Best regards, Ed

Dear Ed,

Thank you for your kind comments, and your great question!

Will you have to replace your computer when it turns 5 years old? Probably not. There are a lot of factors built into the average that I mentioned.

First, as with all averages, there are some computers that don’t last anywhere near as long as 5 years, and there are a few that continue to run and meet their users needs for as long as 10 years.

When you will need to replace your computer depends on several factors.

1. How long the hardware continues to run.
2. How long the computer will continue to meet your needs.
3. How long will there be support for your operating system and programs.

The first factor, how long the hardware continues to run is the real wild card. Most of the time, this is longer than 5 years, but occasionally, I see computers that develop hardware issues at two or three years. If it is an easily replaceable part, it is often cost effective to replace the defective hardware and keep on using the computer.

The second factor, how long the computer will be able to meet your needs is usually the bigger issue for most people. After 4 or 5 years, new computers are faster and much more powerful, and current software is written for those new, fast computers. In addition, your computer will slow down as your Windows installation ages (computer techs refer to this as “software rot”).

If you want your computer to last for as long as possible, I would suggest that you do two things when the computer is three or four years old. First, upgrade the RAM to the maximum amount the motherboard will support. This will help it keep up with the new software. Second, when you notice it slowing down, take the computer in to the shop to have a clean install of Windows. This will erase the computer so make sure any files you need (like pictures and documents) are backed up either by you, or the shop. A clean install of Windows will get rid of any software rot problems, speed the computer back up a bit, and give you several extra years of use before the computer slows down too much to use.

When your computer gets closer to the 10 year old mark, then you have to start worrying about support for the aging hardware and operating system. Microsoft rarely provides updates for operating systems that old, and your hardware will not be powerful enough to support upgrading to a newer operating system.

Hopefully this will give you an idea of when you might need to invest in a new computer, and what you can do to get as much life as possible out of your current system.

Elizabeth

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Thanks so much for your Newsletter over the years, Loretta

Dear Loretta,

My e-book, 7 Things (You should know before you buy your next computer) is an electronic book. That means that it is a file that you can either read on your computer, or you can print it out and read it on paper.

7 Things is a PDF file, that means that you can read it using the free program, Adobe Acrobat Reader. Most people already have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on their computer, but if you don’t have it, you can download it at www.adobe.com.

Once you purchase 7 Things, you will be sent a link to download the file. Just click on the link, and the book will download to your computer.

The e-book is 31 pages long, and you can easily read it on your computer, or tablet if you don’t want to print out all those pages.

Since this is Mother’s day weekend, I created a coupon just for Moms. Enter the coupon code, 4MOM when you check out and you will get 10% off your purchase.

Check it out today at: http://www.asktcl.com/7things.html/

Elizabeth

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“Ms. VT. POET” (IN VT.)

Dear Ms. VT. POET,

My first netbook was too small, and the hard drive was not large enough to hold many files, so I do know that you have to be careful when selecting a netbook.

My current netbook is an Acer Aspire. It is a little bit bigger than the average netbook with and 11.6″ screen, and the hard drive is large enough to meet all my needs. When I purchased it, the Acer Aspire only had two GB of RAM, but I had done my research, and knew that I could upgrade it to 4GB, which I did.

Amazon has a list of Acer Netbooks here:

Acer Netbooks

You should be able to find one that will meet your needs.

Elizabeth

PS: Would a tablet work better for your travels? My iPad is great for internet and email.

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Thank you, Andrea

Dear Andrea,

All you need to do is change the power options. Here is how:

1. Click on the “Start Orb”.
2. Click on “Control Panel” in the start menu.
3. In the Control Panel, click on “Hardware and Sound.
4. Click on “Power Options”.
5. IN the Power Options window, you will see one or more power plans. You will want to make changes to the plan that is selected.
6. Click “Change Plan Settings” for your selected power plan.
7. If your computer is a laptop, you will see settings for when the computer is running on the battery, and for when it is plugged in. If you are running a desktop, you will only have one column.
8. Where it says, “Put the computer to sleep:” click the drop down list and select one of the longer times. You can set the computer to go to sleep anywhere from one to 5 hours, or you can choose to never have it go to sleep.
9. Click the “Save Changes” button.

That’s all there is to it!

I hope this helps you listen to the radio without interruptions.

Elizabeth

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Thank you Harriet

Dear Harriet,

A netbook is really nothing more than a small laptop computer that doesn’t have an optical (CD or DVD) drive.

As with any other laptop computer, the storage space can usually be upgraded, but it might not be cheap or easy.

The first thing you need to do, is find out what kind of hard drive your netbook has. Some netbooks have a special solid state drive (it is kind of like a USB data stick and has no moving parts). These solid state drives are not as standard as a regular hard drive with moving parts, and it will be harder to find replacement parts.

If your netbook has a standard SATA 2.5 inch hard drive, you should be able to purchase one with more storage space and replace the existing drive. You would need to make an image of your existing drive, and copy it to the new drive.

If all this sounds complicated to you, your best option is to take the netbook to a local computer shop and have them give you an estimate.

Elizabeth

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I would appreciate it if you can help me with my computer, Thanks, Dianne

Dear Dianne,

I went to the Sears website and looked around on their TV page, and I’m guessing that you can’t see the letters that are a lighter grey and not black.

If this is the case, it might be the brightness of your laptop screen.

You can adjust the brightness and see if that helps. Here are the directions:

1. Click on the “Start Orb” then click on “Control Panel”.

2. In the Control Panel, click on “Hardware and Sound”.

3. In the Hardware and Sound page, find the “Power Options” section and click on “Adjust Screen Brightness”.

4. At the very bottom of the window, you will see a slider that you can use to adjust the brightness of your display. Slide it to the left to reduce the brightness, and to the right to increase the brightness.

Hopefully, this will make a difference on the web pages you are trying to view.

Elizabeth

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Sincerely, Bruce

Dear Bruce,

There are several different types of CMOS battery sockets in use on motherboards today, and each of them works a little bit differently.

If there is a clip that covers most of the battery, you need to pop up one edge of the battery and then slide it out sideways.

A good way to find your type of battery socket, and learn how to remove the battery is to go to Google, click on “Images” in the black bar at the top, then search for “Motherboard battery replacement”. You will find lots of illustrations, one of which will probably help you with your replacement.

If that doesn’t help, you can always go to www.freepctech.com and ask this question on their hardware list, PCBUILD.

Elizabeth

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Bruce

Dear Bruce,

There are actually a couple of devices that will work for your needs.

The first is a Hard Drive Enclosure.

This is a device like you have described, which you put your hard drive into, and then hook up to a USB port to access the drive.

Hard drives come in different sizes, and with different connection methods, so one enclosure might not fit all your old hard drives.

A better option for you might be a USB to SATA/IDE adapter. I use one made by StarTech all the time to get data off of hard drives for my customers. With this adapter, the physical size of the drive doesn’t matter because you are not fitting it into a case. The adapter works with both IDE and SATA connections, which means that you will be able to connect it to older IDE hard drives, as well as newer SATA drives.

Both of these devices are sold on Amazon.

Elizabeth

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Thanks, Steve

Dear Steve,

When one image was displayed on older Cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors for long periods of time, the phosphor coating on the inside of the glass screen would become darkened and a permanent shadow of the image was etched into the screen.

Screensavers were created to prevent these shadows by changing the image when the computer is not being used.

Almost all modern monitors now use LCD technology instead of the older CRT, so the only purpose that screensavers now serve is for entertainment or sometimes for locking the screen.

I use my screensaver during the day to play a slideshow of our photos. It is a nice reminder of all the fun times we have had.

So, while screensavers are no longer necessary, they are entertaining.

Elizabeth

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Thanks, Sarah

Dear Sarah,

While you don’t mention what model laptop you have, I’m willing to bet that there is some sort of key or key combination for the insert key.

I am currently typing this on a small laptop with an 11 1/2 inch screen. I have an insert key, but it doesn’t have the whole word printed on the key, just the letters “Ins”.

Other laptops combine some of the keys, and require you to hold down a “function” key (sometimes abbreviated, FN) to use one of the functions.

Take a close look at your keyboard. There is probably a function key in the lower-left corner of the keyboard. The function key is usually printed with a different color. Now find a key that has more than one symbol on it. For example if a key says, “Page Up” in white letters, and “Home” in blue letters, it acts as a page up key when you press it, and as the home key when you hold down the blue “Function” key and press it.

Hopefully, this will help you locate and use your function key.

Elizabeth

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