Windows XP is officially on its last legs. Microsoft announced a couple of years ago that it would end support for XP in April, 2014 – and it did just that.

That means no more security updates from Microsoft.  And that will fairly quickly lead to a free-for-all for the bad guys who make Windows XP malware.

What to do about XP’s demise?

If your computer runs Windows XP – and over 1/3 of working computers in 2014 do – this will be a critical issue.

At the very least; now is the time to start doing the regular backups that you’ve been putting off. Remember that it’s not just the computer at risk, but all of your documents, emails, photographs, and music that can be lost.

Then you should consider updating or replacing your computer.  But which; update or replace?

While making this decision; consider these things:

• If your computer is running XP, it is old.Probably older than you think. There is a chance that, even if it can run Windows 8.1 technically, it actually may not do it very well at all.
• Some XP computers simply are cannot run Windows 8 or 8.1 at all.
• Upgrading your old computer to Windows 8 is 100% just as much trouble as replacing your computer with a new one.Usually it’s quite a bit more trouble.

  When you update to Windows 8.x, everything on your computer, programs and data, get wiped out.

So then, everything must be backed up first and then replaced after the update.

• But if you replace your old computer with a new one, then you can transfer your data from the old one to the new one!Then only your programs need to be reinstalled.

  Still a hassle; but less of one.

• The last thing to consider when deciding whether to update or replace your computer: there are a lot of very good deals on new computers.

The bottom line: replacing is easier than upgrading.

Super Deals on Computers!

There are new deals on all kinds of computers, every day. The market changes every single day. Literally.

A good basic business or family-room computer starts at around $400 but with some sales already happening.  But it’s not unusual for machines in the “very good” or “excellent” category to show up in that price range too.

Laptops and desktops!

Some good combo deals and All-In-One computers are also showing up in the range of $400 to $600.

The deals do change every day; so do wait to shop until you actually need to buy.

If you’re replacing your old desktop computer but keeping your old monitor, then look to be sure that your new computer using the same connector for the monitor. You can get a different video adapter if they don’t match, but that runs up the end price.

Be careful about the CPU in new computers; there are many good CPUs, but this season if it says either “i3” or “i5” or “i7” you can read that as “safe”.  I dig deeper too, but if you’re just out shopping, those things in the CPU name are good signs.

For RAM memory; for a Windows 8 computer it should be 4GB or more – much more if possible. RAM size is critical to continued good performance. Look to see if the computer RAM is expandable in the future also. If it doesn’t have at least 8GB, then it should be expandable to that later on.

Disk size is not quite as critical. Most computers these days are going to come with 500GB or 1TB (that’s 1000GB), but for basic office or home computer work, anything from 320GB up is probably going to be more than enough.

Call me!

Of course, if you’ve decided buy a new computer for whatever reason and you need some help with the shopping or with getting the new one setup and running, please do give me a call any time: Mike Pepper ~ Computer Guy. www.PawlingComputerGuy.com 845-855-5824.