I haven’t spoken about saving your computer’s hard drive data to a backup lately, so there, now I have.
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All hard drives fail. Today’s hard drives are really just a little card with a chip on it that stores your data. It’s fairly amazing. A failed hard drive, whether mechanical or solid state isn’t recoverable by the likes of me. That said, a ‘broken’ computer, even if you know it’s a problem with the hard drive, may have recoverable data on the drive. I have dealt with computer repairs where the hard drive has failed or is failing, or Windows is massively corrupted, but the data has still been recoverable. Sometimes not, I’ve had those as well.
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Recovering data from a hard drive usually requires taking the drive out of the computer and attaching it to my computer using an external drive enclosure or cable/converter. For ‘standard’ SATA drives that was enough, but as I mentioned, newer computers have a card that is the drive, and those can vary. I do have 3 types now and have recovered data from several drives already.

On the new MacBooks, that’s not an option because the hard drive is actually soldered right onto the motherboard, as is the memory. That makes them impossible to upgrade, and also to repair, at least for me. Apple isn’t the only manufacturer doing that, so whatever laptop you order, make sure you can either upgrade it yourself, or that it is robust enough to last you whatever time you think you will need it for. 

Uhm, not really. One of the issues with buying a new Windows PC can be the bloatware. PCs are partly subsidized by software put on them when they are produced by the manufacturer. This is a common, and annoying practice. I was with a friend buying a computer at Office Depot a few years ago and he paid for the option to have a third party access the computer and remove the bloatware. Not something I recommend particularly, the third party thing, not the bloatware removal.
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Over the course of owning your PC, it has a tendency to slow down. This is partly normal, but also partly not. Years of updates to all sorts of programs can bring years of apps being installed that you don’t want and likely didn’t even know were being loaded onto your computer. Even “reputable” companies participate in this practice, again, as partially subsidizing a product, free or not.

Obviously, there is also a lot of sneaky stuff inserted that you don’t necessarily know is being installed. So the good news is that Windows Defender has upgraded to a point where it will be blocking somw of these “Possibly Unwanted Programs” or PUPs, aka “Possibly Unwanted Applications” or PUAs.

I have a paid version of MalwareBytes that can help get rid of those, but a new Windows Update will be allowing Windows Defender to automatically block these. I’ve been on computers installing MalwareBytes and when I run it, it can find 20 or 30, but sometimes, it’s found THOUSANDS. You can imagine, that stuff running in the background can really slow a computer down.

One of my gripes about anti-virus programs is just how much they slow a computer down. I find that Windows Defender, which comes with Windows, does not slow a computer down nearly like Norton, Macafee, or many others. So I generally stick with Defender and MalwareBytes. There is an article to read HERE, about Windows Defender and the blocking of PUAs. It’s a bit of hyperbole in the title, but definitely worth the read.  Click to Read

I use cut and paste all the time.  It's second nature to me.  If this isn't a tool you are familiar with here's a brief tutorial for the PC.

Whether you work on the computer or just use one at home, the ability to cut and paste text and files is a valuable time-saving technique. The terms "cut and paste" come from the now-obsolete practice of manuscript editing by cutting paragraphs from a written page with scissors and pasting them onto another page. The digital version works similarly, but won’t tire out your hands. ​

Before you can cut and paste you should be familiar with your right mouse button.  Most of us use our left mouse button all the time, when we click on a link.  The right mouse button will open up a menu to choices that you will use in cut and paste and copy and paste.

But first things first.  To either copy or cut you need to select your text - a word, a sentence, a paragraph or a page.  To select:

Select all text

• Click anywhere within the document
• ​Press Ctrl+A on your keyboard to select all text in the document.

Select specific text  - You can also select a specific word, line of text, or one or more paragraphs.

• Place your cursor in front of the first letter of the word, sentence, or paragraphs you want to select.
• Click and hold while you drag your cursor to select the text you want.

Now that your text is selected, what do you want to do with it?  Copying it will copy it to a computer clipboard and you can paste it anywhere - in a new document, in another location in the same document or in another location in the same document.   Copying will leave the original text in the same location.  

Cutting as the name implies is cutting out the text and pasting it somewhere else.

Once your text is selected click on the right mouse button and select copy or cut. Then move your cursor to where you want the text to go.  Right click again and select paste.  Voila!   

When we were in Chicago we checked out my brother's PC. It had been running slow especially on start up.  He could not only make a pot of coffee waiting for it to boot up he could drink the whole pot too.

Brian checked his start up and sure enough he had dozens of apps running in the background.  "Turning" off these apps won't delete them, it will only stop them from running in the background and slowing down your PC.

Startup apps can slow down your PC. Apps that open in the background when you start your PC can slow things down significantly—and you might not even realize they’re running. To check, go to Start  > Settings  > Apps  > Startup and turn off everything you don’t need.

​Have a question?   Email Brian Open Startup settings

If you are interested in buying a new computer, there are some things you might want to think about before purchasing. I know many of you aren’t interested, like I am, in specs. That said, it’s important to remember that when moving your data to another computer, you will need to make sure your new hard drive will hold everything you want to bring from the old hard drive.
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Newer computers often come with an SSD, a Solid State Drive. These are often smaller than the older style mechanical drives. In some cases, the SSD is just a single small card that plugs into the motherboard, or it may be chips soldered onto the board and isn’t able to be upgraded.

If you are coming from an older computer with a 500Gb hard drive, for instance, and going to a Surface Pro or MacBook Air with 128Gb of storage, you may have a problem moving all your data. If you only use 80Gb on your old computer it won’t be an issue, but if you are using 400Gb, then it won’t all fit.

In some cases, you can upgrade your new computer, but not always. Another option may be to offload a large chunk of data to cloud storage. Off loading the data to an external drive is also a good idea, but if it’s no longer available on the old computer (because you gave it to me) then you will need it on a second external drive as well. Remember, a backup means there are 2 or more copies. External drives fail just like any other drive, so backups mean multiple devices.

Carol always recommends buying the ‘most’ computer you can afford. I agree with her on this, especially if you aren’t buying a computer every 2 or 3 years. If you keep your computer for a long time, then you will need something robust enough to last. Your needs may not change but the world will keep changing. As the world progresses, the computer requirements will as well. Typically, memory and processor are the best things you can invest in. Consider buying the best processor you can afford, and put in as much memory as you can. I’m not saying you need to put in 128Gb of memory, but 16Gb is certainly a good amount, and 32Gb is better if you work with photos.

Don’t let the price, or the sales person be the determining factor. Do a little homework before buying. Check different brands. Obviously, if you are buying a Mac, then check discount places that sell Macs, like Costco or Amazon. For PC brands, read reviews from legitimate computer magazines, like PCWorld or CNet. There are standard brands, like Asus and Dell of course, but the last computer I bought is branded Chuwi. It’s a bit different but so far it’s been a great replacement for my $10 Goodwill find.