How to Make Your Old Computer Run Like New

Is your old computer getting somewhat slow on you? This will definitely happen over time due to the many programs you install, and of course due to the fact that your computer is a little bit old. Naturally, installed programs typically come with additional files, registry entries, toolbars and start-up items that all combine to make your computer sluggish. You can do some simple computer maintenance regardless of your experience to keep your computer running smoothly. If you have not done it in months, or even years, then this could take some time to do the first time. If you find this overwhelming, please don’t give up because you can always call a really good tech support company to take a look at your aging computer.

Uninstall any programs you do not use or need
All programs installed will eventually swamp your hard drive. If you no longer use them, now is the time to uninstall them. Windows uninstaller and poorly designed installations mean that removing a program may not always remove everything. You can remedy this by going to the Program Files on your hard drive and looking for the specific program you just uninstalled and simply deleting that program’s folder.

Clean your hard drive of junk files
Windows does have a junk file cleaner, though some say it isn’t very good. If you don’t have anything else, you can still use this. Some antivirus programs have a file cleaner that gets a lot more junk files out of your computer while still being safe and fairly conservative. If you don’t have this, you can simply download and install a file cleaning program that comes free.

Defragment your hard drive
To explain in layman’s terms, your computer has a lot of unneeded junk files on it and they are scattered all over your hard drive. The files are arranged inside your hard drive, but as time goes by, the arrangement becomes cluttered due to so many files. Defragmenting your hard drive can place everything on your hard drive in a way that makes it faster for your computer to access files and re-arranges them back in their proper order. Microsoft includes a disk defragmenter, which is easy to use and follow. It is recommended to check at least once a month if your computer needs defragmentation.

Remove startup items
Startup items are a huge culprit on the average computer. Those are all being loaded on startup, and all of those items are loading after Windows has started robbing you of valuable system resources before you open your first program. You can use the Windows cleanup tool and simply remove these startup items. Typically you find a lot of items from Java, Adobe, QuickTime, and iTunes that do not need to be there.