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Monday - August 28, 2000
52% of Home Computers Are
Connected to the Internet
Despite "Melissa" and the "Love Bug," almost
45 percent of home PC users still do not have anti-virus
software protection on their home computers, according
to a comprehensive report entitled Home PC Portrait released
for the first time this week by PC Data.
Home PC Portrait also revealed
that 61 percent of households are equipped with a PC, and
that due to plummeting computer prices, these PC users
are less likely to "hand-down" an old system
to family or friends than they were five years ago.
Home PC Portrait is the industry's
first complete and comprehensive analysis of home computer
use. The report provides insight into the modern PC household
-- what hardware and software consumers actually use and
their online surfing and buying patterns. The information
is obtained through four separate PC Data proprietary sources:
the PC Data Online panel of over 120,000 home Internet
users, the Lifestyle and Activities Survey, a comprehensive
quarterly enumeration study entitled Net Portrait, and
the PC Data Point-of-Sale retail hardware and software
sales reports.
"Home PC Portrait(TM) paints
an overarching picture of the modern home computer household
-- what hardware and software U.S. households prefer, how
much time its members spend on it and to what applications,
such as broadband and streaming media, it is looking," said
Howard Dyckovsky, PC Data's Vice President of Operations. "It
indicates that many stereotypes and assumptions about computer
use are untrue. For example, many believe that home PCs
are purchased so that work can be done after hours at home.
This is hardly the case. Only one in five used a spreadsheet
application in June, which strongly suggests that the PC
is evolving into a platform for communication and recreational
activity."
Other findings include:
* Fifty-two percent of home
computers in the U.S. are connected to the Internet. Twenty-eight
percent of home users access the Internet several times
a day, while 2.6 percent use it once per month;
* Fifty percent of households
have owned a PC for more than five years. Just 1.9 percent
has had a PC fewer than six months;
* Seventy-five percent play
games on their home PCs, and pre-installed Windows games
like "Solitaire" and "Minesweeper" are
the most popular;
* Fifty-two percent of home
PCs have fewer than 5GB of hard drive space. Twenty-five
percent of U.S. home computers have more than 64MB of RAM.
Thirty-five percent have CPU speed between 333 and 449Mhz;
and
* Seventy-six percent of home
PCs use inkjet printers and 15 percent use laser printers.
Forty-three percent of computer households have 15- inch
monitors, while five percent have monitors larger than
17 inches.
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