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Fix or Junk Your Home ComputerHome computers are necessities to most Americans, according to 2006 Pew research that looked at changes from luxury to necessity of various technologies. This analysis also showed a continuing steep annual rise in the percentage of people who consider their home computer essential. Could you live without yours? Once you have used a home computer, you rely on it more and more for an ever-expanding number of tasks. To be without it is a hardship. To have problems with it is worse than inconvenient. After a few years this important source of entertainment, productivity and communication will show signs of age. Your home system may be too slow for some functions, or not have enough disk space for others. The older operating system version might not support newer web services. Or it may be unreliable, not always booting smoothly or subject to freezing once it has booted. Can you fix it? Should you fix it? When is it time to junk your home computer? Before anything else, back up your system if you have not already done so. Often people put this off. But having no good recent backup will leave you vulnerable to the loss of all the data, setup and software you have on your computer. So back it up, now Tip: Back up your home computer data, including downloaded files, pictures and spreadsheets, twice a week. You can set up your system to do this automatically with some security software, or through system utilities.
With a good backup in hand, consider three key questions to the fix or junk dilemma. They are how old is your system, what problems is it having, and how much money do you have to put towards a solution? Is your computer too old? How old your system is will define what can be done to fix it and how much the fix will cost. Peripherals need to be thought about, too; newer printers, digital cameras, cell phones and the like may not work well or at all with a too-old computer. Is your computer five or more years old? At four or five years a desktop might be fixable if the operating system is current, if memory can be added and if it was built well, with a fast-enough processor and sufficient RAM. A five-year-old laptop is another matter. Most laptops are not readily fixed or expanded. Also, a low-end system, desktop or laptop, will not age as well as more expensive computers. Too many components would need replacing or upgrading to justify the cost and effort. Does your computer have problems that can be fixed? What problems are you experiencing? Speed is often a problem. The source might be the computer, or it might be the home network. Check your network speed and throughput. Upgrading the router or service speed could be all you need to do. If the real culprit is the network, a speedier computer will not solve the problem. Tip: For speed problems, check your network router, throughput and other devices on you home network, such as a game system or printer. The network speed can only be as fast as the slowest device connected and using it. If your network speed is okay, look more closely at your computer. If there are a lot of junk applications starting whenever you boot up causing trouble by hogging the processor, you can fix that by removing those services from startup. If you just started having a problem after downloading software or visiting a website, you can fix that by restoring the system to a time before the problem started. If it’s too slow even after you have removed junk applications and run a virus scan, your needs for the computer processor speed may now be greater than your computer can support. You can, if you’re knowledgeable, replace the processor with a faster and bigger one. It probably isn’t worth it, though; the cost can exceed half of the price of a new system. Tip: Check for new virus scan software upgrades. To improve performance, run a full virus scan and software that removes advertisement junk. Remove any unused and unwanted applications from your system with the uninstall function. If remnants of an unwanted application remain, you can often correct the problem by first completely reinstalling the program, then uninstalling it. Some software commonly distributed with new systems by the manufacturer, such as AOL, can be eliminated fully with this treatment. Finally, run a full disk maintenance routine. This utility cleans up the hard drive and corrects errors on the disk when possible. If your problem is not speed, or the fixes have not solved the problem, look further. If the computer is freezing without warning, it may be trying to swap memory too quickly for too many jobs. You are likely better off replacing the system in this case. If the operating system you are using has been replaced and replaced again by the manufacturer, buy a new computer. Operating system support and upgrades are vital, and will not be available for old versions. If system booting is not smooth and easy, be very careful. It might be the bios, which can be updated. Or it might be something worse. Disk failure can occur in the boot sector, the place where the operating system is housed. That can be a disaster. Be ready to replace your computer if the system is showing signs of instability. An operating system upgrade could make sense if it’s available. Or, if you need more disk space, you can add to some to your desktop for a reasonable cost. How much will fixing your computer cost? How much would a new system cost? How much you have to spend versus how much a fix would cost is the crucible for the fix or junk decision. If you don’t have enough money to buy a decent replacement, then stabilize your system as well as you can, back it up every other day, and save up for a replacement. If you can add memory or replace the motherboard or power block on a two to four year old system for less than $300, do that. If you can comfortably upgrade the operating system, do so. Fortunately the prices of home computer systems have been stable for years, while the products themselves have radically improved. Or you can purchase a new-to-you good refurbished system from a manufacturer that includes a full warranty for half the cost of a brand new computer. Tip: Look at what your budget can buy now. You might be surprised. One interim solution that could help has emerged in the past year. There are now very small laptops, or netbooks, that can be a great adjunct to an older desktop for home computing needs. These are very inexpensive, less than $500, and are built to support internet access, email and word processing. You can wirelessly watch videos online, check your email and print documents with a netbook. A netbook is worth considering if accessing the web is your most important computer function. Eventually every computer owner comes to the fix or junk decision. When you get there, identify the real problem, back up your data, fix the problem if it is not expensive and you know how, and plan to replace your system when you can afford to. |
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