Quick Tips For Speeding Up an Old And Slow Computer

Regardless of brand, most computers have more or less the same length of life, be it HP, Dell, Acer or any other of the multitude of machines around. After a few years of use, machines start to feel slow, and you soon find yourself debating about whether it’s time to retire the old workhorse in favour of a shiny new computer. But while buying new tech is an enjoyable experience for many people, it’s not always necessary to completely dispose of an old computer, and there are several ways in which you can speed one up to a comfortable level. Upgrading computer memory or hard drive can often make a substantial difference.

• Do a clean install of your OS. As you have installed and uninstalled software, there is often small piece left behind. This forces the computer to take these parts into account, even if they are not used. When doing a clean install, you remove everything from your hard drive and start with a clean slate. This will speed up the boot time and make your experience so much smoother. Remember to back up important documents and information to an external drive or memory stick before though! This is also a great opportunity to upgrade your system to the latest version.
• Upgrade your computer memory (RAM). If you have less than 4GB of RAM you should consider doubling that. This will speed up your computer as more information can be written to the memory instead of to your hard drive, which is significantly slower. Please note that you need a 64-bit operating system for RAM exceeding 4GB.
• Get a SSD (Solid State Drive). An SSD is a hard drive (storage unit) that operates without any moving parts, this speeds up both the read and write times significantly. Replace your normal hard drive, and it will make your machine respond much faster.

If you upgrade/replace these parts your old computer will be much more responsive and will last you quite a while longer (for a relatively small sum of money).