Do computers have a shelf life or shall I say Desk life?

Question

It seems about every 4 years or so my computer ends up having all sorts of problems.. Picking up virus's here and there and everywhere - it gets so frustrating reformatting and re-booting, etc.. I think, most like me, just say the h**l with this and go out and buy a new computer. I have had ideas of conspiracy theories behind this and think OK, Gates is at it again.. He wants my money again and he creates virus in the updates that wrecks older version computers.. Shed some light?

Answer 1

Actually Windows only makes operating systems, not computer parts. No virus can destroy hardware parts. Also if viruses are the problem, just get an anti-virus program and avoid downloading from untrusted sites. Thinking Microsoft creates viruses is just stupid, which is false.

Answer 2

Generally you should always have data backed up. If you add/remove stuff alot you should format once a year anyways. The registry is like an aging brain its arteries thickening with plaque until it fails or in the case of the registry many broken program fragments. I can tell you from experience that the makers of Viruses, Trojans and Malware are

more cunning than the AntiVirus guys. Almost every malware infected machine I deal with has a A/V program installed and up-to-date definitions. To be honest AntiVirus is only 20-30% effective you must be the other 70-80% If you use P2P like Limewire you are at 80-90%  risk of infection same is true with any P2P or Torrent site.  

Answer 3

personally, thats what i think

i know a way to solve this though: switch to ubuntu linux.

it takes some time to get use to though, but its actually faster once you get the hang of it

Answer 4

  I'm not convinced that the computer hardware itself has a "desk life" as you refer to it. I've seen some "ancient" hardware still in operation, which even surprises me sometimes. What I think that I see happening is that modern general software performance is outdoing the older computers.  I am also not convinced that viruses can destroy hardware, but can be a nuscence otherwise. Yet they can be delt with.

    With software performance "skyrocketing", new computers are always updated in design to handle the higher performance software.  Now is the time to buy a new computer, because there is a "horse power" race going on in the industry today. The new system can do things that your old one could not even dream of doing.