Windows News and info 15th Anniversary 2009-2024
Windows 11 | Windows 10 News on these iconic operating systems. => Windows 10 Help | How To & Fixes | Tips & Tricks => Topic started by: javajolt on March 11, 2025, 05:40:13 AM
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Danny Miller for NYT Wirecutter
If you’ve had your computer for more than a few years, it might not feel as responsive as it did the day you bought it. Perhaps it’s slow to boot up, or apps take longer to launch and seem sluggish to use. But you might not need to buy a brand-new PC. In fact, to fix this problem you might not even need to spend any money at all. First, try these steps to clean up your old computer, and it may feel brand-new once again.
Step 1: Give it a quick dusting
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Rozette Rago/NYT Wirecutter
Over time, dust can build up inside a computer, making it run hotter and feel slower. We have a detailed guide to cleaning laptops (http://www.windows11newsinfo.com/smf/index.php?topic=42620.0) (and How-To Geek has one for desktops (http://www.howtogeek.com/72716/how-to-thoroughly-clean-your-dirty-desktop-computer/)), but the gist is this: If you can, open up your computer—whether it’s a laptop, desktop, all-in-one, or mini PC—and use compressed air to blow out any dust you see, especially in vents and fans.
If you can’t open up your PC, carefully angle the compressed air to remove dust from vents and ports without blowing it deeper inside; alternatively, you can use a microfiber cloth or cotton swab. You can also clean crumbs and other particles from your keyboard with compressed air and give it a quick wipedown with a microfiber cloth. Easy-peasy!
Step 2: Tidy your files (and back them up!)
Computers run slower when their solid-state drives (SSDs) are nearly full. If it’s been a while since you tidied up your drive (or if you, like me, are a bit haphazard about your file management), this step might take a bit longer. Block out an hour and grab a nice mug of coffee or tea before you settle in.
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Windows Settings is a good starting point for cleaning up your drive.
In Windows Settings, click System and then Storage to find out what’s taking up the most space on your drive. (Don’t worry about the apps yet, we’ll get to those soon.) This menu offers handy shortcuts to folders that you can organize based on our advice (http://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/guides/how-to-organize-your-digital-files/). Removing files listed in the Temporary Files menu is an easy way to reclaim some space, though we recommend manually checking your Downloads folder for anything you want to keep before you blow it up.
On a Mac, open System Settings and navigate to General > Storage. You can click the “i” symbol next to each item for more information on what’s taking up space on your computer and shortcuts to delete files or other things you don’t need. (I do not need a 2.38 GB GarageBand Sound Library, thank you.) The Documents section here has tabs to highlight large files and downloads you may want to trash, and you can do a more thorough dive by opening the Finder in the File Browser tab. You can also remove unused apps in the Storage menu, though we’ll get to that in a couple of steps.
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In the Storage menu on macOS, you can see what’s taking up space.
Don’t forget to organize your desktop (http://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/guides/how-to-organize-desktop-apps/) during this step! Delete the shortcuts and files you don’t need, and sort the things you do need into your filing system. You’ll be left with a handful of shortcuts to your most frequently used files and apps
This is also a good moment to make sure that your files are properly backed up so that you don’t lose important documents or photos if something happens to your computer. The prospect of figuring out a backup system might seem intimidating, but if you follow the steps in our guide to backing up your computer (http://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/guides/how-to-back-up-your-computer/), the process should take less than 15 minutes to set up and will then happen automatically going forward.
Step 3: Refresh the operating system
The quickest way to make your old computer feel new again is to reset the operating system to its initial state. I do it for my desktop PC every few years.
If your computer is fairly new, or if you’d prefer to manually clean up your apps one at a time, skip to the next step. But if your computer is more than three years old, if it’s acting funky, or if you’d like to save some time, resetting its OS will be faster, easier, and more effective than combing through several years’ worth of apps manually.
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Resetting Windows is the fastest shortcut to a fresh-feeling PC.
Before you reset Windows, go to Settings > Apps > Installed apps and make a list of which programs you use frequently. Also, confirm that you have access to your product keys for any essential software that requires them—in the next step, you’ll need to reinstall any apps you need that didn’t come with your computer.
To reset Windows (http://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/reset-your-pc-0ef73740-b927-549b-b7c9-e6f2b48d275e), go to Settings > System > Recovery and click Reset PC. Choose Keep my files and Cloud download. This process will remove all your installed apps and return all your settings to their defaults, but it will keep all of your newly organized personal files. It will also download a fresh copy of Windows, including all the latest updates, in case your install has gotten goofed up over the years.
You probably don’t need to reset your Mac (http://support.apple.com/en-us/102655) unless something isn’t acting right. If you do, first boot into macOS Recovery and then choose to reinstall macOS (http://support.apple.com/en-us/102655). Unlike a Windows reset, performing a reinstall on a Mac won’t remove any existing apps or files, so you’ll need to audit those in the next step.
This process will take a while—from 30 minutes to a couple of hours—but it doesn’t require any supervision. Set it up and go do something else for a while.
Step 4: Audit unused apps
Now it’s time to audit your apps. Removing unused software and games will make your computer feel faster by freeing up valuable drive space and reducing the number of apps running in the background at any given moment. You should remove anything you don’t use, whether it’s preinstalled bloatware or a program you installed years ago and have since forgotten about.
If you reset your Windows PC in the previous step, remember to download and reinstall any frequently used apps that the reset process deleted.
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You can remove unused apps using the three-dot menu.
In Windows, go into Settings > Apps > Installed apps to view every program on your PC. Then, to remove anything you don’t need, click the item’s three-dot icon and choose Uninstall. If you’re not sure what an app is, search for it on Should I Remove It (http://www.shouldiremoveit.com/programs.aspx#google_vignette)? for more info. (We don’t recommend installing the Should I Remove It? software, because it’s a bit bloated itself.)
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On a Mac, the Storage menu offers the easiest way to cull your apps
Apple helpfully sorts them by size here.
Macs don’t come with as much preinstalled bloatware as Windows PCs typically do, but it’s still a good idea to go through your apps and remove anything you previously installed that you no longer need. If you didn’t already do this earlier, you can remove apps by opening System Settings, navigating to General > Storage, clicking the “i” symbol next to Applications, and deleting apps you don’t use.
When you’re finished, we recommend restarting your computer to complete any lingering uninstall processes before you move on to the next step.
source (http://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/how-to-clean-up-your-computer/)