We all dread that moment – when your x-year old laptop starts showing signs of wear and tear. It starts working a tad slower; it takes forever to load after you’ve booted it and you’re waiting for an eternity, praying for your desktop screen to appear ASAP. While all signs point to a much-needed upgrade and laying your trusty machine to rest in a recycling facility, you just can’t say goodbye. It can be for sentimental reasons – you’ve been through the best of times, the worst of times with your computer. It can also be because of financial reasons – you haven’t saved up yet for a new machine.
Whatever the cause of your deep attachment to your laptop is, you would need to make sure that your laptop can still function in some sort of serviceable level, especially if you still want to use it regularly for work. There are some things you can do to revive your reliable laptop (as long as the hard drive has failed, and then you will need laptop data recovery), not as good as new, but in a way that will serve you well and affirm your decision to not let it gather dust or worse, throw it in the dumpster.
Get an SSD in the mix
Adding a solid-state drive (SSD) instead of relying on the built-in mechanical hard drives of your laptop will cause your machine to speed up. If you choose to have an external SSD, you’ll also have additional storage that could unload your hard drive. If your laptop has a DVD or CD drive, you may have the option of swapping that with an SSD to take its place. There are also external SSDs, so the choice is yours.
When you want to add storage to your computer using the most convenient and fastest-working technology, an external solid-state drive (or SSD) is the best choice. It’s a plug-and-play storage option that delivers reliability and quick read/write speeds.
Get the RAM you need
If what you do with your laptop is confined to web browsing and word processing, then the size of your RAM already in your laptop may suffice. However, if you must involve your laptop in some intense tasks like photo or audio editing, you may need to add more RAM. But make sure you’ll only add enough to suit your needs, or you might be wasting money.
Random Access Memory, usually shortened to “RAM” or simply “memory,” is one of the most important parts of any computer. New PCs and similar devices range from around the 4GB mark to 16GB — or more. But how much RAM do you actually need? The amount of memory you require will depend on two factors: What you want to do and how much you’re willing to spend.
(Via: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-much-ram-do-you-need/)
Consider a deep clean
By deep clean, we mean cleaning your laptop itself, not its files or contents. Dust may have accumulated on its nooks and crannies, which has compromised the performance of your processor and graphics card. Compressed air, toothpicks, and cotton buds may help your old laptop perform better.
Finding your computer has been acting sluggish and less sprightly than before? Take a look through these seven steps and see if you can put some spring back into your computer.
(Via: https://www.gearbrain.com/how-to-clean-your-computer-2644901306.html)
Time to reinstall Windows
If your laptop has been with you for quite some time already, there’s a large chance that it’s already full of bloatware, forgotten programs, and other junk. A clean reinstall of Windows might do the trick and make your laptop speedier.
A clean install is the ultimate troubleshooting technique, virtually guaranteed to eliminate performance or compatibility problems caused by third-party software, temporary files, configuration errors, and garden-variety malware. Done right, the result is a PC that starts from a known good state, with either the default Windows 10 configuration or a previously tested configuration that includes specific third-party software and drivers.
(Via: https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-whats-the-right-way-to-do-a-clean-install/)
Consider joining the Windows 10 bandwagon
Windows 10, with its current bugs, may still not be the most stable version, but if your laptop has specs that can accommodate it, you’ll be free of apps that came with the older Windows version. With an update comes a more streamlined OS, which your laptop might appreciate. You might seriously consider the 20H1 Windows upgrade.
In addition to giving users more freedom to remove apps they don’t want, the operating system will also upgrade Cortana, allow users to go passwordless and introduce a new tablet-style experience for 2-in-1 PCs.
If in the process of cleaning your laptop’s files, you accidentally deleted very important files, do not despair.