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.

Addendum: 3 things we think our PC can do, but it can't

I'll add my part on what Brian said on the previous post.

First off, he's right about computers not been able to think for you, they're handle mathematical operations and are waiting for an input which in turn will transform into an operation the computer can handle to give you the result that, most of the time, you're expecting.

He's also right about cleaning up, most people will never clean their computer and it turns them into a nasty infection hold that could not only affect your computer but also your health. Clean it once in a while and also remember the clean software that you don't use in your computer, defrag it every once in a while and if you feel that ain't cutting it then back everything up and go for a format, which I've always said has to be done approximately every year but I'll speak more about it on another post.

Here's the most important part to me and I'll quote Brian on it "an average user won't need more than 720GB and 4GB RAM on their PC."

This is exactly what I've always told people and that's why I went for Linux. Let us go hyphotetical here for a minute or two.

You got this old junker stored, let us say we're talking about that old PC I've talking about recently, and you suddenly get this crazy idea to get a new computer because this one won't cut it anymore with XP, Vista or 7. Question here is, do you really need a new computer?

What are you doing with it?

The average PC user will only go into his computer to check his e-mail, read the news, check pictures of cats or maybe their grandchildren as cats, make some documents, check Wikipedia or Google for some info you'll need for a work, etc.

These are pretty basic functions and you don't really need the latest and greatest for this task, you don't need a Lenovo W500 for this or the latest Apple product, your old one, if it's not broken, will just work fine people so do yourself a favor and save the planet, save some money on your pocket, because on this time and age we all need it, and you won't need to pay additional money for licenses and whatnot, OK I know most of the planet pirates their stuff but come on people give it a chance.

So in brief, save the planet and save some money to your pocket. Key words. Get that old PC or laptop out of the closet and get it working again, it won't be the latest or greatest, probably won't be pretty, but yet again you're doing a favor to the planet in which you live. It's not that hard to get Linux to work on a computer nowadays and Ubuntu is really friendly on it but I'd recommend going for Xubuntu if you know your PC has been in a cave for the last 10 to 15 years.

3 things we think our PC can do, but it can't

Hello, world! My name is Brian and I'm the new co-writer of this blog, and as my presentation post I'll tell you the 3 most common things we think our PC can do, but really, it can't.

1.- Your PC can't read minds: I know it sounds funny, but it's true, and it's a shame (just wait for it... in 2012). In my few months as a computer science student, I've come across a lot of people that think their computer is going to know exactly what they want, be it by searching something on the internet, or by trying to install some new software. I'm afraid it ain't so. Starting by the fact that it isn't going to start up if you don't "tell it" to do so, your PC becomes completely useless if you don't make it do what you want it to do. So, remember the next time you're googling FUNNY CAT IMAGE, or trying to install the latest anti-virus of your choice, and your PC seems to ask a lot of questions: Don't get mad, it's just trying to make your life easier, and of course, trying to make it easier and more precise for itself.

2.- Your PC can't solve everything: This is where most young people fail (and I include myself by saying so), and because of this, we've gained fame as "technology-whores". We think our PC can do anything in the world: Make our homework, keep our friendships alive, keeping us "in-touch" with the world, make us better persons... oh! And make us lose a few pounds in the process. As awesome as it would be, we're still far from that point, and due to that, every day we're searching for the newest technology, craving for more and more power, more storage, more everything, while in real life, and talking about PC specs', an average user won't need more than 720GB and 4 RAM on their PC. But we seem to forget that most of us are average users, and we strive on the fact of being part of that elite culture we see on adds or on every computer 'zine, we lose a sense of reality and start living off those ridiculous expectations.

3.- Your PC can't clean itself: This is by far the most common mistake we, as users, tend to make, even if it's just for lack of knowledge, or plain laziness, we like to think that our PC is going to grow some magical hands and start scrubbing itself, and in a couple of minutes it'll be good as new. Well, bad news for you Jimbo (sorry, I don't know anybody named Jimbo, don't take it personal), your PC isn't going to do that, and you'll have to clean it by yourself, or by somebody that knows how to do so. It's really simple actually, you'll just have to take a look at a couple of tutorials running around the internet, and with basic cleaning-knowledge, you'll be good to go. And remember, prevention is the best medicine, so if you can do anything, and I mean ANYTHING (starting by moving your case out of that rat-hole where is hidden), then by all means do so.

I hope these 3 points I mention here make you think a little more about your PC, about yourself and about your life around a computer. Don't make your computer your life, make your computer part of your life, and as the most needed tool on today's workspace, it needs to be understood as that: A tool to make our life's easier, but not to the point where we're not going to do anything. Remember, take care of your PC, and your PC will take care of you. Cheers!