stevensfo wrote:I have a Windows 10 laptop that I use only for serious stuff, but maybe this year, I'll finally replace our very old desktop PC that has served us well. Windows 7, RAM increased a few years ago from 4 to 8Gb.
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Steve
What sort of "serious stuff"? You might need photo or video editing software....or not.
Likewise word processing, spreadsheet stuff. We use LibreOffice.
Or a serious math package such as Matlab or octave.
Specific tax calculation software, I've taken to using BittyTax for my one concern.
On a more general note, you have missed the obvious of backup methods.
Many like windows OneDrive, but it might be an idea to check that it is actually doing what you need.
Others use Macrum and backup the entire machine, for easy recovery when the SSD fails.
On a more personal level.
I use linux, but if forced to use windows I'd install the linux subsystem. I find tools like awk and sed incredibly useful extracting and transposing data from csv files to feed programs like BittyTax or to summarize multiple months of credit/debit card statements. I'd also install Calibre to handle my ebook collection an find the plug-in to remove the DDR from the ebooks that I buy.