|
|
|
Great Plains Dexterity History and Programming Overview
As of now - Great Plains Dynamics/eEnterprise is transformed/renamed into Microsoft Great Plains and Microsoft Business Solutions is in process of merging all its accounting applications: Great Plains, Solomon, Navision and Axapta into somewhat...
Is your Computer Infected with Spyware?
Is your computer running slower than it should be? Do you find that de-fragmentation and extra memory doesn't help? Do you think it could be a virus? What do you do in situations like these? I suppose you'd run your antivirus software. But what...
Provisioning/User Management System Upgrades: Part One -- Ten Reasons Why Not To Do An Upgrade or The Gentle Art of “Not Doing” When Good Systems Go Bad
Tommy Sherman daily monitors a helpdesk-provisioning queue for a large company. The current provisioning/user management system was written with homegrown software. It has not had a major update for several years. Each day, he is getting more...
Security in Today's World
There are many things in life that are worth protecting. Our children, our valuables, our resources and of course, ourselves. Only twenty years ago, if security was mentioned, you were speaking of protecting your home. And you were most likely...
Ten Percent Of Jimmy Stewart
Jimmy Stewart was seen one night in 1933 in New York performing on stage as a female impersonator by an MGM talent scout. He was signed to a contract to come to California to work for the prestigious studio. Studio Head Louis B. Mayer expressed...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Is That PC Still Worth Keeping?
Computers... We love 'em and love to hate 'em. But before you trash that old PC and buy a new one, you may only need some tweaks, fixes or upgrades. If you are in the Parker, Colorado area, I can help you. If you're outside that area, please feel free to use this site as a resource. I've assembled loads of articles, links and resources for you to use.
Many PCs come with too little memory for it to run at its full potential. They also come with a lot of programs that you don't need and that load in the background for no good reason. And, over time, your PC collects lots of files from the internet that are taking up space and slowing things down. Add to that adware and spyware programs you didn't even know were running. All these factors can slow your PC down and bring your blood pressure up. With a good tune up and, perhaps, an upgrade, your old PC may have a couple years left in it.
Each new version of Windows requires more resources from your computer. If your computer came loaded with Windows XP, then it's only a few years old at the most and can still be a fine PC for most people. When Windows XP was first released, many computers came with a minimum of RAM and you would probably benefit from an upgrade. If you upgraded your PC from Windows 98 or ME to Windows XP, It's highly likely that you don't have enough RAM and you're PC is struggling to keep up. Your processor is probably marginally adequate as well.
If you're still using Windows 95, 98, ME or 2000, you should very seriously consider getting up to Windows XP as soon as possible. No, Microsoft doesn't pay me anything for the sales pitch. The reason is this; Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 2000 on June 30,
2005. The older versions of Windows aren't supported either and are much less stable. Hackers are still writing nastyware for all Windows versions and XP is the only one being patched. It's also the most stable and secure of them all.
A new computer can cost only a few hundred dollars if you watch for a sale - and there's always a sale. I picked up a refurbished HP computer for my daughter for $200 and it's as good as some lower-end new PCs. If your old monitor still works and is still in focus, use it with the new PC, it'll work.
My minimum recommended hardware list for Windows XP is:
RAM - 256MB for simple documents, email and web surfing. 512MB or more is really recommended for most people as antivirus and other security software is running all the time and most people have more than one program open.
Processor - I wouldn't go any slower than 600MHz. Something this slow will work, but will struggle, and it shows the age of the computer. If your processor is faster than 1GHz, you're fine for a while.
Hard drive - If your hard drive is bigger than 10 GB, you're fine. But keep in mind that hard drives get old and fail. It's not a matter of if, but when.
There are other, more advanced hardware specifications, but these will help guide most home users.
The Parker Computer Guy can tell you if your PC needs to be upgraded, tuned up or cleaned out. And if your computer is in need of repair, we can fix it quickly and get you back on track.
About the Author
Scott Dary, aka Parker Computer Guy, runs a computer repair and consulting business. Additional articles by Scott can be found at http://www.ParkerComputerGuy.com
|
|
|
|
|
|