What Can I Do With an Old Computer

Windows PCs irksome downward over time—that'southward the pop wisdom, at least.

Your PC'southward hardware isn't actually becoming slower, though. Startup programs, junk files, and fifty-fifty clumps of grit are just weighing it downwards. If you give your PC'south software and hardware a quick tune-up, it should run like it did the day you bought it. Cheap hardware upgrades can even make your PC run faster than it always did.

Software Tune-Ups

1. Disable or remove unwanted startup programs

Many programs install system tray utilities or services that piggyback onto your organisation's startup routine, slowing your PC's boot time and wasting valuable RAM.

In Windows eight, right-click your taskbar, select Task Manager, click More details, and use the Startup tab to disable programs you don't need. The Task Manager even tells you how much time each plan adds to your boot procedure.

Windows 8 Task Manager manage startup programs — You can plough off programs that starting time automatically with the Windows 8 Task manager.

In Windows 7, yous can use the Startup manager in CCleaner to change which programs start after a boot. In CCleaner, navigate to Tools > Startup. Of course if you don't use a program, yous should probably uninstall it entirely from your Control Panel instead of just disabling it.

windows 7 ccleaner manage startup programs — CCleaner can assistance you to plough off unwanted programs that kickoff automatically when Windows 7 starts.

2. Make clean upwardly unnecessary system files

Use a tool like CCleaner or the Disk Cleanup programme included in Windows to clear unnecessary files from your PC. These files have up infinite and tin can fifty-fifty boring down your PC.

The Windows 8 Disk Cleanup utility will help by eliminating unneeded files from your hard drive.

To open the Disk Cleanup programme on Windows, start by tapping the Windows central to open up your Start carte du jour or Start screen. Blazon Disk Cleanup, and click the Free up disk infinite past deleting unnecessary files shortcut in Windows 8 or the Disk Cleanup shortcut in Windows vii.

The Windows 7 Disk Cleanup utility tin help you free up

Use CCleaner if you want to clean up fifty-fifty more types of temporary files. You may want to tweak CCleaner's settings first though, as information technology will erase your browser history, cookies, enshroud, and other data you may want to keep.

Windows 7 CCleaner remove temporary files — CCleaner tin can assistance you make clean up some of those pesky temporary file in Windows 7 that the Disk Cleanup utility may miss.

3. Defragment and optimize your hard drives

Modern versions of Windows defragment drives automatically in the background, and then you probably don't take to defragment your hard drive manually. Even so, it doesn't injure to cheque.

Tap the Windows cardinal to open the Start menu or Starting time screen, type Defragment, and launch the Disk Defragmenter in Windows 7 or the 'Defragment and optimize your drives tool' in Windows 8. Analyze your drives, and the tool will tell y'all whether you need to defragment them.

Windows 8 Optimize and defragment drives — The Windows 8 Optimize Drives utility is safe for both traditional hard drives and SSDs.

Windows vii's Disk Defragmenter should turn down to defragment solid-country drives, while Windows 8'southward Deejay Defragmenter is now named "Optimize Drives" considering information technology can also optimize solid-country drives.

4. Proceed your system free of viruses and malware

Even if yous're using antivirus software and otherwise playing it safe, newer kinds of malware tin can sneak into your organization and squealer resources.

The nuclear option is reinstalling Windows entirely and starting anew. In Windows 8, yous tin utilise the Refresh your PC characteristic to effectively reinstall Windows. You'll keep your personal files, but yous'll get a fresh desktop organization and will have to reinstall your desktop software.

The Windows 8 Refresh PC utility will reinstall Windows eight and wipe out all program files, but exit your personal files intact.

On Windows 7, you tin utilize your manufacturer's recovery segmentation or reinstall Windows 7 from an installation disc.

If you refresh your PC or reinstall Windows from your manufacturer'south recovery partition, you'll demand to clean up all that nasty bloatware to make it run as fast as possible.

5. Upgrade to a newer operating system

You tin also upgrade your PC's operating system. If you lot take a really aboriginal PC—maybe you have an old Windows XP PC lying around—you can try installing a lightweight Linux system on it to give information technology a new lease on life.

Old computers that came with Windows Vista can probably be sped upwardly by updating them to Windows 8.1 or even Windows 7, merely it may non be worth the $100 for a new Windows license. You're ordinarily meliorate served putting that money towards newer, faster PC hardware.

Hardware Cleaning

Heat can also cause your PC to slow downward over fourth dimension. If your PC can't cool itself efficiently, it may throttle down your CPU or graphics hardware to operate safely, giving you reduced functioning. Excessive heat tin damage your PC's hardware over time or crusade it to unexpectedly shut down to forestall itself from suffering astringent harm.

If you hear your PC's internal fans whirring to maximum speed during light or moderate usage, it may be a sign that your system is overheating.

1. Bust the grit

Give your PC's case a regular cleaning to forbid grit build-upwards.

While your computer is powered off and unplugged, open up its case and give it a spray with canned air to clean out that nasty dust clinging to fans and blocking vents. Depending on how long information technology's been since yous final cleaned your PC, you may find it surprisingly dusty!

You may also desire to endeavor cleaning out your laptop's cooling fans, only opening up a laptop may be more difficult.

2. Replace the paste

Your computer's CPU and GPU apply a thermal compound to help dissipate heat. This compound sits betwixt your both your CPU and your GPU and their corresponding heatsinks. The paste conducts heat from the heat-generating flake to the heatsink. The heatsink is and so cooled by moving air pushed by a fan.

This is similar to how your car cools itself. If yous imagine your your CPU or GPU as an engine and the oestrus sink every bit the radiator, the thermal paste would be the coolant.

The compound, like the coolant in your car, can deteriorate over fourth dimension. This tin can crusade problems cooling your CPU or GPU.

Y'all tin can disassemble your GPU and replace its thermal paste or remove the heatsink from your CPU and supervene upon the CPU'south thermal paste. You'll want a sparse, flat, uniform layer of paste.

Hardware Upgrades

Hardware upgrades tin can also requite your PC a new charter on life. Of course, hardware upgrades aren't ever the correct solution. If your PC is a decade erstwhile, you won't exist able to speed it up much with a hardware upgrade. Y'all'd be better off buying a new PC entirely. With that in mind, here are the all-time bang-for-the-cadet upgrades.

1. Replace your drives

The bottleneck in most PCs—that is, the slowest part of the PC that y'all find yourself waiting for nearly often—is the hard disk drive.

Solid-state drives are much faster than traditional magnetic difficult drives, although they do offer less storage space per dollar. Y'all tin go a 120 GB SSD for $100, while you can become a ii TB—that'southward over 17 times more storage—magnetic hard drive for most the same toll.

If your PC is only a few years old simply it seems similar the hard disk is the slowest part, you can probably boost its speed past upgrading it with a solid-state bulldoze. You may even exist able to upgrade your laptop with an SSD. Whatever you practise, exist sure to motility your operating system and program files to the SSD.

ii. Upgrade your Random Admission Memory (RAM)

More RAM can aid too, but only if your PC doesn't accept plenty of it already.

RAM holds your PC's working memory. If you take also little RAM, your PC volition have to constantly read and write to the pagefile on its hard drive, slowing everything downwards. If you go this route, exist sure you buy the correct type of RAM for your PC.

To install the RAM, power off the PC, open it up, and snap in the new sticks of RAM. Some laptops even allow easy admission to their RAM slots so you tin can upgrade their RAM.

3. Upgrade your CPU or graphics carte

Other upgrades are a bit more niche. If yous're a gamer and desire to run games on higher graphical settings, yous may want to upgrade your PC's graphics card.

Bear in mind that your performance bottleneck may be your CPU: If your CPU isn't fast plenty, upgrading your graphics card may not assist much.

CPU upgrades are possible, but Intel regularly introduces new socket formats, which means new CPUs may non fit in older motherboards. Besides note that an Intel CPU won't work in a motherboard with an AMD CPU socket, and vice versa. Yous may have to upgrade your motherboard as well, and at that point, y'all may just desire to think about buying or building a new reckoner.

Your one-time PC hardware won't concluding forever. New software will eventually get more than and more than demanding, and your old hardware will one day succumb to entropy and physically break down. Fortunately, some basic system maintenance can extend any PC'southward usable life. Take care of your PC and information technology will keep you happy longer.

higginbothammothip.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/439721/how-to-upgrade-an-old-pc-no-brainer-improvements-anyone-can-do.html