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I've had a few computers of my own break after a few years of use, and I've seen computers owned by friends and family do the same thing. They either slow down (even running the original software they shipped with) or crash more often (kernel panic/BSOD, freezing, etc). All computers eventually fail, and not always in easily explainable ways.
For example, my first computer was a MacBook Pro. After about 3 and a half years of use, it started to freeze a few times a week, then reliably every day. OS X would stop responding; my mouse moved, but absolutely nothing responded. It ended up lasting more than four years, but I was in the habit of saving my work every time I paused in typing, and kept rigorous backups.
I've also seen old family computers running early versions of Windows completely freeze (no mouse movement) just after completing startup. And I've seen a 4 year old 12" PowerBook G4 run like molasses even after having been wiped and reset to factory settings and OS.
What causes this? Do the electronic components break down over time?
13You might want to look into this thing called 'entropy'. – Shinrai – 2012-01-05T21:37:44.820
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Related: Why does hardware get slower with time?.
– dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten – 2012-01-06T04:15:11.983Note that the old Powerbook probably had a bad battery, and that causes it to run slower. – Daniel R Hicks – 2012-01-06T21:49:45.910
2Cruft forces. – user1686 – 2012-01-06T23:21:56.540
1Please make sure that your answers actually are related to malfunctions. It's not a malfunction if a sports car slows down because it pulls a trailer, and neither is a fragmented hard disk or a bloated OS with tons of crapware running. Note that the user even mentions that reinstalling the OS does not help. – Daniel Beck – 2012-01-11T21:16:41.287