This catchall category of technological upgrades is as challenging as it is eclectic. Read these guidelines before you invest.

Digital Cameras
This quasi-luxury item is a lot like a handheld—a swell toy, but if you don’t have a compelling use you can save a lot of money.

As one consultant noted, you can get one-hour photo print at the drug store with a disposable camera for a fraction of the cost and a lot less inconvenience than buying a digital camera ($100 to $2,000) and all of its necessary accessories: flash memory card ($31 to $77), color printer ($50 to $2,000) and expensive special paper. That doesn’t even include the computer and touchup software and the delay in having to dash back to your office to download what you’ve shot.

But if your business benefits from digitizing photos, such as job site evaluations for construction or before and after pictures of landscaping, a digital camera may be perfect.

Factors to keep in mind are that greater memory in megapixels is related not to quality, but to the size you can print. And as with all cameras, the lens is the secret to quality images. Skimp on lens technology and pay the price in lower quality.

Networks
For small businesses that need to network their computers, a standard 10/100 base Ethernet system should fit the bill for less than $100. Wireless networks add flexibility, but also ad cost, and they raise security issues.

Anti-virus Software
Here is a technology upgrade that everyone agrees on. If you do not use anti-virus software you are tempting disaster. The little you spend for this protection is worth every penny many times over.

Go with leaders like Norton Anti-Virus or MacAfee VirusScanPro, which are available for under $50. For maximum protection, make sure you regularly update virus definitions.