Tips to Speed Up Your Old Laptop

Laptops, as with all technology, do not last forever. Over time, even the best which we think of as the latest models begin to slow down. If you’ve had a computer at home for a few years already or you have a once-fast model that has been out of the box for a while, it’s very easy to become frustrated with the performance of a slow system. But that also isn’t very hard to fix; there are plenty of options which will renew your laptop’s energy and get that speed back into the machine. Below is a guide full of practical advice to get your old laptop running fast again without the need for large-scale hardware improvements or a full new purchase. Also included are a variety of methods.

1. Clear out your desktop.

The primary reason for a laptop to run slow is visual clutter. You may have hundreds of icons on your desktop: downloads, applications, files, pictures, and random documents. Also, you have difficulty in finding what you are looking for and, at the same time, your laptop performance is affected.

Each time you boot your computer, it goes through your desktop files and shortcuts, which in turn slows things down. By tidying up your desktop, you give your laptop some relief.

How to do it:

• Sort your files into folders.
• Remove items you don’t require.
• Transfer large files to external devices or cloud space.

2. Get rid of unnecessary programs.

Systematic bloat is a result of installing many programs which you no longer use over the years. Also, these programs take up a great deal of your hard drive space and will slow down your machine, which in turn may also slow background processes or cause programs to launch at startup.

How to do it:

In your Control Panel (which is in Settings) of your laptop, go to the feature which is “Uninstall a Program” or in “System Preferences” which is “Applications” if you’re using Windows or Mac respectively.

Unsure what is a necessary system file? Then don’t uninstall it. Also, get rid of programs you no longer use. Which software you should keep is up to you, but do it with care.

Also, you may use the like of Revo Uninstaller to get rid of leftover files which do not get removed in the standard uninstall process.

3. Control at-boot programs.

Another issue causing slow laptop performance is what we see as bloat in the startup. At boot up, many programs load, which in turn uses up resources and delays the boot process. This includes software updates, sync tools, and other utilities which you may not use running in the background.

How to do it:

In Windows, open up Task Manager, click to open it, and then go to Startup. Disable all the programs which don’t need to run at startup.

Go to “System Preferences” -> “Users & Groups” -> “Login Items” on your Mac and remove any applications which you do not need from that list.

By decreasing application load time at startup, we see an overall reduction of seconds or even minutes in boot time, which in turn improves performance.

4. Upgrade Your OS.

Operating systems updates are not just for new features. Also included in them are bug fixes and performance improvements. To keep your laptop’s OS at its best, do the updates.

How to do it:

• On Windows, go to “Settings” -> “Update & Security” -> “Windows Update”.
• On Mac, go to “System Preferences” -> “Software Update”.

From time to time, it is a good practice to install updates, which also close out security issues that may cause your system to run slow or which may expose it to attacks.

5. Clear out disk space.

Laptops perform slower when the hard drive is full. If your operating system runs out of space to do normal functions like temporary file creation, then the performance of your laptop will drop greatly.

How to do it:

For Windows: In some cases, you may use the “Disk Cleanup” tool which is included in the package. Go to the “Start menu” and type in “Disk Cleanup”, then pick out which of your files you wish to delete.

On your Mac, go to “Storage” in “About This Mac” which is under “Manage”, and then delete out any of the files you don’t need.

Also, you can move large files like videos, photos, and music to an external drive or the cloud, which in turn will free up space on your laptop’s main drive.

6. Improve your RAM.

At the point that your laptop may hang when you open many applications at once; we see that which may be due to low RAM. RAM is what allows for multi-tasking, and the more RAM you have, the better your laptop will perform and avoid hanging.

In Windows, use Task Manager and for Mac, use Activity Monitor to check your RAM.

If you notice that your system is full of RAM which it is using, there will be an apparent change when you upgrade to more.

Before you buy RAM for your laptop, check that your motherboard supports the upgrade. Some laptops which are very thin have RAM that is soldered on and thus not upgradable.

7. Upgrading to SSD (Solid State Drive).

If your computer has a standard hard disk drive, which is what most laptops still have, upgrading to SSD will see a tenfold increase in speed. SSDs use less power, are more reliable, and perform better in terms of speed than HDDs.

How to:

Before you do the upgrade.

Most laptops have seen to it that they present an easy option for users to upgrade from HDDs to SSDs, although some do require a technical touch.

Once you fit out your computer with an SSD, the OS and your files may be updated to new versions, which in turn will see boot times reduced, file transfer speeds increased, and overall performance improved.

8. Clean your laptop physically.

Also, as dust and dirt accumulates, your laptop performance may drop. With time, dust which falls into the fans and through the vents also gets into the inner hardware, which in turn does not allow your laptop to cool off properly. At some point, your laptop’s internal temperature may go up too high, and the processor will slow down to avoid heating up.

How to do it:

Plug in your laptop and unplug it.

Use a can of compressed air on the vents and fans to blow out dust.

If at all you see fit, go ahead and open up the laptop to clean out the insides, but do so in accordance to the manufacturer’s instructions for disassembly.

Physical cleaning will improve your laptop’s performance.

9. Defrag your hard drive (Only for HDDs).

If you have an HDD, you can improve performance by defragging your drive. Your laptop has to work harder to find data when it is stored in many places. Defragmentation puts data in one place so that files are near each other and performance is enhanced.

How to do it:

On Windows, go to the Start menu and find “Defragment and Optimize Drives”, then launch the utility which will defrag your HDD.

Mac users also don’t worry about defragmentation, as macOS takes care of file organization by itself.

Fact: SSDs do not require defragmentation because they experience a different kind of fragmentation which is not present in HDDs.

10. Use Lighter Software.

Most of today’s laptops have trouble with resource intensive applications like modern web browsers, heavy duty image editors, or video editors. To put less strain on your laptop, try to use lighter, more resource friendly versions.

How to do it:

Consider making the switch to a lighter browser like Firefox or Opera instead of Google Chrome, which is known to use a lot of system resources.

Instead of Microsoft Office products, try out their lighter alternatives. For instance, LibreOffice, which has very similar features but uses less of your system resources.

By going with lighter programs, you free up resources for other tasks, which in turn increases your laptop’s efficiency.

11. Reset your laptop to factory settings.

If out of options, you’ve tried everything, and your laptop is still running slow, the time may have come for a full reset. That is a very drastic step which will restore your laptop to how it came from the factory, out of which all data and applications which you added over time will be deleted. While that is a radical solution, in many cases this does bring an older system back to life.

How to do it:

For Windows, go to Settings -> Update & Security -> Recovery -> Reset this PC.

For Mac, hold down Command + R at boot and then choose “Reinstall macOS”.

Do a reset only after you make sure to back up all of your important files and data.

12. Restore Operating System.

Sometimes a simple fix is to restore the latest version of the OS. Over time, which may be a matter of months or years, system files do become corrupted; also, at times, too much unnecessary software has built up and brought the laptop’s speed down from what it used to be.

How to do it:

Create a copy of all of your files to either cloud storage or an external hard drive.

Reinstall your operating system from a bootable flash drive or DVD.

After a fresh installation of your laptop’s OS, everything will be as you found it out of the box; go slow with re-installing apps, as some may suggest to install only what is essential.

Conclusion

With these tips, you will see an improvement in the performance of your aging laptop without large dollar items or new purchases. In some cases, what is required is to upgrade hardware; other times, it is a question of better optimizing that which you already have. Also, as with all things related to tech, in this case your old laptop will run great with proper care. Which is to say, you can get your older machine to perform well for years, as it includes cleaning out that which is inside of it, which programs are starting at boot up, and also the updates of the software.