From the Mailbag

RUSSELL found an old HP Pavilion 7850 Desktop at a yard sale. It still works but it's running Windows 2000! Can he upgrade it to Windows 10?

Sorry Russell. Take that fossil to the nearest recycling center ASAP. That machine is 20+ years old and does not have enough horsepower to run any modern version of Windows. Aside from that, I actually had one of those back in the day when it first came out. It was a piece of junk! I had to upgrade the hard drive, memory, optical drive, operating system, and power supply to make it stable enough to be usable. Time to buy a new computer.

****************

MORGAN/JENNY are interested in having a whole house surge protector installed. About how much does that cost?

It looks like you can expect to pay a LICENSED ELECTRICIAN between $400-600, depending on a number of factors. Call and get quotes from at least three different professionals in your area. Do NOT try to cheap out on this by hiring a handyman or fix-it guy. Pay a pro. It is worth it.

****************

JAMIE is an amateur photographer. She has THOUSANDS of digital photos that she would like to preserve. How long will they last if she burns them to a DVD?

For this project, you want to look for "archival grade" DVDs. They are specially made for long-term storage durability. HERE is an example from Amazon, rated for up to a hundred years if stored properly.

****************

Keep the questions coming!

Getting in touch with me is easy . . .

Via Phone - 1 (443) 837-5471

Via Email - CONTACT ME

Via Twitter - @MONTechSvc