Bankrupting yourself isn’t the only way to keep up with the computer game, writes Rupert Neethling
Part of the phenomenal growth of the computer industry has been attributed to marketing campaigns designed to convince computer users that unless they upgrade their software and hardware, they will be left out in the cold, unable to cope with the demands of a modern world.
A computer is increasingly an accepted fact of business life, but entry-level machines now cost about R5 500 – prohibitively expensive for many small businesses, students and free-lance professionals.
For almost all computer users the time comes when more up-to-date technology is necessary: it’s no good having a modem to receive e-mail if you can’t open the file a client has sent you. However, all of the components in older machines are incompatible with current standards and a piecemeal upgrade could cost as much, or more, than purchasing a new personal computer. But there is an alternative way and with a bit of ingenuity your budget need not be quite the constraint you think it is.
Software vendors and programmers continually make new releases available for older operating platforms, and you can get many of them free. Most importantly, the new releases are designed to be ”lite”, or use the minimum of system resources. The result is software that can improve an old computer without resorting to new hardware. So it can be worth your while to hang on to your old machine and make the most of available software.
New machines operate with a 32-bit configuration, which is more flexible and sophisticated than older 16-bit systems. You can build websites, cruise the Internet, do desk-top publishing and record sounds on to your hard driveeven on a ”senior” machine.
If you bought a computer more than five years ago, you probably got a 386 or 486 computer with 8 megabytes of RAM and a 500 megabyte hard drive. Today an entry-level computer typically ships with a Pentium II processor, 32 megabytes RAM, a 2,1 gigabyte hard drive, a 16-bit sound card and a CD- ROM drive.
If the thought of shelling out to buy a ”modern” computer still seems like the only way to improve your productivity, you should consider a few facts of computer life:
* Most mainstream software packages consume a huge chunk of hard-drive space, RAM and processor speed, but only a few people ever use more than the few core features in the oldest versions. This has given rise to the term ”bloatware” for impractically large, modern applications. In fact, bigger operating systems and bloatware programs tax Pentium-class chips and RAM until the speed improvements over older systems using older software are largely cancelled out.
* Hard-drive mathematics are simple: an A4 page of text saved in MS-Word takes up about 15 kilobytes. A 300-word e-mail message takes up about three kilobytes. This means you can save more than 60 word- processor documents or 300 e-mail messages into 1 megabyte of hard-disc space. So why would you need a 2 000 megabyte (2,1 gigabyte) hard drive? To store all the bloatware, naturally.
* Loading bloatware products or playing music while you work are the only uses for a CD-ROM drive, unless you play computer games or use large encyclopaedias. So buy a CD player and load the programs from floppy discs – after all, installing software is a once-off process and you are unlikely to notice whether a program took 10 minutes or 15 minutes to install.
* If the thought of loading modern software off dozens of floppy discs frightens you, consider downloading powerful, free software off the Internet. You pay only for the phone call.
* Unless you have hooked up your sound card to your high-quality home stereo, or are a professional musician, modern 64-bit sound cards are indistinguishable from 16-bit cards costing about R200.
* The biggest factor affecting the ”speed” of the Internet are ”bottlenecks” occurring on data networks around the world. The only thing you can do about this is to get a good modem to ensure that the fewest holdups occur on your side as data is sent back and forth.
This forms part of a series starting this week in PCReview Online looking at upgrading hardware and software on your old computer, as well as a beginner’s guide to purchasing a new computer. Find it at .
Software archives for Windows 3.1 are maintained at:
* Simtel – hundreds of freeware and shareware programs, at .
* Tucows – The Ultimate Collection Of Windows Software, at
* Stroud’s Consummate Winsock Apps, at .