New Life for Old PCs: How to Keep Your Company's Computers from Becoming Obsolete/Book With Disk

Eventually, the computer on your desk that once seemed fast and sleek now seems slow and clunky. This will usually happen within five years of purchase. If you have many replacement dollars, you can buy a new one. If you are like most of us, you will not have this luxury and you will want to know how to make your computer work faster and have more bells and whistles. This book is divided into several parts. The first part gives information on various classes of MS-DOS computers and their capabilities and limitations. The next part outlines the upgrade options available and weighs the probable benefits against the costs involved. These options start with the least invasive solutions and end with complete system overhauls. Next, the book examines alternatives for reassigning older computer equipment. Suggestions include setting up your PC as an answering machine, a CD-ROM server, a print spooler, a bar code scanning station, a voice mail system, or a sign or videotext generator. A welcome chapter encourages donating older equipment to schools and libraries or for use with adaptive technologies for the disabled. In the final section, worksheets help the user decide what option is best. Many of the checklists and decision trees are duplicated on the included diskette. The author notes that it often costs as much or more to upgrade an old system as it does to buy a new one. He concludes that "until you have a ratio of 1.2 computers per employee, you are better off replacing and reassigning than upgrading. And even once you pass that point, the benefits of donating the older computers to worthy organizations . . . or selling systems to employees for home use may continue to make replacement the most attractive option."
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.