If you are like many people, then your computer is an essential part of your home, to say the least. You may use it for work, your family uses it for entertainment, and everyone uses it to stay connected with friends and relatives. Everyone in your house (except perhaps the baby and the dog) uses the computer. How do you know that the computer that you use every day will work tomorrow, when you need to send out that important email or your child has to do some research for a school project?
Like many electronics, computers have a life span. If you are anything like me, you try to get every last possible bit of use out of many things that you have around the house. You repair, repurpose, and recycle things until they truly are unusable for any purpose besides adding weight to your garbage can. Is there a way to know when it really, truly is time to start shopping for a new computer so that you can get it before the old one breaks?
The good news is that you may be able to determine that you need a new computer with enough lead time to thoroughly research your new computer options and find a good deal. Having to replace a computer is bad enough, rushing into a computer purchase just because you need it right now today can be even worse. You could choose the wring computer for your needs and you could pay a lot more than you would if you took a little time to do some research and shop around.
One thing that you can do to assess your computer’s “health” is to determine whether it is running slow because it is nearing the end of its useful life or because it is bogged down with excess “junk” that you have accumulated along the way. You can do this by running a virus scan (something you should do regularly anyways), defragmenting the hard drive, and cleaning up your computer by moving files to an external hard drive, CD, or DVD as well as removing programs that you do not use. Freeing up some space on your hard drive could make a huge difference in your computer’s speed, and you may be pleasantly surprised that “old reliable” still has plenty of get up and go.
However, you may find that even after doing all that you can to free up space on your hard drive and get your computer running faster, it is still slow or it won’t work with programs that you need to use because it is too old. Things like touch pads on laptops, keyboards, CD drives, and other “hard” components of your computer may be broken or held together with duct tape. If you see the warning signs of a computer that may soon be on its way to obsolescence, start looking into new computer options now in order to avoid the “need” to run out and buy one later when your old one finally stops working.
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