There’s a motive that unboxing movies and the phrase “new automotive scent” are firmly ensconced within the public groupmind. New stuff is thrilling! New stuff is (theoretically) higher! New stuff is simply plain cool.
However new stuff additionally prices an arm and a leg—not less than for those who’re speaking about a new PC, particularly in these turbulent, inflationary days filled with ludicrously priced components. And also you won’t even really want a brand new PC to perform what you’re trying to do, as a result of most on a regular basis duties don’t require a lot processing energy, particularly now that so many providers have moved onto the online.
Luckily, there are a slew of the way to breathe new life into an older PC that’s beginning to really feel a little bit pokey. Even higher: Most are outright free, a few (nonetheless comparatively low-cost) {hardware} upgrades apart. Certain, these tweaks and ideas aren’t as thrilling as booting up a model new PC for the primary time—however they’ll allow you to proceed to get the job finished with the gear you have already got. Attempt them earlier than you put money into some shockingly cheap PC upgrades and even a whole new laptop.
Let’s begin with the easier issues first. In case your laptop is chugging, an excessive amount of software program booting at system begin could be responsible. Earlier than you’re taking extra drastic measures, clear up your startup by opening the Startup tab of Home windows 10 or 11’s Process Supervisor, or typing “msconfig”—minus the citation marks—in Home windows 7 and opening its Startup tab.
Whilst you don’t need to disable Home windows processes, or processes associated to your {hardware}, ruthlessly get rid of the rest that you would be able to establish if in any respect doable. You wouldn’t need to forestall your antivirus from launching at startup, however there’s no motive for Steam or Adobe Reader to hog your system assets aside from whenever you explicitly want them. Home windows helpfully tells you the way a lot of an affect every program has in your startup time. Take out any Excessive-impact, non-essential packages first, then transfer down the checklist from there. Our information to speeding up your PC in 60 seconds goes deeper into the kinds of packages you may need to allow and disable at startup. If slicing again your boot packages doesn’t do the trick, it’s time to attempt some deeper cleansing. Eradicate any packages you don’t truly use—PC makers stuff computers full of bloatware. Seek for “Add or take away packages” within the Home windows search field and work via the checklist of put in packages.
Run a safety sweep when you’re at it, in case malware is slowing down your system. PCWorld’s information to the best antivirus suites may also help, however the Windows Security tool constructed proper into Home windows 10 and 11 does a surprisingly good job at eradicating threats. Don’t hassle defragmenting your storage. You shouldn’t even defrag SSDs, and when you have a conventional spinning exhausting drive, most trendy working methods carry out the duty routinely.
Scrub your {hardware} when you’re busy scrubbing all that undesirable software program, too. Ideally, you need to clear out the inside of your PC as soon as per yr, however let’s be sincere—most individuals by no means pry open their case and blow out the mud bunny horde. Over time, the collected gunk can wreak havoc with temperatures inside your PC, which in flip makes your PC elements both throttle again efficiency to compensate for the elevated temperatures, or simply plain battle.
No joke: As soon as a member of the family known as me over as a result of his PC was sluggish and unresponsive. Merely cleansing out the inches of mud inside his machine made the system run like new. Try PCWorld’s guide to PC cleaning earlier than cracking open your case. And clean out your mechanical keyboard when you’re at it, too. It might probably get gnarly underneath these buttons.
Nonetheless operating gradual? We’re operating out of pure software program optimization methods now. Home windows is infamous for slowing down over time. For those who’ve by no means refreshed your PC with a recent Home windows set up, now’s the time to do it.
Again up all of your vital system information, both by cobbling together native Windows tools or investing in a comprehensive Windows backup program like our present favourite, the excellent R-Drive Image 7. Utilizing a cloud backup service would additionally work. Be sure you have your Home windows product key in hand—Belarc Advisor may also help if want be—and follow this guide to slap a recent, factory-new copy of Home windows in your laptop. (The article’s just a few years previous, however the information’s nonetheless good.) Be warned: For those who’re utilizing a manufacturer-supplied restoration disk, you’ll want to scrub all of the preinstalled bloatware off your machine after reinstalling Home windows.
Don’t have cash for brand new gear? Overclocking—utilizing software program to manually pace up the clock speeds of your {hardware}—enables you to get extra out of what you have already got, although most laptops lock down the aptitude. Assuming your desktop PC has correct cooling and a CPU that’s able to overclocking (Intel limits it to chips with a “Ok” designator on the finish, whereas AMD solely locks down its most advanced Ryzen X3D chips), boosting your processor and graphics card’s clock speeds can have a noticeable impact in your PC’s efficiency.
Boosting your laptop processor is a handbook endeavor, and our information to overclocking your CPU can stroll you thru every step. It’s simpler on trendy GeForce and Radeon graphics playing cards. You possibly can select to use an automatic overclock to your GPU within the Wattman part of AMD’s Radeon Settings device, and Nvidia’s GeForce Expertise software program affords an auto-overclocking feature of its own. In case your software program doesn’t, or if you wish to push your overclocks to the furthest doable limits (as auto-OC instruments are typically conservative), our information to overclocking your graphics card manually may also help.
Alternatively, in case your older graphics card is operating sizzling in your system, undervolting it may very well be the important thing to taming it, and conserving it pleased for months to return. Our information to undervolting pros and cons walks via why it is best to (or shouldn’t) scale back the juice to your graphics card.
In case your laptop’s nonetheless feeling crippled after all of the software program methods, you’ve a few completely different choices: Change out some {hardware}, or fully alter how you utilize your PC. Let’s dig into the previous first.
In relation to pure efficiency, upgrading from a conventional exhausting drive to a solid-state drive is like buying and selling in your horse and buggy for a Ferrari. Significantly: Upgrading to an SSD will totally blow you away, supercharging the whole lot from boot occasions to utility launches to file transfers. That is the one most noticeable PC improve most individuals could make. An SSD could make even a clunky previous laptop computer really feel comparatively snappy, and yow will discover all kinds of drives going for round 10 cents per gig as of late, so you may get a 500GB drive for $50 to $60 or much less for those who store round.
Just about any SSD will smoke even the quickest exhausting drives, however our roundup of the best SSDs can information you in direction of the most effective choices. We have now a information to installing an SSD in your laptop, too.
Home windows has an impressively small footprint, however for those who’re operating a pc with lower than 8GB of RAM, it might probably negatively have an effect on your efficiency in different methods. Reminiscence-constrained methods are slower at gaming, slower at booting up, and might begin to choke for those who start to multitask closely (together with having too many browser tabs open directly). Including extra RAM may also help. You’ll need to fully change the reminiscence in your system for those who’re upgrading to keep away from potential conflicts, however an 8GB reminiscence module (or an 8GB equipment of two 4GB modules) can usually been discovered for underneath $50 at fundamental speeds, except you’re constructing a cutting-edge PC with cutting-edge DDR5 memory inside.
Upgrading your desktop reminiscence is simple: Simply come out the sticks positioned within the slots subsequent to the CPU in your motherboard, then swap within the new ones. Make sure you’ve chosen the right RAM type first, although. Notebooks might be trickier. Try our guide to upgrading your laptop’s RAM for those who need assistance.
Rob Schultz/IDG
Generally it’s simply not value placing new {hardware} into an previous PC. However that doesn’t make it ineffective! For those who nonetheless want to make use of your growing older laptop computer or desktop as an day-to-day precise laptop, putting in an working system with a lighter footprint than Home windows may also help you eke extra life out of an growing older PC. Linux tends to run higher than Home windows on much less potent {hardware}. In reality, a number of Linux variants are particularly designed with ultra-minimalist necessities in order that they’re capable of run on previous PCs—Puppy Linux, LXLE, and Lubuntu come to thoughts instantly. The transition from Home windows to Linux isn’t as tough because it was once, however you’ll nonetheless need to take a look at our beginner’s guide to Linux, together with the software program suggestions on the final web page. Alternatively, you possibly can turn any PC into a Chromebook for free with Google’s ChromeOS Flex. (ChromeOS additionally runs atop Linux bones.)
Linux isn’t the one means you possibly can repurpose a pc. Moderately than utilizing a pokey PC as a conventional do-it-all machine, think about giving your system a singular function when you have one other PC you should use as your main rig. Let’s take a look at some methods you may make out of date computer systems purposeful as soon as once more.
For those who’re a gamer, the best possibility for an previous laptop computer is solely to use it to sport when you’re away out of your major gaming rig. “However Brad!” I hear you wailing. “You possibly can’t sport on an previous PC!” Ah, however you possibly can with a good Web connection. After years of teasing, the promise of cloud gaming’s lastly coming true, letting even essentially the most humble computer systems get in on the motion by streaming your gameplay from far-away servers, Netflix-style. There are a number of providers out there now, from Nvidia’s GeForce Now to Xbox Cloud Gaming to Sony’s PlayStation Plus. Our information to the best cloud gaming services may also help you select the most effective match on your specific wants, although PC avid gamers with intensive libraries will possible get essentially the most use out of GeForce Now.
And there’s at all times Steam in-home streaming if you wish to use an older PC as a secondary gaming laptop. Steam in-home streaming runs video games in your beefy gaming rig, however beams them over your property’s Wi-Fi community so you possibly can play them on different gadgets. It’s like cloud gaming, however proper inside your property.
Talking of repurposing your {hardware}, two frequent makes use of are to remodel an previous PC right into a devoted house theater PC or a file server.
It’s not even that arduous to do, although clearly it means your PC’s e-mail and Workplace days are over. Some superior free software program out there for every use: Snag MediaPortal or Kodi for a would-be HTPC, or FreeNAS to build out a badass home server.
Generally, although, a system is simply too far gone to be of sensible use. In case your previous canine must be introduced behind the shed, we may also help you discover a new laptop. Our guides to the best laptops typically, the best laptops under $500, and the best Chromebooks may also help level you in the appropriate path on your wants for those who’re on a good funds. We additionally preserve twice-weekly roundups of the best laptop deals and the best desktop PC deals.
Brad Chacos spends his days digging via desktop PCs and tweeting too much. He makes a speciality of graphics playing cards and gaming, however covers the whole lot from safety to Home windows ideas and all method of PC {hardware}.
Streamline your startup
Spring cleansing pt. 1
Spring cleansing pt 2
Reinstall Home windows
Overclock! (Or undervolt)
Set up an SSD
Add extra RAM
Swap to Linux or ChromeOS Flex
Embrace cloud gaming
Fling some information
Chew the bullet
Author: Brad Chacos, Govt editor 
