Under most circumstances, PC hardware will last for 10 years - whether the systems physical speed is up to the task of running modern software is another story - however, most business users use their PC for Internet, e-mail, and some basic Document creation (spreadsheet, Word Proccesor etc).
In those circumstances, a PCs' hardware will generally give very good performance for about 5 to 7 years as long as the O/S and/or software installed has not deteriorated - which unfortunately happens all to often.
Being a tech, I rebuild my systems O/S and Software from the ground up about every two years - this is a daunting and time consuming task ...
Nortons ghost would allow someone to get their system installed with all the prerequisite software, and then take an image, so that all that would be required is a back up of data, insert your Image Disk, reboot, restore your data ...
It may take a tiny bit more, but it's not complicated, and doesn't run the risk of software (or an uneducated user) trying to decide what is or is not good for your PC - there are lots of good PC maintenance utilities, but they are all too dangerous for the average user to use ...
JMHO
Ludo
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