Any help with speeding up a slow laptop?

I have a windows laptop that's almost 4 years old now and it's beginning to slow down quite a bit. Does anyone have any tips of advice of what I can do to get my laptop to speed up?

Spoiler

Many thanks

defrag1.png37.7KB

Reply 1

Miss Maddie

Funnily enough, I do. Laptops slow down when their processor becomes hotter faster. Once the processor is hot CPU throttling takes over to slow everything down and prevent more heat. If your laptops sometimes overheats and shuts down, that's a sign of your CPU not being able to cool down properly.

If you take the back of your laptop and access the cooling fan, you will often find a layer of dust caking the entrance. This dust layer prevents the hot air from escaping. Remove the dust using compressed air and pure alcohol, put it all back together and hey presto; your laptop cooling system will be more efficient preventing CPU throttling and the laptop will run faster.

Reply 2

Mad Vlad

Original post by Rumschpringe

I have a windows laptop that's almost 4 years old now and it's beginning to slow down quite a bit. Does anyone have any tips of advice of what I can do to get my laptop to speed up?

Spoiler

Many thanks

Generally buy a new one.

Clearing out the air intakes and HSF may help. Flattening the OS and starting again will also help.

Reply 3

Rumschpringe

Original post by Madeline_H95

Thanks! It's never shut down from overheating but it does get hot quickly, and the fan is extremely loud- it sounds like an aeroplane. Do you know where I can get compressed air from? So I just need to unscrew the back, remove the dust and put it back together again?

Reply 4

Old_Simon

Delete all your ****.

Reply 5

Rumschpringe

Original post by Mad Vlad

Generally buy a new one.

Clearing out the air intakes and HSF may help. Flattening the OS and starting again will also help.

I'm planning to buy a new one but I can't until late September time because I don't have the money for it yet. I need my current laptop to last me until then (and hopefully a bit longer as I'm giving it to a family member)

Reply 6

Miss Maddie

Original post by Rumschpringe

I follow youtube videos taking you through it step-by-step. Just type in your model number and find the right one. Amazon sells compressed air at a very reasonable price.

Reply 7

Rumschpringe

Original post by Old_Simon

Delete all your ****.

I've already deleted loads of photos and documents I don't need anymore so in terms of files, everything is quite tidy

Reply 8

SallyTheKid

Original post by Old_Simon

Delete all your ****.

I don't think porn is what's slowing her laptop down.

OP, try CCleaner, it clears the cache and stuff and helped enormously with my Acer.

Reply 9

Old_Simon

Original post by Rumschpringe

I've already deleted loads of photos and documents I don't need anymore so in terms of files, everything is quite tidy

Windows generates huge amounts of files of its own which over time take up space. You need a really good clear out and reinstall. Plus check all your anti virus stuff.

Reply 10

PatrickC

The main issue for old laptops is generally over heating to improve this either:
-Clean out or replace the fan as much as possible
-Replace the heat paste on certain components
-Buy a laptop fan stand which help keep it cool.

It might be that it is just getting a bit older and confused (even though the defrag % is low). You could take all of your important files across to an external hard drive and do a clean install of your operating system. Not too difficult to do especially if you have another computer that you can use the internet on to walk you through how. I do this every four years at minimum and it helps a lot.

Good luck

Reply 11

DiddyDec01

Have you tried downloading some more RAM?

Reply 12

Iqbal007

Original post by Rumschpringe

I have a windows laptop that's almost 4 years old now and it's beginning to slow down quite a bit. Does anyone have any tips of advice of what I can do to get my laptop to speed up?

Spoiler

Many thanks

Hard drive defrag standard..............clean out the laptops air intakes, etc and removing the dust, replace the thermal paste, its probably ruined by now. Change the hdd to a ssd.

Reply 13

alexschmalex

If buying a new laptop is out of the question, get an SSD or more RAM, I did the memory upgrade first because my laptop only came with 4GB and it was way too little, adding more helped tons. I did an SSD upgrade a few months ago and now it boots/wakes up instantaneously, although in my eyes since I never put my computer to sleep the results have been less tangible. But those are the two best ways to go imo