I can’t tell you how many times I have been asked, “how can I speed up my computer?”, which is usually followed by a conversation about purchasing a new computer. Honestly, purchasing a new computer is AWESOME, and nothing runs quite like a new pc right out of the box, but before you spend the big bucks on a new machine, there are 3 things that will almost always breathe new life into an older machine.
- Do a clean install of Windows! There is nothing that can compare to doing a clean install of your operating system, and cleaning out all of the extra, unneeded and unwanted files that programs leave behind. Yes, there are ways to clean off these files without a clean install, in fact, there are lots of programs that promise this, some of them are scams, and others are somewhat effective, but nothing is as effective as reinstalling from scratch. This does require a back up of your files and some reconfiguration and reinstallation of the programs that you use, but it provides a great opportunity to NOT reinstall programs that you really don’t need or use.
- Upgrade your RAM Memory! In older machines RAM chips are often very inexpensive, and you can often double your RAM for less than $100. Often RAM is easy to install as well. Of course, if you don’t know what your doing, you can cause damage in the process, so make sure you know your stuff before you start taking your machine apart.
- Swap your traditional hard drive for a Solid State Drive (SSD). SSD’s read way faster than traditional, spinning disk, hard drives because there are no moving parts. Also the cost of these drives has fallen over the last few years, making them a very reasonably priced upgrade that will result in faster read times (not as fast as your RAM, but way faster than your old drive) and are also less susceptible to damage from impact (especially in laptops….I’ve seen how some of you people treat your laptops).
So before you relegate your older computers to the recycle bin, make sure that they are maxed out on upgrades, and if your going to buy a new machine anyway, pass on your old stuff to someone like me who will recondition them and find them a good home. For more information about getting any or all of these done to your more experienced machines, shoot me an email or give me a call.