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It seems like yesterday. You'd just plunked down more than two grand on a new PC with all the trimmings: a blazing 166-MHz Pentium processor, a generous 16MB of RAM, and a humongous 2GB hard disk. Sure, it wasn't cheap, but you'd bought yourself all the computing power anyone could ask for.

Flash forward to late 1999. A different set of adjectives comes to mind when you work with your computer: plodding, cramped, and insufficient. Plainly, your aging machine lacks the oomph to keep pace with today's ever-more-demanding applications, let alone take on the even greater demands of Windows 2000. What's more, computer stores are practically giving away new systems that run rings around yours.

In the era of cheap, nearly free, and pseudo-free PCs, why should you bother upgrading what you've got? For one thing, today's upgrade products, like new systems, are better buys than ever. Besides, the computer you really covet may cost $1500, $2000, or more. Even now, cutting-edge systems equipped with the newest CPUs and most lavish features aren't exactly impulse items.

In short, the best low-cost PC could turn out to be the one you already own, once it's decked out with the right upgrades. Spend your money on the right components, and you can keep your old system chugging for another year or two--until new machines are even brawnier, cheaper, and harder to resist.

Don't overdo it, though. A general rule of thumb: If you have to pay more than about $400 to eke another year's use out of your PC, or you have to add more than three components, it's probably not worth the money and effort it will take. (This rule applies to internal components such as the CPU, RAM, and hard drive, not to external peripherals like monitors, printers, or scanners. It's easy enough to move these devices to any new system you buy down the road.)

Smart upgrading, then, takes thought and planning. Our annual upgrade guide will fill you in on everything from RAM and replacement CPUs to storage options, fast modems, and newfangled ports such as USB and IEEE 1394. We'll tell you when these upgrades make sense, and when they don't. We'll even help you make sure your old machine is ready to sail into the new millennium without suffering Y2K-related woes.

Screwdrivers ready? Let's get started.