I have been seeing more and more of my customers still using their 5+ year old computers and laptops. This has it’s ups and downs because the manufacturers are actually making quality products however parts are becoming more scarce for those machines thus driving up the cost to fix them.

It seems that the first thing to go is the hard drive. Either you start seeing Windows S.M.A.R.T errors or your Windows installation becomes unstable or corrupt due to bad sectors. It is still possible to retrieve the data when this happens, but I will say it again: have a backup of a backup of a backup.

It is usually random other things that start going wrong (i.e. video card BSODs, virtual memory messages, random reboots from hardware driver issues, etc.)

With Windows 7 out now I would suggest to most of my customers that it is nearly time for an upgrade. Hardware is pretty cheap right now and with the economy the way it is a lot of places are trying to nearly give away decent computers and laptops. Frequently look through hole-in-the-wall computer fix-it joints to see if they have any refurbished computers or laptops with decent specs. Make sure to do your research on what to look for (http://www.laptopadvisor.com/)

If you have an aging computer and you live in the Hiram, Georgia area then please either email me or call me with your questions.