Caution
Before you work inside your computer you
should eliminate the hazards. The first hazaard
is electrical shock. You should disconnect the power cord from the back of your computer before you open it.
The second hazard is to your computer. It's
called Electrostatic Discharge (ESD). For example, the electrical energy
you pick up walking on a carpet is enough
to complete blow out almost any electronic
part you touch inside your computer. To prevent damage from ESD always touch the
bare frame before you put your hand or any
tool inside your computer. Better yet, keep
one hand or your arm touching the frame,
while you are working inside your computer.
Memory
The first upgrade you should consider is
more memory. It's relatively easy to do, and can double
the speed of many computers.
You should have
at least 256 MBytes for Windows
98 and 512
MB for Windows XP before you
think of upgrading
anything else.
Unless you have an unusual use, for example,
games or intensive graphics, 256 MB is all
you really need, even for Windows XP, but
512 MB makes my Windows XP machine a bit
snappier. I'm happy with 192 MB (128+64)
in my Windows 98 computer. Try Crucial if you want to buy memory online. They're
the online arm of Micron, who makes memory
for most of the top brands. Their website
makes it easy to find exactly the right memory
for your computer.
A treatise on memory selection -- primarily
useful for those considering a new computer
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,560078,00.asp
Processors (CPUs)
Major CPU upgrades are more ambitious than they used
to be for computers built before 1998. A
minor upgrade (same type, faster speed) won't
buy much performance increase any more. It's
often better and cheaper to buy a new computer
than to go down the CPU upgrade route. Upgrading
the CPU alone won't enable a Windows XP upgrade
either. The XP upgrade costs $100 anyway
-- you might as well put that plus the cost
of upgrade components toward a new computer.
Depending on what brand of computer you have,
you might be able to replace the whole motherboard,
but that might not be cost effective either.
If you buy a new computer, you can transfer
some things, like CD burners, or DVD drives
from the old one as well.
Hard drives
A bigger hard drive (disk) won't make your
computer run perceptively faster. That's
just an urban myth. The size of the Windows registry and the
number of files in the Windows directory
do inversely affect speed to a slight extent.
A bigger hard drive won't make either of
those smaller. If you simply need more room,
consider adding a second hard drive.
Adding a second hard drive is often easier
than installing a bigger primary drive. It
adds wonderful flexibility, adds capacity
and redundancy for backups, and can even
speed up your computer. If you're running out of
disk space because you're adding more and
more files or programs, a new or second hard
drive is a great upgrade that can improve
performance too.
You might consider an external
(USB) hard
drive as an alternative -- particularly
if
you have a newer computer with
USB-2 ports.
If you have more than one computer,
an external
drive is a big advantage. You
only have to
buy one in the first place. And
you can use
it to shuttle all your files
between computers,
say from Happy Trails to home
and back.
More on hard drives.
CD-R/RW
Add a CD-R/RW burner: They're
great for backups
-- CDs are the most durable medium
you can
use. (I'm not fond of RW myself
-- you might
as well just use the plain "R"
type, as cheap as they are now.)
Make music
CD's, photo albums, etc., with
it too. CD
"burners" are a great
upgrade for
your computer.
More on the Web
http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,108927,tk,sbx,00.asp -- upgrade or by a new PC?
http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,114740,tk,sbx,00.asp -- can you postpone that new PC Purchase?
http://pcin.net/help/articles/harddrive.shtml
http://pcsupport.about.com/library/weekly/aa013102a.htm
http://www.pcmag.com/upgrade
http://www.extremetech.com/
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