How To Make Old Laptop Faster

Clear Out The Clutter

Whats the difference between your computer when you got it and your computer now? A whole host of programs and apps, many of which you probably dont even need any more. Uninstalling as many of them as you can should give your laptop a bit more room to breathe.

Stick to the essentials: get rid of games you havent played in an age, and applications you tried for a bit but then abandoned. You can easily install this software again, if needed.

The same principle goes for the extensions and add-ons weighing down your browser too get rid of the ones you dont really need or have completely forgotten about, and your web browsing should speed up . Both Apple and Microsoft have extensive guides on how to scrub your system of unwanted apps.

Update Windows Drivers And Apps

Youve probably heard that keeping your software up to date is a good idea for security. This is true and it can help performance too. Windows will automatically send you a notification when an update is available. You just need to make sure you dont keep putting it off.

If you think you might have missed an update, you can always check. Go to Start and click Settings or the settings icon. Then go to Updates & Security > Windows Updates.

Aside from your Windows operating system, drivers and apps should be kept up to date too. Again, this is good for both security and performance. If you think you might have missed an update, a quick online search should tell you which version you should be using.

How To Make Your Pc Run Faster

If youve had your computer for more than a year or two, youve likely noticed its basic functions slowing down. There are many reasons for this, including the excessive number of files bogging the system down, and bugs in your operating system. Some of these factors can be mitigated or prevented, while others are just a natural part of a computers lifecycle.

Fortunately, there are a few important changes you can make to encourage your PC to run faster.

Don’t Miss: How Do Lenovo Laptops Rate

Change Your Power Settings

If youre using Windows 10s Power saver plan, youre slowing down your PC. That plan reduces your PCs performance in order to save energy. Changing your power plan from Power saver to High performance or Balanced will give you an instant performance boost.

To do it, launch the Control Panel app, then select Hardware and Sound > Power Options. Youll typically see two options: Balanced and Power saver.” To see the High performance setting, click the down arrow by Show additional plans.

IDG

Change your power settings in Control Panel to give your PC a performance boost.

To change your power setting, simply choose the one you want, then exit Control Panel. High performance gives you the most oomph, but uses the most power Balanced finds a happy medium between power use and better performance and Power saver does everything it can to give you as much battery life as possible. Desktop users have no reason to choose Power saver, and even laptop users should consider the Balanced option when unplugged and High performance when connected to a power source.

How To Make Computer Faster

Making your computer faster should be mainly about three things: fixing your settings, ensuring there arent any problems, and upgrading your hardware. Each will have an impact.

You can start by trying to fix your settings and eliminate problems. After that, decide whether your computers speed is acceptable or whether you need to upgrade the machine.

Read Also: What Is A Good Speed For A Laptop

Check Ram And The Hard Drive

Age can have an adverse effect on your hardware but users can check on performance with the help of handy monitoring tools that identify if a configuration error or simple deterioration is to blame for a lull in the laptop’s performance. It is recommended to run a few of these tests before upgrading or filing a warranty claim with the device’s manufacturer. If the RAM or hard drive are identified as the source of the problem, both can be serviced by someone familiar with hardware components for a relatively low price . Also, a full hard drive can seriously impact system performance, so if you’re running out of space, it’s wise to back up the old disk and swap it out for a new one.

Free Up Hard Drive Space

Freeing up space on your hard drive is an easy way to improve your computers performance. Over-cluttered hard drives slow computers down and are a burden that you should unload.

Start with going over the largest programs and data that takes up the most space individually. Then work your way down to smaller files.

Youd be surprised how much space is taken up by things youd never use again.

Also Check: What To Do When Lenovo Laptop Is Not Starting

Tip : Scan For Malware

Another reason why your laptop could be slowing down is because of malicious software. Some types include malware that are cant be detected without running a deep scan. Be sure to run malware scans periodically to prevent viruses, worms, and other malicious software from slowing down your laptop. If its already infected, removing it immediately will help speed up old computer.

Additional Steps Make Windows 10 Run Faster

Whatever version of Microsofts operating system is being discussed, one of the most common questions is how to make it run faster. Here, we will discuss why Windows 10 is slow, how to speed it up, what can affect its performance, and what actions can improve it in certain situations.

Automatically running applications at Windows 10 startup are the most common reason for the slower operation.

Recommended Reading: How Do I Backup My Laptop

Uninstall Programs You Don’t Need

After you clean up your hard drive, the next step is to remove programs you don’t need. Not only do installed programs take up valuable storage space on your hard drive, but they can often run processes in the background which slow things down.

If you don’t know what a program does, look it up online to see if it’s something you still need. As a general rule, if you don’t know what a program does, you don’t need it and can remove it, because Windows won’t let you uninstall any programs that are critical to Windows itself.

Third-party software uninstallers like IObit Uninstaller can help you find programs taking up the most space as well as infrequently used software.

Can I Make My Pc Faster For Free

Many of the most effective ways to speed up PCs such as removing unwanted programs are quick, easy, and cost nothing except a bit of time and patience. Check out some of the best free PC cleaners. But if you want to automate the process, and do it comprehensively, the best way is to use a premium PC cleaner and optimization tool like AVG TuneUp.

Read Also: How To Make Slideshow With Music On Laptop

Does Your Ageing Laptop Need A Boost We Look At The Software Tweaks And Hardware Upgrades That Will Give Your Computer A New Lease Of Life

Shutterstock

Every laptop even the latest, ultrafast model is prone to lag once in a while. This can be due to a myriad of reasons, from simple fixes such as too many different programmes running in the background, to more serious issues, like running out of RAM or disk drive space and even a fragmented hard drive.

Whatever the reason, a slow laptop is the last thing you need when trying to meet a project deadline which is also, quite ironically, when many people find their device lagging behind. After all, a busy day often requires a number of different files, tools, and tabs to be open at the same time, leading to your laptop struggling to keep up with your tasks.

• Make Linux look like Windows 7

This can have an impact not only on your stress levels, but the overall productivity of your business as well. For instance, if one employee works 7.5 hour-long days and experiences a lag in laptop responsiveness for five minutes every hour, this translates to almost 40 minutes a day and three hours a week lost on waiting for your files or programmes to load. Depending on the employees hourly wage, this could result in thousands of pounds lost each year to only one slow laptop.

Restore Your Pc From A System Restore Point

Restoring your PC undoes recent changes that might be causing problems. If you think a recently installed app, driver, or update for Windows could be causing problems, you might get things running normally again by restoring your PC to an earlier point, called a restore point.

Notes:

• Restoring from a restore point wont affect your personal files, but it will remove apps, drivers, and updates that were installed after the restore point was created.

• System restore works for changes made in the last 7 to 14 days.

To restore your PC from a restore point

If you dont see any restore points, it might be because system protection isnt turned on.

To turn on system protection

Also Check: Which Laptop Is Good For Gaming

Lighten The Load At Startup

Is your old laptop taking forever to boot? It might be doing the unnecessary heavy lifting during start-up.

Programs that are allowed to launch during startup will consume memory the moment you press the power button. And if you have a dozen, your laptop will take longer than usual to process everything.

Instead, you should turn off these start-up programs and just leave the ones you really need. Still, dont go for a total purge as some services like antiviruses need to be active the moment your laptop is on.

Just aim to turn off as many programs as possible. This will help lighten the load of your laptop, so it will boot and shut down faster than before.

Change Your Power Plan

One way to speed up your computer is to change your power plan. You might be on a balanced or energy-saving plan which can save you money but isnt optimal for your computers performance.

Your computer may draw more power, but it should also perform faster.

Also Check: What Is The Best Laptop For Linux

How To Clean Up Your Pc And Hard Disk

Over time, your computer collects a wide range of unneeded files, apps, and other data and this can waste storage space while slowing things down. Well show you how to clean up your computer and eliminate all that digital junk.

Find out how to clean out your hard drive, how to identify and remove useless programs, and how to migrate your files to cloud storage to free up more space on your PC.

Can My Vpn Make My Computer Slow

The answer to this question is yes. Unfortunately, not all VPNs are fast and if you are using a substandard service with slow servers and inferior apps, it could cause your internet speeds to come to a grinding halt. VPNs require system resources to encrypt and decrypt data coming and going from your PC.

Of course, when pages start loading slowly, and it becomes impossible to use the internet, it is easy to simply blame your computer or assume you have become infected with a virus.

In reality, it is worth checking to see how your VPN is affecting your internet speeds. Some VPNs have been known to slow down their users internet by 95 percent. Understandably, that makes the computer feel like it is broken.

If you find that your VPN is severely slowing down your internet, you may want to try a different VPN protocol. And failing that, it may be time to quit your current VPN and get a subscription with one of the worlds fastest VPNs instead.

Recommended Reading: How Can I Update My Laptop To Windows 10

Why Is My Computer So Slow

Usually, your computer slows down because its not using its resources efficiently. Theres only so much processing power, memory, and storage space available on your PC, and the key to speeding up your computer is to optimize all three.

If youre wondering why your PC gets slower over time, its likely due to one or more of the following reasons:

• Its too hot. Your computer will self-regulate performance to compensate for excessive heat. A cool computer is a fast computer. Check your CPU temps to see if things are getting too hot.

• Your software is old. If youre behind on your Windows updates or need to find updated drivers, you might suffer performance losses.

• Its doing too much. If youre running too many programs at once, too many background processes, or if your disk usage is at 100%, your PC wont be able to optimize performance.

• Youre running low on memory. Your PC uses RAM to run its active programs. Maxing out your RAM can lead to a sluggish PC.

• Youre running low on disk space. As your hard drive fills up, your PC has less room for temporary files. Without enough space, your PC wont be able to prevent hard drive fragmentation. Cleaning out your computer will free up valuable disk space.

• Youve got malware. Many types of malware, such as adware and spyware, chew through your PCs resources and slow it down.

Get it forMac,Android

Make Sure To Defragment Hard Drive Windows 10

Files on your hard drive become fragmented over time. Because your computer now has to look for the components in various places, it may take longer. The phrase defragment may sound dramatic, but it just refers to reassembling the files so that it will make laptop faster proven if you think how to make your old laptop faster for gaming.

Its something that Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7 do regularly. The default schedule is once each week, but you can manually execute it if you feel theres a problem.

To begin, keep in mind that you only need to do this if your computer uses a mechanical Hard Disk Drive . A Solid State Drive differs from a hard disc drive in that it does not require defragmentation. Only defragment the HDD if you have both.

Right-click the hard disc , but you may have renamed it) under My Computer. Then go to Properties > Tools and choose to Optimize under Optimize and defragment the drive.

The Optimize Drives screen will appear after that.

Its worth noting that all of the drives in the screenshot above are SSDs. There is no need to defragment these. Analyze will be greyed out for SSD drives but will be available for hard drives, as shown in the image.

To see how fragmented an HDD drive is, select it and click Analyze. A reasonable rule of thumb is to keep it under 5% of the total. If its above, you can defragment the drive by clicking Optimize.

IN WINDOW 7: Select the HDD under Current status, and then search for Disk Defragmenter using the search bar.

Also Check: How To Unblock Websites On Dell Laptop

Cortana Can Be Disabled

While Cortana, the digital assistant in Windows 10, is a helpful tool, it consumes many resources and poses a privacy risk. Cortana used to be simple to uninstall, but its a little more difficult on the latest versions. It is, however, possible provided you are ready to make a registry change to your system.

Clean Out Your Registry

Under the Windows hood, the Registry tracks and controls just about everything about the way Windows works and looks. That includes information about where your programs are stored, which DLLs they use and share, what file types should be opened by which program, and just about everything else.

But the Registry is a very messy thing. When you uninstall a program, for example, that programs settings dont always get cleaned up in the Registry. So over time, it can get filled with countless outdated settings of all types. And that can lead to system slowdowns.

Dont even think of trying to clean any of this out yourself. Its impossible. To do it, you need a Registry Cleaner. There are plenty available, some free and some paid. But theres really no need to outright buy one, because the free Auslogics Registry Cleaner does a solid job.

Recommended Reading: How To Sell Laptop Online