User Upgrades For A New PC
Don Bradbury takes readers through some of the many possible options
A new PC of average price will, these days, typically come with Windows 7 Home Premium preinstalled. That may be an unadulterated Microsoft Windows 7 install, or more likely an OEM variant, compiled by the assembler, that contains commercial apps which are complete with suitable prompts for you to register and purchase the full product. If you accept, it makes a few quid for the PC assembler, so if he can get away with it, why not?
So the first 'upgrade' will generally be to uninstall this unwanted software that's cluttering up your new PC and possibly slowing it down. Typically that will include a commercial security suite, which may not be your personal preference. If that's the case, during the initial boot process, just decline any request to register the product, and later, uninstall it via the Windows facility, or preferably via the publisher's own uninstall routine. Then, without undue delay, install your own choice of security applications covering anti-virus and anti-spyware.
This user's favourites from among the many that are available would be Grisoft's well proven Free AVG for the former, and Xacti's Spyware Terminator for the latter, covering spyware, adware, trojan horses, keyloggers, browser hijackers and other malware threats. These days, though, Microsoft's already installed Malicious Software Removal Tool is becoming an acceptable substitute for the latter in some user's eyes, certainly as a first-base scanner.
To create and maintain a clean system this writer also recommends the installation and regular application of Piriform's CCleaner and GlarySoft's Glary Utilities, both coming well recommended by many experienced PC users. Between them they add considerably to the power of Windows' own rather basic Disk Cleanup. You may opt to decline (by simply deselecting) any of the cleanup points either of these programs suggest, that's up to the user, but in general these products are considered quite safe, plus they are well customisable.
Once again, your choice of such items as disk burning software may not be the same as the commercial software installed by your PC assembler. Whether these involve uninstall routines first or not, the typical PC user will waste no time in downloading and installing his own selection of either free or paid-for alternatives.
Hardware
When it comes to making hardware upgrades, the typical user will first consider his primary cabling. These might include a suitably long Ethernet cable if the system box is to be some distance away from the router without a Wi-Fi connection (a cabled connection is a preferable condition during PC commissioning in any event), and also a high grade DVI cable of suitable length if on the end of it is going to reside a flat panel LCD monitor whose resolution is in the HD (high definition) class. That will include most new LCD monitors these days, with resolutions up to 1920 x 1080.
For the first of the cables we chose Belkin's five metre A3L79105M-YLWS Patch Cable CAT5e Snagless UTP (£2.69 from Amazon), and for the latter their CC5000aed10 DVI three meter cable (£10.49 from Amazon) which provides a high-bandwidth video interface for today's high performance displays. It comes with gold plated connectors for excellent connectivity and data throughput speed.
Add-ons via USB
The interface of choice for most PC users will be USB, but no matter how many ports your supplier may give you, it never seems to be enough. No problem; for a modest sum you can add a hub that will add four, or even seven, extra USB ports. We chose Belkin's F5U307ukWHT seven port hub unit for this duty. At £24.99 (or less discounted) it adds substantially to user facility.
Featuring five rear-mounted ports, plus two that are vertically oriented on top of the unit for extra facility, it's weighted to give stability, and with a cable clip on the end to add some panache to the modest but inevitable cable clutter these add-ons produce, it's a recommended buy.
Add-ons via ExpressCard
Another useful addition is an ExpressCard adapter. This modern interface is routinely provided as standard on decent quality laptop PCs these days, but the purchaser of a modestly-priced desktop machine can also benefit from the excellent range of hardware that can be pressed into service via the ExpressCard interface using this adapter. For the duty, we used the Apiotek USB to ExpressCard adapter which can be bought from USBnow for a reasonable £9.99.
system expansion cards that come top of many people's list might include TV a tuner, but you can also add card readers, eSATA adapters, wifi or USB 3.0 adapters and so on. The list of possibilities is endless, and the ExpressCard adapter is a convenient vehicle for making the addition, particularly if you want to duplicate on your laptop, say. You might have to hunt around for drivers for some of these devices, particularly for Windows 7 variants, but if they are available then they can prove to be good moves to make.
You can, of course, opt to install some of these options via a motherboard-mounted PCI adapter, such as the Buffalo IFC-PCIE2U3 USB 3.0 PCI-E card we show here, which costs around £40. The user has to decide what takes highest priority for these precious interface slots. If it's a high priority device, ie one that will be used routinely, then to mount it via an internal PCI or PCI-e slot could be preferred. If, on the other hand, the device will only be used now and then, you might prefer the simplicity of an external adapter and device.
In conclusion
While the additions a PC user can make to his new system are virtually unlimited, some additions will find a higher priority than others. We have merely scratched the surface of the possibilities, but we hope to have given you some appetite for the job.
