morning list

For surfing the Internet and doing some office work, you can reasonably keep a mid-range PC for five to ten years, provided you take care of it. However, after a few years, Internet browsing becomes less responsive and PC menus often lose fluidity. The manipulations below will probably give your PC enough power to last you a few years… and save you the purchase of a new device.

• initial

(About an hour’s work.)

There is a good chance of improving the situation with new habits of abstinence. Remember to systematically close the software after use. Also close those tabs in your browser which are used the least. Avoid leaving your computer on standby forever: Shut it down completely from time to time. Then remember to turn it back on ten minutes before you use it, so it has time to start up quietly. And uninstall any software you added to your PC that you don’t use today.

If you’re using a laptop, keep its power cord plugged in as often as possible to prevent it from slowing down in an attempt to save battery power. And if Internet browsing feels decidedly slow, just try moving closer to your Wi-Fi source.

If you have an adventurous spirit, consider replacing some of the software with a more frugal equivalent. If you use the Internet browser Chrome or Firefox, try replacing it with Microsoft Edge, which often consumes slightly less RAM. But never ditch your old browser until you’re sure you’ve transferred your bookmarks and passwords to its replacement. Also remember to replace your office suite with a lightweight equivalent, such as the open and free Apache OpenOffice suite.

• intermediate

(From one to five hours of work.)

Check that your computer’s storage memory is not full. This can make the computer very slow. If necessary, free up a few gigabytes by deleting bulky files you no longer need. Empty the computer’s trash as well, or if this idea turns you off, open it and sort the files there by size, to identify the heaviest files, and those you don’t really need. remove it. Remember to disable the visual effects of the Windows interface.

Check that you don’t have two or three antiviruses running at the same time: this too will slow down the computer a lot. If so, just have one. Here are some common antivirus names: Avast, AVG, Avira, Norton, Bitdefender, ESET, Kaspersky, F-Secure. Not to mention the antivirus built into Windows, Defender (Microsoft).

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