Do You Need To Upgrade Your PC? Check this out!

One of the most frequently asked questions is “Do I need to upgrade my PC?”. The following is a checklist which should enable you to answer that question yourself:

How long have you had your PC?

If you’ve been using your PC for over a year, you should start to notice the computer getting slower.

You’ll notice the slowness when you start up your PC, opening the browser and when you use applications from the office suite.

Every time we use our PCs, we store temporary files and make edits to the system which in time, will slow down our PCs. After a year or so, your whole PC seems to be a lot slower than when you first bought it.

So before you start thinking about an upgrade or getting a new PC, save all the data on your PC and reinstall the whole computer operating system. If it is still slow after installing all the programs you need, then make the decision to buy a new computer or add more RAM.

Have you checked for viruses?

Sometimes, your PC may be slow because it is infected by a virus. You need to scan your computer with your antivirus software to see there are any malicious viruses. Removing these viruses will normally improve the speed.

You also need to check if your virus software is running. A lot of the times the PC is slow because your computer is scanning for viruses and it does so by going to each file and folder on your hard disk.

If this is the case, set your antivirus‟ scheduled scan to a time when you won‟t be using the computer, but when you will leave it on. For example lunch time.

Did problems occur after installing new software?

If you noticed that your PC started to slow down after installing a new application then it maybe because the application is affecting your computer.

Immediately uninstall the application and see if it improves things. Then take a good look at the application‟s recommended hardware requirements to see if it matches your computer‟s hardware.

Do you want to upgrade your Operating System?

If there is a new operating system and you would like to upgrade to it, check out the hardware requirements and see if it matches with your computer.

For example, when Windows Vista was launched in the year 2007, a lot of PCs couldn't‟t upgrade because it required 1GB of RAM at least. However, a lot of people noticed that to really run Windows Vista, you needed at least 2GB of RAM for a smooth operation.

In this case, you will need to check to see if your motherboard can support more RAM. Read the documentation for your motherboard and see how much RAM it can support.

Is your hard disk full?

If you have used up a lot of space on your hard disk, you need to remove some unneeded applications and data such as your photos and videos you have downloaded.

After you have freed up your hard disk space, run the utility Disk Defragmenter.

If you are using Windows XP, this application is at Accessories…System Tools…Disk Defragmenter. This will reorganize the space on your hard disk so that it will process data quicker.

You should have at least 3GB of free hard disk space on your C drive to run your programs smoothly.

Are any components replaceable?

If you need a better webcam, CD/DVD writer, card reader, sound card etc.… then the majority of the times you will only need to upgrade that particular accessory.

The only time you would need to replace your PC is when you need to replace your motherboard because the accessories you want to upgrade isn’t supported by the motherboard.

For example:

- you want more RAM but your motherboard will only support an old type of RAM.

- you want a new hard disk but it‟s not support by your old Motherboard.

- a new type of USB port or device is launched and it requires a new type of motherboard.

The rule of thumb is to compare the cost of upgrading your PC to the cost of buying a new PC. If the prices are relatively the same then buy a new PC to save time.