"Obsolescence" in PC's AND Operating Systems,
PLUS the Importance of BackUps!

........by Stan Wallner

I am frequently asked -

"Do I need to upgrade my PC - isn't it badly out-dated technology?"
"What about my Operating System - Isn't Win98 approaching 9 years old, and out-moded? Isn't Microsoft abandoning Win98 and WinME on 7/11/06?"
ZoneAlarm has just announced that their latest version may not run all of its features on Win98 or WinME.
(Other programs may follow! But, I'm sure there will be some others that will still work, so you may have to root around for a substitute.)

The answers about Obsolescence are NOT as clear-cut as you might think! Consider the Discovery Shuttle that NASA just launched! It was built in 1987; and they LAST upgraded the on-board computers in 1990, to 386's!! (They must have originally been AT-286's!) The real point is, that if they are still doing all that they need to do, then they are obviously NOT OBSOLETE!! If they were, NASA can certainly afford to update them, with our money!! (I have no idea whether they are still running DOS, Win-3.1, etc. - would be fun to find out.)

So, in my opinion, if you have say a 500 MHz or faster PC, even with Win98 or WinME, as long as it has:

• 1) adequate hard drive space
• 2) 256 or more megs of Memory and
• 3) you are either on DSL or Cable,

if you are primarily doing email, some surfing, word processing, spreadsheets, etc, you will probably NOT see as big a difference as you might think by going to a 3 Gigahertz Pentium 4 with Windows XP, 1 gig of memory, a 150 gig hard Drive and a $400 video card!

Now if you are a big Gamer or doing movie or photo editing, or AutoCAD, heavy desktop publishing, or sorting of huge databases, then you probably should be thinking of spending a $1000 or more for a system like the one I described above. If not, then maybe your PC and system are doing what you need them to do, and are not obsolete! And, of course, your budget is a very important factor!

One caveat - if you do decide to stay with Win98 or WinME, do be absolutely, positively SURE without question, BEFORE JULY 11, 2006, get to http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/ to get the final security updates that will be available. After the 11th, there will be none! Also, you always need to be sure you have good Virus, Spyware, and Firewall programs in place, with automatic updates of the definition files.

However, the absolutely MOST IMPORTANT thing about your system, regardless of CPU, Speed, Operating System, etc - if you have anything important on it - is how well are you backing it up in case of a disaster? Hard drive crashes, malware, and virus failures often come without warning, and can wipe out most or all of your "stuff!"

Here is a link to an well written article describing no less than SIX different systems of BACKING UP to protect yourself.

http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/AnchorDesk/4520-7297_16-5140200.html?tag=adts

One simple system that is often overlooked is described below - Replication! He discusses Laplink; I use Total Commander, and there are others will do the same - Synchronize folders, from your Desktop PC to a Thumbdrive, or USB External Hard Drive, or a Notebook, ...

"Pain-reducer No. 3: PC Replication
Here's a form of backup that isn't strictly backup: As I've written before, I use more than one PC.
So ....which one has the most recent versions of my files?
Answer: All of them.
I frequently synchronize the data files from my laptop to my desktop using LapLink. That way, should one of my computers crash or go missing, I can use the other one, and it will have (relatively) current data.
LapLink is smart about synchronization; it copies newer files over older ones, in both directions (desktop to laptop and laptop to desktop). If I've changed files on both machines, after I sync, they'll both be completely current. If I've changed the same file on both machines, I get a warning and have to figure out what to do. But that doesn't happen too often."

Another way he describes is the "Full/Incremental" using True Image from Acronis, Ghost from Norton, or others. I prefer True Image; it is less intrusive than

Ghost, and can be used on more than one PC. XP does come with a BackUp program, but it does not automatically install, and does not allow you to create an Emergency Boot CD to reinstall everything onto a new hard drive if you should have to, so it is not as powerful. The same is true of the small programs that come with some External Hard Drives.

If you missed the $30 USB Hard Drive that CompUSA ran last week, too bad - that really was a fine deal. These external Hard Drives are VERY handy. Do look around - there are usually empty cases for $20 - $30 that will take any drive, and 100 gig drives often go as low as $20 or $30 after rebate. Check your Sunday paper for ads with rebates; and, here is a site that has some pretty good deals, maybe $65 or so for 100+ gig complete drives. You may well be able to find better deals.

http://www.coolerexpress.com/exhardisdriv.html

Author: Stan Wallner
Stan is a director of CFCS. He works by word-of-mouth only, and does not otherwise advertise. He does make "house calls" at reasonable rates. The above atritcle are his opinions, based on his experience.
Should you have any input to this article please contact him.
Date: 07/07/ 2006

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