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Should I upgrade my old computer or buy a new one?

At some stage in your computer's life, you may notice a perceivable slow down in performance.  Any computer that is connected to the Internet is bound to collect various bits and pieces associated with surfing the web. Clearing out those bits and pieces should be the first step for anyone that is experiencing slow performance from their computer.
The longer it has been since you have thoroughly cleaned up your computer or reloaded the operating system (Windows), the more likely it is it will have a dramatic improvement on its performance.

Many people assume it's time to buy a new computer when it becomes very slow. They often also make the mistake of overlooking the hassle and full expense involved in setting up a new computer.

A new computer will likely be faster than your old one, but you will have to install all of your old programs, re-establish your network connections, reinstall your printer drivers, scanner drivers, digital camera software and restore your backups.

What about your e-mail messages, address book, pictures, music, videos and favourites? Will you know how to transfer those items? If you are technically competent, these kinds of details may not be that difficult, but for most novices getting the new computer to work like the old one can take a considerable amount of time (think weeks).
If you have to hire someone to transfer all of your data and programs as well as get you back on your home or business network, it may be substantially cheaper to cleanup and upgrade your existing system.

If your computer is taking a lot longer to boot-up than it did when you first got it, this is the first indication that a cleanup may be in order.
The quickest way to determine if you have excessive 'stuff' clogging up your computer is to check to see how many processes are running in the background. To do this, close any open programs, click on the Start button then on Run and type 'taskmgr'.

This will open the Task Manager which has a number of tabs across the top, but you want to look at the bottom left corner for the number of processes that are running. If the number is above about 40 then you will probably benefit from a cleanup of your computer.
The higher the number is, the more valuable a cleanup will be as these processes affect your computer's ability to perform tasks in a timely manner.

Cleaning up your operating system, while leaving all your programs and settings intact and adding additional RAM (random access memory) can generally bring a two to three year old computer back to a life and be substantially cheaper than buying a new computer, especially if your primary use is only the Internet and e-mail.
So take some time to really think through your options and do the sums in both time and money before you make your decision. And finally, ensure you receive some sound technical advice.