When it comes to speeding up your old laptop, just know that there are a lot of things you’re going to have to give up.
The picture above shows the specs of the computer I currently use for all my video editing and web surfing.
Now if I was using it just to surf the web and stream videos on YouTube and other platforms, sure I wouldn’t bother about speed, most computers can do that.
But things like gaming, video editing, even some aspects of coding are going to be close to impossible if you don’t optimize or speed it up.
So here are my tips for speeding up your old computer from my experience.
Limit Background Internet Processes
I recently made a video about simplewall. You can use this software to stop background internet activities on your computer. Click here to download it.
Most times as you use your computer, there are a lot of things happening in the background such as Microsoft updates, driver updates, just lots of data transfers.
While this is not a bad thing, it will slow your computer down, especially if you’re working on something. So the best thing is to stop them temporarily while you work by using software like Simplewall.
By the time you’re done working, you can stop the restrictions so your computer can get all the updates it needs. And you on the other hand can go do something else.
Free Up Space
Another thing you can do to keep your computer running smoothly is to ensure it has enough space. The hard drive is the part of the computer that stores everything you have on it.
All your pictures, videos, music, and other software like the browser you’re using.
So when you are running out of space, try deleting some of the things that take up a lot of space, you’ll also have to delete them from the recycle bin.
It’s understandable to want to keep all the pictures and videos because they mean a lot to you, however having them on your computer is just going to slow it down.
The best thing to do in this case is to get an external hard drive where you can transfer all the stuff the computer doesn’t need.
I also have one for this reason, it has around 100GB left so that means I’ll have to go get another one soon.
I’ve been using this one for 5 years now.
If you wish to get one for yourself, here’s a 500GB SSD on Amazon I can recommend, and if you’re looking for double the size, here’s a 1TB SSD. All you have to do after getting them is move your files.
Use An Optimization Software
While an optimization software isn’t going to magically make your computer as fast as the ones that cost thousands of dollars, it’s just the extra push the computer needs in terms of optimization.
I use Advanced System Care by IObit, and I recommend it.
It’s free and it does a lot of things like freeing up space, defragmentation, registry optimizations, and a whole lot more.
Compared to the normal Windows Disk Cleanup that I used to use, Advanced System Care is a lot better.
Now, there’s a paid version for it that will do more optimizations, I recommend going for it if you can afford it.
Uninstall Software You Don’t Need
This also goes in hand with freeing up space on your computer. I struggle with it a lot because I like testing out a lot of software. After all, that’s what I’m into.
However, my computer sometimes doesn’t want to work with me when I have too many of them installed, so the best thing to do is to remove them.
So just go to your list of programs and remove the ones you don’t need. And when it comes to installing new software, avoid the ones that are too heavy and recent. Go for older versions.
At this stage our computers are like grandmas, not that grandmas aren’t awesome they give you money and lots of food but that’s not the point.
Teaching your grandma how new tech works can sometimes be a pain. Sometimes not just for you but for her as well. You might both end up frustrated and either just stick to the little she understands or just abandon ship.
So stop forcing your laptop to run Farcry 6 when you can’t even get Farcry 3 to run smoothly. You’re just going to make it suffer while you get frustrated.
If you want the game, go watch it on YouTube. It’s definitely not the same experience, but it’s better than no experience at all.
Avoid Heavy Updates
When I say heavy updates, I mean updates that you don’t necessarily need, for example, I’ve been using programs that were released like 2 years back, and even though they’ve received updates, I won’t be updating.
Not because getting updates isn’t great, but because the updates will work better with recent computers.
You should regularly update your Windows OS, you should also update all your light programs like your browsers, drivers, you know those things that don’t usually take hours to update.
But when it comes to those heavy programs, if you manage to find the ones that work well, just stick to them.
If you’re able to use them offline, that’s an even better deal.
Add More RAM
When I got the computer I’m currently using, it came with just 4GB of RAM, at first it was okay, but as I installed more heavy programs, the computer couldn’t handle the work so I had to get more RAM.
So I added 4GB more to make it 8GB in total.
I wouldn’t say this dramatically improved the speed, but it’s better than it used to be.
Doing this may be technical for some of you because you can’t just download RAM to your computer, you’ll have to buy it and open up some part of your computer to add it.
So I’ll suggest reaching out to someone that knows how to handle it.
You can also search on YouTube to find out how to add more RAM to your type of computer.
Plan Ahead
You know, you could read this article again in 5 years from now and it would still be helpful, but I don’t it would be helpful if you’re still using the same computer you are currently trying to speed up.
So I would strongly recommend you plan for a new computer, especially if you’re going to be using it for work or you just want to play games on it.
And not just any computer but one with good specs. I can’t recommend any for now, but if you want my recommendation, let me know in the comments.
Conclusion
I know how annoying it is when your computer starts to lag, trust me I experience it every day, but no worries, we’ll work with what we have until we can afford what we want.
Let me know the strategies you’ve tried in the past to speed up your computer, you might help others through your comment.
If you found the article helpful, let me know in the comments.
