| KEY HIGHLIGHTS: |
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| Listed are 70 ways, you can make your old system run faster than ever before. |
| Some methods require a few steps, while some need technical knowledge. |
| Try all the methods one by one until you observe a noticeable performance boost. |
Anyone using a computer for a long time has probably experienced a PC slowdown. Suddenly all the installed programs start behaving sluggishly, web browsing experience seems pokey, and computer startup time is worse than ever before. But, before you spend hundreds of thousands on a new computer, we recommend you conducting a few tweaks on your Windows system to speed up overall performance. So, without further ado, let’s start implementing the following tips to make your computer run faster & smoother!
70 Tips & Tweaks To Speed Up Old Computer
Check out our list of suggestions below to get back your PC in sprinting conditions.
1. Clean out your Temp files. Freeing up disk space on your system will help to make your old computer run faster. Windows brings a built-in tool known as Disk Cleanup to find & remove such files.
2. Close unused tabs. We understand the need to keep a bunch of tabs open so that you can work productively. But once you are done, close those unused tabs on the Browser. They hog lots of system storage and slows down your PC.
3. Make use of Windows Keyboard Shortcuts to make your everyday operating easy, quick, and faster.
4. Rely on Task Manager to find memory-hungry resources & apps. Here’s how you can make the most out of your Windows Task Manager to improving your system’s overall efficiency.
5. Delete your Internet browsing history, cookies to free up space, and increase your productivity. You can find settings for cleaning these traces in each Browser you use.
6. Run Disk Defragmenter. It is another helpful Windows feature that lets you combine fragmented data scattered all over your disk space. Defragmentation process rearranges the data on your hard disk to make it more efficient. You can even use third-party tools to ease the process.
7. Organize desktop icons. Properly categorizing your desktop icons into folders cleans up your background & significantly cuts down your PC’s RAM usage.
8. Make sure you never miss to update your operating system to the latest version. Doing so, you can enjoy the latest Service Packs and other functionalities with bug fixes. This will undoubtedly help your computer work smoothly.
9. Change the location of My Documents folder. Move the files & folders to a different place, so that it is on a separate partition or hard drive.
10. Here’re some effective tips & tricks that can help you boost Windows Startup & Shutdown Speed.
11. Try Performance Troubleshooter. The feature is available with Windows 7 and other versions that can help you fix potential issues that might hamper your computer’s speed and performance.
12. Reduce Boot time-out. When the PC starts up, the boot menu is showed for a certain duration before the entire OS loads. This allows you to start Windows Safe Mode. If you want to, you can reduce this time frame from your Startup time by changing the Boot Menu time-out.
13. Make sure your computer is free from any bad sectors or hard disk errors. You can follow our guide to fixing common errors!
14. Change the power plan of your desktop. However, the feature is not available for all the PCs. So, you can look for it using the Search option. If you find it, change the mode to High performance or Balanced Plan. This will give you the maximum speed for your computer, while the first option will drain your battery faster.
15. Save your old photos on the cloud. Well, if your system holds a vast collection of pictures, videos & other multimedia files, we suggest you transfer them to the Cloud or on an external hard drive. This will help you save tons of memory & will eventually speed up your old computer.
16. Shutdown & restart your Windows computer frequently. Well, when you keep your system ON for long hours, all the installed programs start hogging the background resources without any trace. So, make sure shutdown or restart your computer at least once a week to prevent these unwanted files and programs from eating your storage space.
17. Though it won’t make a significant change & it’s less secure too. But you can always set up automatic login to your PC. This will help you boot right to the desktop after the restart.
18. Again, it might sound silly, but if you have several files stored in a single folder, it can certainly slow down File Explorer. A better alternative? Make & manage multiple folders with limited files in each.
19. Try using Free tools to remove unwanted toolbars from your Internet browsers.
20. Firefox user? Read our complete guide to speed up your entire browsing experience.
21. Microsoft Edge user? Check out our guide to find the best ways to improve and speed up your surfing experience.
22. If you are an Outlook user, you can try these tips & hacks to reduce memory usage and speed up the process.
23. Increase your system memory with ReadyBoost. It’s a clever feature introduced by Microsoft as a part of Windows Vista. The feature works amazingly well to boost memory by using a flash drive as additional capacity. So, if you are using an older version, this would help you a lot.
24. Clean out your Windows computer – literally. If you are using the same computer for a while, probability can be accumulated dust. Further leading to overheating issues and making your system behaving sluggishly. A thorough cleaning using a blower can help you eliminate those dust particles and unblock the computer vents and airflow.
25. Clean your mouse, keyboard, and other peripheral devices, once in a while to ensure there’s no dust buildup.
26. There are certain files & folders that we have no idea from where & how they are created. Here’s a list of them you can safely delete to recover storage on Windows and speed up the entire process.
27. Are you just tired of slow Internet? Well, try these Internet Accelerators Software for Windows 10, 8, 7 to see a noticeable boost in your surfing speed.
28. Speaking of boosting the Internet speed, it is equally important that you keep a check on your Wi-Fi network using different tools that can help you track who’s stealing your Wi-Fi. Additionally, you should check out our guide to secure your Wireless Network.
29. Switch to Google DNS or OpenDNS to speed up your browsing experience on your Windows 10, 8, 7 PC.
30. Reduce the number of fonts you use. Check out our list of Best Font Managers and delete the fonts you no longer use, as they use limited resources to load upon startup.
31. Toggle off Get tips, tricks, and suggestions as you Windows. To help users get the most out of their PC, Microsoft features a dedicated Tips section. The functionality scans your entire PC to provide you with the best tweaks & hacks. This process has a slight impact on your performance. So, you can turn it off to save little process.
32. Remove Dashboard widgets of gadgets. Although these tiny applications make access to your favorite programs ease at the same time, it cannot be denied that they occupy lots of background resources. We suggest you remove these space-wasters to reclaim performance!
33. If you are an overlocker, you will be interested in using the Best RAM Cleaners & Boosters for all Windows versions.
34. To significantly improve your browsing experience, you should use dedicated Ad-Blockers to ensure you do not get bombarded with unwanted ads. Suggestions for Google Chrome, Firefox & Opera users.
35. Still running Windows XP? Maybe it’s high time to delete your Windows pagefile to observe your RAM reaches 100% of its capacity.
36. Optimize your hard disk storage. Mostly space gets packed with lots of temp files, hibernation files, caches, logs, cookies, browsing history & other residuals. You must delete time regularly to keep your PC in tip-top shape. You can also use a tool like Advanced System Optimizer to see what is taking up space on your computer & you can delete them.
37. Update your computer’s software. Well, upgrading your system to its latest version is worth it when you want to speed up your old Windows PC. Running recent updates also fix certain bugs and glitches that might be slowing down your system.
38. Annoyed with Windows 7 slow startup & shutdown issues? Read our Top 10 Fixes to resolve the issues and regain efficiency on your PC.
39. Can scramble an egg on your computer? Well, it’s probably time to give it a break! An overheated computer cannot yield the smoothest performance ever. Stop using it for a while and let it cool down. It’s equally important to ventilate your PC, so make sure to point a fan at it and use it on a flat surface to air can properly flow.
40. To load up your old Windows computer faster, use a dedicated Startup Manager. Using such programs helps users speed up the boot time of PC and delay the startup of programs. You can even manage the startup items to ensure your PC doesn’t take much time while booting up.
41.Talking about Startup items, we don’t realize, but several useless programs are automatically added on this list, which makes the boot-up process time-taking. You can rely on MSCONFIG utility to disable such items.
42. Manage your right-click menus using the Best Context Managers for Windows 10, 8, 7 to enhance your productivity exponentially.
43. There are plenty of Windows programs like EaseUS Disk Copy, FastCopy & more that makes file copying & transferring swift & faster than ever before.
44. Consider Turning Off Windows Search Indexing Service. If you have a slow hard drive & good CPU, you can certainly keep your search indexing. Otherwise, it’s best to deactivate the feature. It is mainly of no use for users with low capacity hardware.
45. Force Windows to use a wired connection over wireless to ensure faster data transfers across your network.
46. Turn off System Restore. If you use third-party software to take regular backup of your Windows PC. It uses more resources than the manual process.
47. Turn Off Visual Effects. We understand, all these beautiful visual effects & gimmicks, Windows 10 look attractive. But when your computer is not working at par, it’s best to turn off all the fancy transitions and prevent them from using many processes.
48. Sometimes making certain changes in Mouse settings can also help you make the copy, paste process faster. You can scroll and navigate quickly while surfing the Internet and more.
49. Disable unnecessary Windows services. This will help you squeeze out maximum performance from your Windows PC.
50. Optimizing Windows boot time is a great way to yield powerful performance. There are a variety of techniques to do so; one of them is updating your BIOS.
51. Get rid of bloatware. Having a PC packed with lots of pre-installed applications and programs can make any system suffer from latency. It’s better to get rid of such unwelcomed software from your computer to improve performance on Windows.
52. Eliminate unused browser extensions. If your system has certain plugins that are probably of no use to you, it’s better to get rid of them. This will help you boost the browser’s speed significantly.
53. Update available drivers. Sometimes a missing or outdated driver can cause your device to work improperly. To ensure you don’t face any lags, keep the drivers in your PC up-to-date. You can either update device drivers manually using Device Manager or use a dedicated driver updater utility to find and replace compatible drivers automatically.
54. Delete unwanted software. Review your File Explorer and check if your system has specific programs you don’t even remember installing. Once you find them, uninstall them one by one, or you can use a tool like Advanced System Optimizer to delete unwanted software in bulk along with their associated files.
55. Another significant reason why your computer may be running slower than usual has a virus or malware. There are many tools like Systweak Antivirus, Norton 360 Deluxe, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus & more that help you detect and clear out potential malicious content to enhance Windows speed & performance.
56. Cleaning registry regularly. Removing broken shortcuts, fixing missing shared DLLs, and invalid installer references and paths can help you make your old computer pick up great speed. Read here about the Best Registry Cleaners for Windows 10, 8, 7, XP & Vista.
57. Spywares are one of the significant reasons why PC’s become slow. You can check out our complete list of Anti-Spyware Removing Tools to regain performance.
58. In case your system is suffering from deeper spyware infections like Rootkit, you need to take the help of powerful antivirus solutions to get rid of it.
59. Don’t want to spend much on new gear? Overclocking using a dedicated software is the best bet to enhance the speed of your hardware manually. Our list of best tools would help you throughout the process.
60. Make sure you use the fastest browser. There are a plethora of lightweight browsers available in the market that makes your surfing experience seamless. Get to know the best ones here!
61. Use a memory-saving extension. Several browser add-ons work efficiently to reduce the memory footprint of open tabs. One such is The Great Suspender, which makes your computer run smoothly by eliminating the tabs you aren’t using.
62. Are you always complaining about random freezing issues? Giving these fixes a shot is worth it!
63. Are you always stick with a high disk usage problem? Don’t struggle while executing simple tasks; just try these workarounds to fix everything at once.
64. Add more RAM. Well, if you’ve tried all the aforementioned tips & tricks to make your old computer run faster & still not achieved the expected results. Maybe it’s time to look into the hardware issues. Adding extra RAM is extremely affordable and would help you out boosting speed.
65. Install an SSD. If your old computer system is still crippled after applying all these tips & tricks. Upgrade your traditional hard drive to a solid-state drive will give your PC a noticeable boost. This will give your old computer to feel snappy than ever before.66. Still, running slow? Reinstall Windows carefully to refresh your PC with everything new. Hopefully, this PC Optimization trick works the best to speed up the old system.
67. If you’ve already decided to reinstall Windows, make sure you partition your hard drives properly to yield maximum performance.
68. Perform a Clean Installation. This will help you to swiftly erase your hard drive to start from scratch with a new setup. Using the feature, you can resolve performance issues, app issues, improve battery life, and so on.
69. Convert your PC into Virtual Machine. You can follow this guide to enable & configure Hyper-V so that you can run programs, play high-end games on the Virtual Machine instead of the host OS.
70. Speaking of PC games, we recommend investing in an excellent Game Booster Software that can help you enjoy high-end gaming experience without any lags.
Phew! If you’ve gone through the entire list of Tips & Tricks To Speed Up Old Computer, you must be thrilled to know what all can you do to make your PC faster! Well, to be honest, not all the hacks & tweaks will be applicable for every user, but I am sure you’ll find some great workarounds through which you can speed up your computer. If we’ve missed any important hack that can improve old Windows PC’s performance, then do let us know in the comments section below!
We’ll be happy to update our list!
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Can Old PC Affect Internet Speed?
Well, undoubtedly, your device could be responsible for why your Internet is working slow. Older computers, laptops, or mobiles working with slower processors can put a brake on your network connection. To boost smartphone performance, we recommend trying the Best Internet Speed Booster Apps For Android!
Q2. How Do I Clean Up A Slow Computer?
If spending a few bucks is no issue for you, then we recommend you trying the Best PC Cleaners & Optimizers on your Windows 10, 8, 7 or XP. These Windows programs are designed intuitively and feature lots of modules to enhance overall performance and speed up the computer to increase productivity.
Q3. What Is The Best Program To Clean & Speed Up Windows PC?
Advanced System Optimizer is an ultimate solution to boost system performance significantly. It is a perfect blend of basic and advanced tools to clean, optimize & protect your Windows PC so that it can work as a brand-new one. You can check out our complete review to understand more about the program.