In my current WIP, I've been toying with the idea of having all computers on Earth destroyed when the remaining population immigrated to Space Stations with their own super computers. The thing is, I don't know that much about engineering, so I'm not sure if that should be taken care of by all of the computers being recycled for the new space computers, or (someone told me this once) if there should be nuclear fall out that just prohibits all electronics from working again--thus, all electronics destroyed (or rather, rendered useless) in one fell swoop. Not sure if the nuclear thing actually is the case in reality, but it would be an interesting twist. I've also thought that maybe there could be a huge electrical disturbance created to fry everything plugged in, but then stuff that isn't still plugged in would still work...
That also leaves the question: if they destroy technology on Earth, to what degree should they do so to ensure that anyone coming back to Earth couldn't find those computers, fix them, and create a tech war against those in space?

Meh. Thoughts, opinions, and ideas would be HUGELY appreciated because I'll probably use it in my NaNoNovel.

Hmm, I don't think a nuclear EMP has ever been tested on a massive scale, but I am fairly certain that nuclear weapons would cause an EMP effect.

If someone created a virus for the purpose of making the computers unusable, it wouldn't be too hard. Ever caught one that deleted everything on your computer? Unless you know what you're doing, the computer becomes a useless piece of equipment.

Yeah, I would say a virus would be the best. If you sent out any kind of wave, it would shut down more than just computers, so if it is a computer shut down you want, and only a computer shut down, then I would say a virus. They are fairly easy to spread.

No, everything needs to shut down for the plot. Not just computers.

Wait, Jess, you want every electrical device to go off-line for the plot, correct?

As in, computers, Nintendo DS', Gameboys, cell phones, laptops, lights, batteries (Including Duracells ), etc., right?