How much longer will I be able to use my computer...?

...until it becomes so outdated or worn out that I have to buy a new one? It's a HP that was purchased on August of 2002.

OS Version: Windows XP Home Edition SP1

Total Physical Memory: 254 MB (in use for virtualization)

CPU Type: Intel 1800 MHz Pentium 4

Default Printer: Lexmark X1100 Series

Hard Disks: One original 40GB Western Digital with 1.5GB free and one fairly new 160GB Maxtor 3200 with 140GB free.

I also have avast! Antivirus installed, but that's about it. I've had to reinstall Windows once.

How much longer will I be able to use my computer...?antivirus downloads

That PC is good enough to last for several years.

Add more memory and you'll get a performance boost. Put a good video card and you still can play games with it.

Just do some regular cleaning of the insides of your PC, vacuum it to remove accumulated dust.

How much longer will I be able to use my computer...?cafe racer

if you do regular maintance like HD defragmentation. regular Windows updates, antivirus update, it will last for 2 -3 more years
Only your RAM and Processor are getting outdated. Get SP2 and you can run for a few more years.
I have a similar HP but I got it with Millennium 2000 and installed Windows XP Home Edition ..so I think it would last two more years but I don't think I will keep it this long.