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Why Suffer With Old Hardware

Hanging onto old computer hardware can become a habit, stemming either from laziness (that would be me) or from the misguided conception that it's going to cost a lot of money to replace it. The truth is, it's very easy these days to keep your hardware current, and greatly beneficial.

A good many of the bugs you may be trying to solve can come from aging hardware. For example, a power supply degrades over time, causing "dirty power" (power fluctuating as it comes into the computer), causing all kinds of random problems such as the computer inexplicably slowing down or freezing up. Your hard drive, as it ages, can get bad sectors and become less useful.

There are other problems which can stem from older hardware that have nothing to do with the hardware wearing out or going bad. New programs are built to utilize the latest hardware, and when running them on older hardware you won't get the most out of them. A great example is video cards; a new program, such as a game, will not be fully utilized by an older video card, and you can get problems ranging from shaky or stop-and-start video to no video at all. More broadly, you can have a problem where newer software is unable to utilize older hardware drivers.

How cheap is it these days to replace hardware?

Less than 5 years ago you could easily pay $2,000 for a good pre-built system -- you can now get a decent pre-built system for $500. 5 or 6 years ago memory was $3.00 to $4.00 per megabyte and it's now less than a dollar a meg. The size of your hard drive can be quadrupled for $100 or less, and the latest and greatest video card which used to cost upwards of $600 can now be had for $300.

Peripherals have come way down in price, too. Probably the greatest example is, a few years back you would have paid around $5,000 for a color laser printer. Now you can stroll out and get one for $500.

Home networks have now become more common, due in a large part on heavier reliance on computers by individual family members; one computer just isn't enough any more. Networking them together means being able to share resources such as DSL or cable internet access and printing. And like other hardware, networking hardware such as routers, hubs and cable have become much more affordable.

More affordable networking hardware also means that businesses can easily take advantage of the latest networking technology, and it's very worthwhile to do so with the strengthened security and speed of current networks.

So you don't have to be satisfied with that old computer or its components! You can keep everything up and running smoothly - and affordably.

More Defragmentation

Regarding our tip on defragmentation a couple of issues ago, several astute readers wrote in to correct my misinformation that 9x operating systems shipped without a defragmenter. In fact, they did ship with a defragmenter. When Microsoft introduced Windows NT, it did not have a defragmenter and a flurry of third-party defragmenters began. Microsoft then began once again including a basic defragmenter in Windows 2000, and have ever since. Please forgive my faulty memory.

One reader also pointed out that, with the increased activity associated with larger disks, that defragmentation is even more needed than with smaller disks. Let me clarify the point I was attempting to make on this issue: With a large disk, utilized normally, certainly this reader is correct. My point was that with a large disk less than a third full, something I discovered is often the case especially with home users, my experience has been that the performance gain from defragmentation is negligible. But as I said in the article, if there's any doubt about potential gain on your own system, either run the free defragmenter included in the operating system or download and run trialware of one of several more full-featured defragmenters. If performance increases, you know you should defragment on a regular basis.

Diagnosing Hardware Problems

In our earlier article, we went over how inexpensive it is these days to replace hardware. But how will you know what hardware to replace? Sometimes it's obvious…but sometimes it isn't. Enter Micro2000's Micro-Scope, the premier hardware diagnostic software preferred by technicians worldwide. Because it's operating-system-independent, Micro-Scope communicates directly with your hardware, making for the fastest and most accurate troubleshooting possible.

Find out what Micro-Scope can do for you!

Go to;

http://www.micro2000.co.uk/products/microscope/microscope.html