Given that most computers live from 4 to 7 years, you can pretty much bank on the fact that you’ll eventually need a new computer to replace your current model. It’s sad, however, when that replacement comes early.

My former writing computer, Ming, was purchased in 1999. It ran Windows 98. I just retired Ming last year, a planned retirement. The computer was 8 years old, which was a great life span (nay, life cycle) for a PC. The computer still works, but who knows for how long? And the hard drive was getting full. An update was needed. So I opted to get a new computer, Boxer, instead of waiting for the inevitable death of Ming.

Now we come to my Windows Vista test computer, Valentine. I bought Valentine in 2006 (on February 14, no less). It was originally configured with Windows XP, but I upgraded it to Vista to write my Vista book, Find Gold in Windows Vista. Since then I’ve used it to test, to write other books, to run the Wambooli PorchCam, and to play video games. Recently, however, Valentine has had nothing but trouble.

Valentine likes to restart itself. Randomly. The crash takes place often after I play a game for a given time, but not always. Sometimes the crash is video-related, sometimes it’s audio. Then the computer takes forever to restart. Sometimes it restarts as it’s restarting. The system makes a terrible racket, which tells me that the power supply might be kaput. Call the problem a general malaise. It probably doesn’t have a specific fix, though I’m guessing it’s a hardware problem.

Yes, I’ve baked up the whole system to an external hard drive. That was the first thing I did.

Rather than sit down and swap out parts to pinpoint the fix, I’ve instead opted to replace Valentine. This is the first time that I’ve bought a replacement PC so quickly (two years); Valentine wasn’t set to retire until well into 2010, probably for the next big release of Windows. So it was a frustrating decision to retire the PC, but a necessary one if I am to keep my sanity and enjoy using the computer.

I’ll write more about the replacement PC and how it was selected when the new system arrives early next month.

By the way, here’s a tip: I always know how old my computers are. When I first get a PC, I create a text file in my account’s main folder. The file contains a line of text along these lines:

This computer arrived on February 14, 2006

I save the file as PURCHASE.TXT. That way I can always reference the purchase date.

Even if you don’t have such a file, a good way to determine the age of a computer is to check your account folder’s creation date. That folder was created when you first set up your PC, so it’s creation date is most likely the same date the computer arrived.

Wambooli Update. I’ve added another Wambooli Quiz. I’m going to try to put up a new quiz every week or so, as the quiz ideas hit me.