I've retired a few computers, and I'll go and buy a hard drive enclosure kit (Radio Shack has them) and put the old hard drive in the enclosure. Give me a chance to keep the old data and have an extra USB external hard drive.
(Some with active download links)
Remember, this stuff is worthless if you have digital phone service (commonly bundled with cable internet). VOIP will shut down along with the internet, so get an analog phone line (and a *modem*). Hmm, where did I put that U.S. Robotics 56K...?