Digital Trends

You can find entire websites and enthusiast communities dedicated to cutting your Windows boot time by milliseconds and squeezing every last drop of visual performance from your system in high-end games like Crysis, but what does the average Joe do when his once-trusty steed begins to limp? Put her down and buy a new one, usually.

That’s a pretty poor option when many people are struggling to even make rent and pay mortgages, and as most tech-savvy geeks know, it’s usually not necessary, either. Therefore we’ve rounded up a few simple ways to go about unclogging the congested arteries of your poor machine and restoring it to its former athletic glory, along with inexpensive ways to upgrade it without springing for a brand new desktop.

The following tips stack up in order of increasing difficulty: Steps one through three represent relatively simple (and free) tasks that novices can undertake to upgrade their machines, while steps four and five require a bit more knowledge, time, and in some cases, money, to accomplish. Follow them in order, and you’ll be on your way back to peak performance in no time.

Step 1: Check for Viruses

Your first step should be checking for viruses. When it comes to system slowdown, they’re the culprit the majority of the time, and because most good anti-virus software can remove them automatically, you won’t have to invest much time in ensuring your PC is clean. We recommend the free versions of Avira AntiVir and AVG Antivirus. Both offer comprehensive virus scanning with free updates, as well as the built-in ability to deal with the viruses that crop up (many “free online scanners” will only point out the problem then ask you to buy something before you can do anything about it). Either program will walk you through the scanning and cleaning process after you download it, leaving your computer squeaky clean – or at least free of the really bad stuff.

Avira AntiVir and AVG Antivirus