People ask me if they should upgrade their software when new versions come out. My usual answer is NO, but with an explanation. Very often you really don't need the upgrade for many software programs. And if you do get them, sometimes they will cause you to have more problems than you did before.
I would not rush into getting an upgrade. First, study what the new features are and determine if you really need them. A lot of software upgrades have new security features built into them and although they supposedly make your computer experience safer, I would still wait until they have been released for a while and read about other people's experiences with the upgrade.
I have found that by keeping antivirus software and a firewall on my computer as well as running TuneUp Utilities once in a while, my computer keeps running well. Plus you should get enough memory. More memory will make computer usage much easier and faster for you. It's a worthwhile investment. Hey time is money!
Windows users get small fixes through Windows Updates on a regular basis and these have not been problematic for me although maybe others have had problems. I also have Firefox updates every once in a while and they have not been problematic either. But I would love to hear comments from others about this, if you have had problems.
Let me give you a personal anecdote related to recently attempting to upgrade iTunes and how I can no longer use it on my computer.
I've been using iTunes for my iPod shuffle for several years now. No problems whatsoever. So about 2 months ago, I was going to import a few songs and mp3 files into my shuffle via the iTunes interface on my computer. There was an upgrade button that came up and I must have been tired and needed some coffee, as I allowed the upgrade to proceed, not following my own advice! Well little did I know at the time, this was the beginning of the end of the functionality of iTunes on my computer!
After the upgrade, iTunes no longer saw my iPod. So I haven't been able to add or delete songs or files since then. So I decided to uninstall iTunes and reinstall an older version. When finishing that task, a new problem occurred. This one was an error message that the program could not find a folder called iTunes in My Music folder and so when I manually created the iTunes folder, it still couldn't see it. And another message stated to consult support.
Great! All these errors and messages were really helpful. Sure did make my day.
So I gave up and decided it was hopeless on my PC. I relegated iTunes to my laptop and installed it there. And now I have even another new problem. iTunes now tells me it can only use one library for my songs. That means the library of songs I installed from my desktop must be erased and iTunes will then be happy to let me install a whole bunch of new songs and files on my laptop.
Whoopee! I'm just thrilled about having the opportunity to reinstall my music and spend more time quality time with iTunes as I once again put my music back on my Shuffle after erasing everything because iTunes wants me to spend even more quality time with it, as I already have throughout all of these hours of upgrade stupidity.
So there's my tale. Let me know yours. All I know is over the years as I have read reviews on, for example, Norton Systemworks, and the versions seem to get worse as the years progress and people have more problems as they upgrade. Of course, this is not scientific, but anecdotal. However, it rings true for many as you'll surely find out if you do your research and read about other people's experiences with upgrades.
Overall, go to Amazon.com and read the reviews for any software you might be thinking of buying or upgrading. They usually have a wide variety of comments on their site and you can often get a good sense of what the people think about a product.
So happy or unhappy upgrading.
And Remember To Do Your Research!!!
And feel free to contact me when you're in trouble. Maybe I can help.
Dr. Stu
—————————————————————————-
DrStu@DrStuTheTechGuru.com
212-665-5813
