these untrusted file sources.

7. Do not try to install extraneous video and audio codecs. Sometimes you may find a file that has a strange extension. It seems logical to try to find a audio or video codec, or other program that could read this extension, however it is more likely that you would download and install a virus than the actual solution for your file type.

8. Do not install programs that claim to enhance the performance of your computer. There are some programs online that will claim to speed up your computer, or enhance the performance of your computer, or even promise to enhance the graphics capabilities of a computer. These are most likely untrusted websites that try to trick you into installing spam-ware, ransom-ware, malicious programs, and viruses onto your computer.

9. Do not install illegal software on your computer. You may find yourself in situations where a friend, family or other acquaintance has a “hot” copy of a popular software app like Microsoft Office or Adobe Creative Suite for FREE. If it sounds too good to be true…well then it probably is. Do not be fooled, these types of software cost hundreds to thousands of dollars, and the pirated “hot” copies tend to be packaged with malicious software. Always purchase software legally from trusted software distributors. Never install “hot” or “cracked” versions of a licensed software or service.

10. Do not click on pop-ups! Really, DON’T DO IT! Some pop-ups mimic Windows operating system alerts, and can look very convincing at times. Here are a few dead give-aways that you may have an untrusted pop-up:

  • has strange unfamiliar icons
  • the error message has improper English
  • the pop-up box has a message in it promissing to fix your computer issues
  • the pop-up moves around
  • the pop-up says your computer is infected with a virus

Even the most cautious computer user can sometimes be fooled into installing a computer virus. If you think you may have a computer virus on your computer, contact South City Computer for a tech visit today.

Why you should recycle your computer

Posted by South City Computer

Recycle E-Waste ResponsiblyEvery few years desktops, laptops, smart phones, tablets and electronic equipment become “obsolete”. The shiny new Apple iPhone you got today will be an obsolete piece of junk in a few years, and in turn will need to be disposed of responsibly. Unfortunately most people do not consider this when they purchase their new technology device, and this lack of thought is causing a real problem for the environment.

Outdated, unwanted and broken computers and other electronic equipment are known as e-waste short for electronic waste. E-waste that is not disposed of properly is considered hazardous because it contains heavy metals, plastics, and other materials that can harm humans, animals and the environment.

Unfortunately the average life span of a computer, tablet, or smart phone these days is only about 2 to 4 years. Computers, phones, and tablets that break after this short life span are usually discarded rather than repaired due to the relatively low price of electronics. Obsolete and unwanted electronics usually end up destined for landfills and this causes big problems for the environment.

Why can’t I throw my computer, phone, tablet in the trash?

Please DO NOT throw your computer, phone, or tablet in the trash! Computers and electronic devices contain hazardous materials that are dangerous to the environment, humans, and other animals if not disposed of correctly. Here are some common hazardous materials that are found inside most computers.

Cadmium – Found in chip resistors, infrared detectors, and semiconductors. Cadmium is persistent, bio-accumulative, and toxic.

Lead – Found in glass panels in computer monitors and in lead soldering of printed circuit boards. Lead can accumulate in the environment and have a detrimental effect on plants, animals, humans and water resources. One computer monitor can contain up to 8 pounds of lead! Consumer electronics may be responsible for 40% of the lead found in landfills. The principal pathway of concern is lead leaching from landfills and contaminating drinking water supplies.

Mercury – Found in position sensors, relays and switches (e.g., on printed circuit boards) and batteries. When mercury makes its way into waterways, it is transformed into methylated mercury in the sediments. Methylated mercury accumulates in living organisms and travels up the food chain.

Hexavalent Chromium or Chromium VI – Used to protect against corrosion of untreated and galvanized steel plates. Major pathways are through landfill leaching or from fly ash generated when materials containing Chromium VI are incinerated.

Brominated Flame Retardants – Found on printed circuit boards, components such as plastic covers and cables. Once released into the environment through landfill leaching and incineration they become concentrated in the food chain.

Think twice before you toss your computer in the dump because it might come back to haunt you in your water and food in the future.

My computer still works, but I just don’t want it anymore!
If your computer still works great, then South City Computer will probably not send your computer off to the e-cycler. In the spirit of “reduce reuse recycle” South City Computer will repair your computer in order to donate it to a good cause. South City Computer will erase all the personal data on the computer and factory restore the OS or will put Ubuntu Linux to make a functional “Free Kids Computer”. These functional computers are then donated to families in the greater St. Louis area who are in need or want a computer for their kids who are enrolled in school. South City Computer also donates computers to families who have lost their home in a disaster such as a fire. Contact South City Computer today if your family is in need of a free computer for students currently enrolled in school.

What happens to my broken computer when I recycle it at South City Computer?
If your device has been determined dead on arrival (DOA) and there is no affordable fix, then recycling your technology device responsibly will be your next step of action. South City Computer works with a local e-cycler to responsibly dispose of the e-waste that it collects as an added benefit to it’s customers. Before sending your electronic device to e-cycling, South City Computer will attempt to erase your personal data.

How can I help with the environmental e-waste problem?

Instead of running out to buy the next newest gadget, consider purchasing a refurbished computer. A refurbished computer is already considered obsolete to corporate computing standards, however still functions great. A refurbished computer can be a great affordable option as a family computer or student computer as well.

If you have an old computer that is running slow, outdated or obsolete Windows, or Mac OS, you can also consider using alternative free software to bring new life to your old computer to get more use out of it. Ubuntu is a free Linux operating system that is easy to install and has thousands of free software programs to make a fully functional personal computer.

Customers can e-cycle these electronic devices at South City Computer

  • Laptops
  • Desktop PC
  • Smart Phones
  • Tablets
  • Flat Screen Monitors
  • Misc Computer Parts (RAM, Hard Drives, Power Supplies)
  • Power cords and misc cables

SORRY WE CANNOT TAKE PRINTERS OR CRT MONITORS

Please call to schedule an appointment before dropping off e-waste! 314-400-7918

Please dispose of your e-waste responsibly!

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