Whether you are a new user or advanced one, whether this is your first computer or second (or even third), be clear as to why you want a computer before you even think of buying one.

How will you use your computer? Are you only interested in browsing Internet and checking e-mail? Do you plan to use your PC as a programming machine? Do desktop publishing or video editing feature on your agenda? Or is it a gaming rig? What is a computer? http://www.hardwaresoftwarearticles.com/

Consider these factors before stepping into a hardware shop.

The basic components of a computer system are motherboard (containing processor and memory), keyboard, mouse, monitor, diskette drive, CD-ROM drive and hard drive.

In addition, there are several other types of devices you may or may not need. A trackball, joy stick, modem, tape drive, zip drive, printer, plotter, scanner, sound card and speakers, television card and video capture card, to name a few.

Whether you buy these will depend on what you need computer for and which software applications you intend to use.

Remember golden rule: fastest or most expensive computer is not necessarily one you need.

Finally, length of time that you plan to own computer before replacing it will also help determine which computer to buy.

2. What is your budget?

This is next thing you need to be certain of. How much are you willing to spend on a PC?

After you arrive at a figure, keep a margin of a few thousands. It will give you some room for flexibility. If you are short on money when you buy your computer and cannot add all peripherals you want, be smart. Hardware: http://www.hardwaresoftwarearticles.com/archive/index.php/f-21.html

Buy as much as you can afford. Don't cut corners on main system unit (monitor, processor, memory, disk space).

Remember, you want computer to last at least four years. You don't want to run out of disk space or memory in very first year, all because you trimmed down on memory or got a smaller hard drive.

Hard disk capacity matters a great deal as it takes no time for data to fill available space. A 40 GB hard disk is sufficient disk space, but 80 GB is standard recommendation.

Almost everyone who uses a PC stores valuable data on hard drive or other data storage device. Whether you use your PC for keeping personal accounts, contact details or important information or whether you are a business user and keep vital business information, contact details and company data on your PC risk of data loss is a big risk and could prove very costly in long run.

With true data loss, your only hope of recovery is a data backup, and without one there is no way back. If you have company data on your home PC, data that is vital to operation of a company or effective servicing of a customer data loss will inevitably lose you or your company money. It looks unprofessional, if you don’t have a backup and inevitably leads to loss of not only money but clients as well. It can even land you in court facing a lawsuit.

What is data loss?

Data loss is loss of data stored on your hard drive or other data storage device. It can occur because one or more of many different reasons and can be recoverable or, in worst-case scenario, completely unrecoverable. It is a very real problem that we must try to combat in order to successfully run our business or maintain our home computers.

The most usual reasons for data loss are down to poor use and manufacturing defaults. While latter may not be your own fault, there is little solace to be found in that when you lose last 12 months of work from your hard drive.

Poor use or misuse of hard drive.

Many modern hard drives are not only versatile but durable as well, however, this doesn’t completely alleviate danger of data loss. Spilt liquids, vibration or collision can result in damage of hard drive itself or even in one of components of hard drive. This will inevitably lead to some loss of data

Manufacturing defects of your hard drive.