Diane- If you don't think you will ever need any of the cables again, you can toss them. They can be a little spendy though, $20 to $30 dollars depending on source so I usually keep a spare or two around. Some of them are probably video cables. Video cables and I think a few other types are required by the FCC to have RFI suppression installed. That is the little cylinder shaped thing you see. It is a toroid core. That end of the cable connects to the video monitor. It prevents RFI from the monitor feeding back out and using the cable as an antenna to broadcast RFI to other electronic devices in the area. John Dinges The NOSPIN Group is now offering Free PC Tech support at our newest website: http://freepctech.com