Business solutions continues its series in which we help readers with their IT queries. Investigating readers' problems this month are David Clark, managing director of eMedia; Kevin Riches, managing director of Total Asset Management; Simon Shepherd, an analyst with IDC; Paul Brennan, general counsel for the Federation Against Software Theft; and Colin Lee, business adviser for Business Link.

I run a small prestige car hire company and would like to start using email to attract new business. I have a database of my existing customers that I mail regularly. I am considering purchasing a CD-rom list of email addresses and bulk mailing to it. Are they worth the money?

DC: Buying a list of email addresses on the cheap can be tempting, but you are extremely unlikely to strike it lucky, and you risk your message being interpreted as spam. There are many specialist email marketers that have invested heavily in database development, research into email usage and trends. Asking several basic questions will give you a clearer indication of the quality of data. How was circulation built? How is it maintained and how often? Have all the recipients opted in? How were they opted in? What have they opted into?

Email should never be viewed as the cheap option but, done properly and legitimately, it can be by far the most cost-efficient. Also, be prepared to deal with the level of response your email campaign can generate. A response within 24 hours should be the goal, even if it is an automated personalised acknowledgement of the inquiry.

What do I do with my PC once it has come to the end of its useful life?

KR: You have a number of options. You can sell it on - the resale value of used equipment is calculated using the assumption that three-year-old equipment has a residual value of at least 5% at the end of its commercial life. It can be tricky managing the sale yourself; if you sell it to staff members, you are responsible for checking it meets health and safety standards. Computer brokers are usually after the lowest price possible and may not remove all the data correctly, something you need to be aware of or risk prosecution via the Data Protection Act. An asset management company such as TAM works on commission, returning a minimum of 5% to its clients, after fees and sales commission.

Sometimes breaking down the equipment is even more profitable than selling it as a whole. Laptops, for example can be broken down and their screens alone can reach up to £250 when used to repair other equipment. The obsolete components - plastics, metals and heavy metals - can be recycled and disposed of in an environmentally friendly way. Of course you can donate to charity either at home or abroad; something you think is worthless may be highly valuable to an African school, for example. Organisations such as Digital Links (www.digital-links.org) can deal with it for you.

All these new regulations about retaining electronic records and having to produce complete audit histories for documents is quite concerning. How can I be sure my company is on the right side of the law?

SS: The key to addressing these new regulations lies in developing a proactive archive strategy. Archive storage is often overlooked until a crisis is looming, at which stage many IT managers respond by adding more magnetic disk or purchasing another tape drive. This approach will not meet the requirement for a long-term, trustworthy archive and puts the company at risk of prosecution if vital data can not be produced when required. An archive strategy consisting of hardware, software and process accountability should be planned carefully to make sure the information being saved is within legal or corporate guidelines.

Initial planning should identify what needs to be done to ensure records are authentic when stored and retrieved. It is no good storing information if you can't access it in 10 years when the organisation is called on to deliver important historical information. Equally, it is no use if the records can be retrieved but the integrity of these records cannot clearly be established.

A key element in setting up a trustworthy archive is to select the correct storage medium for the task at hand. Since there are dramatically different site requirements, no one storage technology will fit all archive environments. Optical, tape and even magnetic disk storage have their place, but it is critical for companies to consider the demands of their business before listening to hardware vendors that may be trying to force-fit their technology into the archive space. The wrong choice could prove very costly.

Following a recent merger, our company feels it would simplify proceedings if we outsourced the consolidation and subsequent management of our IT systems. Are there any pitfalls of which we should be wary?

PB: Don't underestimate the interrelationship between software licensing and outsourcing. The Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) advises any organisation considering handing over the provision of its IT services to a third party to check its existing software licences first; they may, for example, not allow outsourcing. Having recently merged with another company, there could also be inherited software issues of which you are unaware, and it is clearly important to identify (and rectify) these so they don't cause problems later in the negotiation process.

Likewise, we advise outsourcing providers to avoid the risk of criminal and civil proceedings by conducting due diligence before taking on a contract. It is essential that during this phase you work with your chosen supplier to ensure records of software licences are up to date and available.

In any agreement such as this, the key point to remember is that purchasing a service level agreement does not absolve you from liability when it comes to software licensing.

I use an Excel spreadsheet to keep my contacts in order, but I keep getting told a full-blown database would be better. What would the advantages be, and how much training would I need?

CL: Contact databases and customer relationship management (CRM) systems enable users to get more from their valuable client contact information. Rather than just being a flat spreadsheet with names and addresses, a simple CRM system can enable a mail merge or mailshots, the recording of contact history and even linking to accounts packages and calendars.

Typically the user interface of an off-the-shelf contact database will be much friendlier than that of a flat spreadsheet and will enable flexible searching of client records and reporting functions allowing analysis of data. There are a number of accessible, industry standard packages on the market and a range of training is available depending on the user's initial experience and capabilities.

· Do you have a technology problem you'd like solved by our panel of experts? Write to Business Solutions Surgery, Online, The Guardian, 119 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3ER, fax them to 020-7713 4145, or email online.feedback@theguardian.com