Get most mileage out of that old computer

What a terrific time to buy a new computer. Prices are as good as I’ve seen. Even machines at the bottom of the price scale have enormous power.

For $500 or so, I could replace my fastest computer — the one that cost me $1,500 a few years ago — with one that is even faster.

TECHNOBUDDY

E-mail Bill Husted

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But here’s the problem: In this economy, laying out $500 for a new computer is a stretch for a lot of us — no matter how great a deal it might be. If I did it right now I’d have to hang out at the Dumpster behind Publix to scrounge for discarded cabbage. Until things improve I’m keeping my fleet of aging PCs going as long as possible.

Many of you are in the same boat. So today we’ll talk about low-cost ways to hang on to what we have until the outlook improves.

Computers

If you have an old machine that cranks along too slowly to suit you, consider adding memory. It’s cheap and can make a big difference. As an example, Frys.com is selling 4 gigabytes of RAM for $45. That can be money well-spent, and it’s a simple job.

But resist the temptation to do more, spend more. Once you start talking about replacing hard disks and video cards, the cost will go up to $200 or more. You’d be better off buying one of those $500 PCs.

Instead of climbing the upgrades ladder to achieve more speed, try simplifying what you have.

Older computers often have hard disks that are crammed full. To find out if yours is, click the “My Computer” icon. Then right click on the hard disk and select Properties. You’ll see a pie chart that shows how full your hard disk is. If only 20 percent or so is free, you can improve performance by clearing some room. Delete programs you don’t use with the Add/Remove software icon on the Control Panel. Cull out photos you don’t want and music you don’t listen to.

Once that’s done, run the Windows defragmenting utility. Click on the start button, open the Accessories folder, then click the System Tools folder. Long story short, this tool consolidates files to make the best use of hard disk space and speed data retrieval time.

Software

Over time, most of us spend more on software than the PC itself. There are some sensible ways to save there, too.

If you must have an expensive program like Microsoft Office Business (around $450 retail), it can make sense to time the purchase to coincide with the purchase of a computer. When I did that recently, the price for Office Business (which is more expensive than the regular Office) dropped to around $225.

But not everyone needs the Microsoft version of Office. You may be able to do just fine by downloading the free OpenOffice.org (the name and Web address are the same). It handles almost every task just like Office and can read and edit files created with Office.

The other money saver with software can be found in the bargain bin. Many software stores have outdated new-in-the-box software for sale. And if you’re using an old computer, the older versions may actually work better than the new ones since they require less computing horsepower.

Also consider freeware and shareware from places such as download.com. A lot of it is not worth the trouble, but you may find something that works well enough to suit your needs.

That’s really the notion today. My grandfather used to sum it up pretty nicely: If you can’t get pork chops, chili will do.