Question: My computer has been giving me problems lately, but I don’t want to spend the money on a new one if I don’t have to. How do I know when it’s time to give up?

Answer: Generally, a computer should last from three to five years, but could last much longer. To be sure it’s really time to say goodbye to your trusted technology, look for the following signs:

• Frequent program glitches are a classic sign of a dying computer. You may notice that your computer slows down, freezes, crashes, or sends error messages. This is particularly worrisome if several programs are acting up and the problems persist even after rebooting.
• Problems with your mouse, monitor, or flash drive can also be warning signs. If you’ve checked to make sure the cables are firmly connected to your computer and the devices still don’t act properly, your computer could be starting to go.
• A noisy hard drive or system fan is likely caused by malfunctioning parts, which could be due to wear and tear on your computer. Depending on the age of your computer, you may want to replace the parts or buy a new one.
• Error messages like “disk boot failure” could indicate hard drive failure or a corrupt operating system.
• Sluggish performance could be symptomatic of a nearly full hard drive, a computer virus, or an underlying hardware problem.
• Frozen pixels or weird lines on your laptop’s screen could be a sign of imminent screen failure.

Just as you’d take your car to a mechanic when it’s acting up, take action when your computer is not performing normally. Have it checked out by a computer technician and ask if repair or replacement makes the most sense. To get help from the team at GSC IT Solutions, call or email us today.