Protecto Enterprizes (not Protecto Enterprises), and Computer Direct, one of its divisions, are names that come up occasionally in retro circles. They were a company that advertised heavily in computer magazines in the mid-1980s, and their inventory is frequently interesting to retro computer collectors. But sometimes it’s a little unclear what this company was, and I think that was by design.
Protecto Enterprizes/Computer Direct was a computer mail order discounter based out of the Chicago area from 1979 to about 1995. They were not a manufacturer nor were they strictly a liquidator, though they did sell a lot of closeout inventory and private label products that made them look like they may have been more than just a distributor.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.
