“What brand of computer do you recommend?” is one of the most common questions I get asked. My answer is usually, “It really doesn’t matter as long as it is a name brand and has the specs that you need.”

I often hear comments like, “Our first computer was a Dell and we constantly had problems with viruses and spam,” or “I’m never going to get another HP, this one just locks up and crashes all the time.”

Most computer problems I see every day have nothing to do with the parts they are made up of. Most home computer problems are software related – not hardware.

Viruses, spyware, bulky updates, too many programs running in the background, or a combination of any of the above slow a machine down and cause all forms of undesired effects. No matter what company made the system, the only feature that can be blamed is the software.

The fact that one computer performs better than another could be due to many factors and none of them have anything to do with the brand on the outside. Firguring out why one machine works better can come down to basic scientific testing.

Before blaming the manufacturer for the problems (or worse, the store you bought it from) analyze the entire situation.

Have any of the people using the computer changed? Adding a single teenager to the mix or having an employee who surfs for porn in his spare time can be catastrophic to a system.

Is all of the sofware the same on each computer? Comparing a Windows 98 computer to a Windows Vista computer is not a true comparison. Compairing how well your old computer ran with Netscape 4.7 verses the new computer running IE 7 has nothing to do with the manufacturer of the computer.

Do you use the computer the same? Maybe that old reliable computer was only used for bookkeeping and documents, the new one may be used for music and digital photos. Multimedia is tough on processing power and memory.

There are lemon models of computers, but once you open the hood on most computer brands you will find many similarities. They all use standard Intel or AMD processors. Most use AOpen, Asus or other brand name motherboards. The video chips are made by ATI, Intel or NVidia or another name brand. The drives are made by Seagate or a few other name brands, the optical drives are made by one of five OEMs.

Typically. she only real differences are how the BIOS is programmed, the outside shell and the name on the outside. In fact, many computer companies today produce computers for several other manufacturers. HP and Compaq are  the same, Gateway and EMachine are the same and even Dells are sometimes built by companies that OEM for other manufacturers.

I have never made any secret of the fact that brand loyalists get on my nerves. It is a mistake to base everything you know about a company’s products (bad or good) on a single product. You must let the company prove that it’s products are terrible as a rule – Norton security software is an excellent example of this.

There are also bad companies that see the light and change their ways – or at least become less bad, AOL is an example in that scenario.

Technology changes and evolves faster than anything the earth as ever known, forming any opinion about a company or product and refusing to change it will always come back to bite you in the end.

We would not be suprised to see Norton clean up their act and become a recommended product one day. On the other hand, as much as we love AVG, we may one day tell everyone to steer clear of it. Being  willing to always keep an open mind to new products and technology is what makes technological progress possible