Hi Everyone,

Before I write about computer upgrades:

The La Crosse area Linux User Group is meeting Thursday evening, December 19th at 6pm. Venue is our regular meeting room on the second floor of the People's Food Co-op on 5th Street in La Crosse.

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/lacrosselug

It'd be great to have you join us!

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Common Upgrades
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Right now I'm getting a lot of questions about Microsoft ending support for Windows 7. Many, if not most, computers that sold with Windows 7 can be upgraded to Windows 10 just fine. But to get decent performance there are two vital physical upgrades.

Windows 10 will run slow on hard disk drives. Yes, I know that you can buy a new computer at the Big Box store that has a hard drive... and will be slow, brand new, out of the box. Upgrading to an SSD (Solid State Drive) is highly recommended if you are upgrading to Windows 10 or if you are currently using Windows 10 and the computer is slower than you'd like.

The second physical upgrade is system memory, also known as RAM. I highly recommend having 8GB or more of memory for Windows 10 to run well. A lot of Windows 7 computers sold with 3GB, 4GB or 6GB. If you upgrade to Windows 10, also make sure that you've upgraded the memory to 8GB. You can get by with 4GB if you only use one application at a time or only have a few browser tabs open, but memory is fairly cheap and the upgrade to 8GB is worth doing.

Sometimes it is better to replace an older computer, especially if the model is not that upgrade-able or if the processor isn't that good. Some inexpensive AMD processors don't have good performance in Windows 10, same goes for some Intel Pentium and Celeron processors. For most people, I recommend the Intel i5 series of processors (though there are certainly other good processors, too).

Of course, you don't have to upgrade to Windows 10. You have options. Linux is a great alternative and some of my customers choose to upgrade from Windows 7 to Linux.

If you have questions about upgrading your current computer, don't hesitate to contact me. Just reply to this email or send me a text. I'll do my best to answer your questions and make a good recommendation for upgrades.

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Gift Card Giveaway!
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The winner of a $50 Gift Card for Orange Computer is:

   Joyce Johnson

Congratulations Joyce! Just reply to this email to claim the Gift Card.

I'll be drawing a winner from the subscribers of this email newsletter every time I send out an email.

Thanks so much for all your business and referrals!
 

Until next time,