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How to speed up your old PC so it runs like new - by experts

Picture Rex
Picture Rex

Are you living with a PC which mysteriously grinds to a halt at inconvenient moments – and takes so long to start-up that you can boil the kettle and be sipping tea before it’s ready?

You may not have to: there’s actually quite a few things you can do to speed up an ageing PC – without downloading strange programmes which promise ‘miraculous’ speed gains.

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Here’s a few of the buttons you can push to restore a PC to its former glory (we’ve focused on Windows 10 here, but many of these tips are also relevant to older versions of the OS such as Windows 8 and Windows 7)

Kill off the programmes which run when your PC starts

One of the main reasons older PCs tend to get a bit sluggish is all the apps and programmes we install – many of which automatically open on start-up.

You can disable programs from opening on start-up within Task Manager – just select the ‘Start-Up’ tab.

Task Manager will tell you how much impact the programme has on performance.

Be careful when doing this – don’t disable apps by Microsoft as a general rule, and focus on apps you recognise and don’t need to use.

Matt Powell of Broadbandgenie says, ‘Remove any unnecessary applications which are set to load when your computer boots up. This will both assist with boot-up time and improve general performance by reducing the impact on RAM.’

Make Windows 10 uglier – and faster

Windows 10 has quite a few snazzy visual effects which make the operating system look lovely – but can slow down an ageing machine.

By default, Windows will turn a few of these on.

To gain a bit of performance, type ‘Advanced System Settings’ in the Windows search box – then select ‘Adjust for Best Performance’.

Picture Rex
Picture Rex

Get rid of your hard drive

If your machine is slowing down badly, there’s a good chance the problem is the hard drive – but you can make significant speed gains by switching to a solid-state drive (SSD).

You can easily fit a new drive to most desktops and many laptop PCs – saving you the expensive of buying a new one.

Matt Powell, editor of Broadband Genie, says, ‘Install an SSD. They’re considerably quicker than mechanical hard drives and can deliver a very noticeable improvement in boot-up and load times. SSDs can be easily fitted to desktop and laptop computers.

Reinstall Windows (the easy way)

Most PC users shudder at the thought of reinstalling Windows – which used to be a lengthy and painful process which involved digging out the disc.

These days you can ‘refresh’ your PC – getting rid of software you’ve installed and all sorts of useless files which might be slowing your machine – without even deleting your files.

To do this, go to the Start tab, then select Settings, then Update and Security, then Reset – you’ll be able to change options after you’ve pressed the button.

Scan for viruses

Contrary to popular myth, it’s not always a virus which slows down old PCs – but it’s worth running a free virus scan just to be sure.

Most antivirus companies will offer a free trial of their software.

If you don’t fancy that, run Windows Defender – and do a scan of your PC.

To do this, go to the Start tab, then select Settings, then Update and Security, then Windows Defender, then run a scan.

Don’t bother with ‘miracle’ software

If you search for ways to speed up a computer, you’ll be bombarded with pages of stuff about software which cleans up registry errors or defragments your hard drive.

Most of these software packages aren’t up to much – and some can slow down your machine.

Nick from Computer Nerds.co.uk says, ‘Software that promises to speed up your PC for me personally I think is useless, the fact that you are installing it means it will be taking system resources anyway.

Clean up your hard drive

Don’t bother with supposedly ‘free’ programmes which help to clear out disk space – many of these are dubious and will pester you for money.

Instead, run Windows’ own ‘Disk Clean-up’, which will scour your hard drive for junk files and should help clean the place out.

Just search ‘Disk Clean-up’ from the Start bar, then run the app.

Upgrade your RAM

Another under-the-bonnet tweak which can speed up ageing machines is to upgrade the RAM – you’ll be able to do this in many desktop models and some laptops.

Mike Powell, editor of Broadband Genie, says, ‘Upgrade your RAM. This will allow you to have more applications running at once without the computer slowing down. Most people don’t need more than 8GB right now, but if you’re running demanding applications such as audio, video or image editing software then 16GB+ will be useful.’