<A HREF="http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1040_22-6088143.html?tag=zdnn.alert">PCs are lasting longer</A> without a part going wrong, according to new research from Gartner. There has been a 25 percent decrease in annual failure rates for PC hardware over the last two years, the research firm said in a report published last week. It also found that notebooks have seen a significant improvement, even if they haven't caught up in reliability with desktops.