History
Before getting an Adobe Photographer’s Subscription I was using Photoshop CS4 (2008!) and an almost equally old version of Lightroom. The handicap is that updated Camera Raw files don’t work with these old versions, so my old programs didn’t recognise newer lenses and so on.
I also found it increasingly hard to get support on the Internet and in various forums – most people would start by pointing out what an old version of the software I was using.
I had previously used PaintShopPro, Adobe Elements, software that came with various cameras and I’d had a dabble with a number of other editors including the now defunct Picassa.
PC
I have upgraded my PC quite a few times – it’s a bit of a Triggers Broom of a PC. Currently it has Windows 10 x64, a Ryzen 5 CPU with built-in Radeon graphics, a B450 motherboard and 16GB of RAM. It also has 120GB and a 250GB SSDs, and two 2TB HDDs that are mirrored.
I also indulged myself with Eizo & Dell monitors and a Spyder 3 monitor calibration device. Whilst these are now all old devices, the quality of the Eizo display still stuns me, and calibrating it avoids nasty surprises when I print.
Backups
I also have a NAS which has two mirrored 2TB disks, and my photos are included in the things I backup to it. I have recently had HDD & network card problems caused by a massive thunder & lighting storm and despite a couple of HDDs being trashed, my photos were all safe.