- Less errors + crashes
- 1-click repairs + backups
Tom M., Utah, USA
Windows PCs have a reputation for getting a bit sluggish with age. But while your five-year-old computer may never be as fast as it was the day you bought it, much of the slowness comes from problems that are easily fixable if you know what to do. You don’t even have to be a techie. Just set aside an hour or two and follow my instructions to make your Windows 7, XP, or Vista PC faster. Dying to know? Here’s how I made my old PC faster.
If you’re asking yourself, “How do I make my PC faster?” start with the hardware. Before doing anything else, completely unplug your computer from the wall and use a soft, slightly damp cloth to wipe down all the surfaces. Pay close attention to the vents that help keep the computer from overheating. If these are covered in dust, give them a thorough scrubbing. Many techies take their computers apart and do cleanings to the inside, but it’s best to leave this to the pros if you don’t know your way around a PC’s parts. (Just a little tip, as I want to tell you how I make my old PC faster, not broken. ;) )
Step 2: Badware check
The badware check can be done at any stage in this PC makeover, but it’s best to get it out of the way right now just in case there are any pests lurking in the dark corners of your hard drive. If you don’t have an antispyware program installed, get a good one, and let it run a full scan. Don’t worry about it slowing down your PC. Its benefits will greatly outweigh any drag it puts on your resources.
Step 3: Hard-drive cleanup
Once you know your computer is free of badware, run Disk Cleanup followed by Disk Defragmenter. Both are accessible via your Start menu in the System Tools folder within Accessories. Run both individually, and make sure no programs are running the background. The defragmenter may take a long time, especially if you haven’t run it in a while, so be prepared to go do other things for a while during the defragmentation. In the end, it will make your Windows PC faster.
Step 4: Browser cleanup
After running the Disk Cleanup and Defragmenter, open the browser you use most often and clear all the temporary internet files, including your cookies, cache, and history. These take up a surprisingly large amount of disk space and can really drag your resources if you don’t clear them regularly.
Step 5: Program cleanup
One of the simplest answers to the “How can I speed up my PC?” question is to lighten the load. (Makes sense, right? How do I make my old PC faster is a little like how I make my old car faster. Heh.) In your Control Panel, open your Add/Remove Programs wizard, and take a look at the list of programs it displays. Chances are good you have numerous programs that you have never used and never will. Why keep them on your PC? Go through the list one by one and completely remove all programs that you don’t need.
If you want to get fancy with it, download one of the uninstaller utilities available for download (Revo Uninstaller is our favorite). These do a better job of clearing all the files, folders, and registry entries associated with the programs you remove.
Because getting rid of unnecessary software and all of its related — and sometimes hidden — files is such an important way to make your old computer faster, better registry repair software will do it for you. download PC Health Advisor — which, I’ll admit, is one of my fav — helps you uninstall old programs, empty your old computer’s cache, cleans your registry, removes malware, defragments the disk, all while offering one-click repairs and backups. If you try PC Health Advisor — and I recommend it — , click here to download PC Health Advisor.
