What happens when you have an old, poor performing computer which sucks your time and create frustration every day? Here are 7 ways in which you can make the best of it.
1. Upgrade
Did you just install a software or game, and your computer is crawling while loading them?
Yes, it's probably a very good to spend some money, and upgrade that tortoise. It's definitely one of the best ways to speed up the old computer with minimum cost.
While it's not always possible to do an upgrade, especially for laptops, you should still be able to upgrade its RAM and hard disk drive. RAM, also known as PC memory, can give you an extra boost in performance. And upgrading your hard disk to a solid state drive is another way to do it – not only will it boot up faster, your applications will perform better as well.
Just these two minor upgrades will keep your computer fresh and faster.
2. Steroids for CPU
While some computers do not have the option to upgrade their processor unit and graphics card, you can always work around tweaking its processor.
Overclock it.
If you are adventurous enough, you can try overclocking your processor. It's one of the best way to squeeze out more performance without breaking the bank.
3. Monthly Clean Up
Before you jump to conclusion, you may want to troubleshoot your computer and make sure the slowness is not caused by malware – viruses, worms, trojan horses spyware or adware.
Do a full computer scan with your antivirus software like AVG, Symantec or McAfee. Also, you can clean up temporary files, update windows, and defrag your hard disk.
If all else fails, do not despair, you can try to reinstall your operating system from scratch.
4. Speed up Your Applications
Even when it sounds weird to be true, the truth is that some good programs are not optimized to run at their peak performance.
For example, if your web browser loads slowly, it could be due to its history size, installed extensions, or plugins.
5. The Older Versions
If your hardware does not support the latest version of a particular application, like Photoshop CS5, use an older version instead. While running older software is not always the best idea, if it can still get the job done, you will get less frustration and time waste.
6. Deal with Your External Components
Besides their superior performance, brand new computers offer the fresh feeling of owning it, like a brand new car. New mouse, keyboard and speakers. These are the items which you can replace easily, without breaking much of a sweat. Sometimes all you need to do is to just buy new external parts.
It will make your computer feel nicer – at least for a few months.
If you dislike your current mouse or keyboard so much, because of their worn out look or clicking issue, find better ones and replace them instead. (Using a mouse feels so much better than using your laptop's trackpad.)
Hate your old speakers? Get a new headphone set – it's up to you to decide what you want.
It's true that those external parts will not make your computer perform better, but it could save you from pulling your hair – while dealing with the frustration.
7. Light Weight Champion
If you really do not want to part with your old computer, here's another way to get around.
Install another operating system and then try them out.
And there are plenty of options out there. Great news is that some of them are free.
Here are some of the options available in the market today: Linux mint, Chrome OS, Jolicloud, Ubuntu. They should perform better even on older hardware.
If all else fails, seriously, you might have to bite the bullet and go out there to purchase a brand new computer. And if you decide to ditch your old computer, do make sure you recycle it properly.