Windows 7 upgrade?

I got a call from a local business owner asking my thoughts on buying new equipment so they can upgrade to Windows 7. I asked him what type of hardware his office is using.

Turns out, there is no need for him to go out and buy new - he just needs to do a bit of refurbishing for the hardware he already has and he'll be good to go for a long while with Windows XP. We helped him make these changes and we can help you too.

I thought I might share this info with our readers.

RAM: he was running his systems with 256 MB RAM. Upgrading to 512 MB or 1 GB would make his 'puters run faster and smoother.

Hard Drive: he was working off of old 20 GB hard drives that he hasn't done any maintainence on. Defragging hard drives is a great thing to do an a monthly basis, and upgrading to larger drives makes sense. It is also helpful to have external hard drives for backup purposes - especially if you don't have a network backup system in place.

Video card: bumping up the video helps when running some of the more intensive websites.

Spyware removal: there are some solid programs out there for keeping your system free of these bugs. Check out Windows Defender - free software that helps protect your computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software by detecting and removing known spyware from your computer. We install this software on all of our computer builds and are very pleased with it's performance.

Do a clean install: after backing up your data, wiping and reinstalling the operating system can make your computer swing! You'll need your install disks and any other software you have installed and are still using - the nice thing about doing a clean install is that you remove all the "extras" you have been downloading since you bought your computer - much of which we don't end up using.

Our Service Technician, Zach can help you or your business refurbish your computers - you don't have to feel compelled to buy a new computer. We can help you keep your existing units plugging along.

For every computer and CRT monitor that is reused, we save:

30 lbs of hazardous waste
77 lbs of solid waste
77 lbs of materials
147 lbs (17.5 gallons) of water from being polluted
32 tons of air from being polluted
1,333 lbs of CO2 from being emitted
7,719 kilowatts of energy
 
This is equivalent to taking ½ of a car off the road, saving 68% of one US household’s allotment of electricity for a year, and a net cost savings of $670.

So-think REUSE before recycling and buying new. Your mama earth will thank you!