Upgrade is a keyword

I've heard countless times from many customers coming towards me with their computer that it is either last year model, or maybe even last decades model, and that it's slow and it won't do the job anymore.

Mind you, most people think PC's are just a thing you throw away once it doesn't work and that is a horrible mentality as we've mentioned before on this blog that you can do a lot more to get that old buddy of yours to do an extra thing or two.

Here is a clear example.

My sisters old computer was passed to me since she got a netbook, Dell by the way, and I looked at it because she complained it was always slow.

There were several reasons why this computer and I will list them below for your commodity.

1. Unknown software running in the background. See that flashy banner on the sides or on the top, do not click it. You receive random files from people or links telling you to click on them and you decide to install whatever it asks you to, this is wrong and you should ALWAYS read what the prompt boxes always bring to screen. Running Ares and Torrents, definetely a big no-no and a bigger NO-NO with wireless.
2. Clogged hard drive. Full of songs and pictures. Yes I understand we all love music but really people you don't need THAT much music in your computer and I'm pretty sure twenty days worth of music is not something you need for your everyday enjoyment. Movies? Get Media for that like a DVD, Blueray or a USB Drive or if all this troubles you too much get an online backup software that you can access at anytime or get an external or second internal hard drive, your operating system will thank you for that.
3. Processor. Don't expect a Pentium III to do the job of an i3, i5 or i7 and let alone a Dual-Core or a Pentium IV. Old processors are not old, they are just simply part of a family and a generation that have become discontinued because mathematical operations from programming languages become more and more demanding as the industry grows. So if your PC is running a bit sluggish this could be a big factor and if it's ever possible a processor upgrade won't hurt you at all unless the motherboard doesn't support it in which case you're going to need an alternate operating system or...
4. RAM. RAM is an important part of a computer and the more you have the more things you can run and load at the same time without having to hassle your hard drive to get that going. Cut your machine some slack if it's running Windows XP with only 128 MB which is the "legal" minimum requirement which then got moved to 256MB. Add another stick to it, 128MB is decent, 256MB is an improvement, 512MB a blessing and 1GB should be enough to run Windows XP and his older brothers in a decent state or any Linux distribution.
5. Video Card. Surprisingly this can also be a big factor if you're doing media like movies, photo editing or you are a gamer. An upgrade from 64MB to 128MB is noticeable and obviously anything higher than that is better although it could not be good for your gaming tendencies or 3D modelling as it may not support 3D graphics or heavy vectoring. Check the specs on the video card you want to get and see if it'll cut it.

Hope these little tips can help you out on understanding why your PC may not be exactly doing it what you want it to do and that maybe by spending an extra ten or twenty dollars you could get your computer working just fine without a problem.