How to Rejuvenate Your Home PC

Computers are expensive, yet even the best computers are practically obsolete in three to five years. Because changing computers is both expensive and a lot of effort, the ability to rejuvenate your home PC and get an extra year or two out of it is valuable and generally not all that difficult.

Clean up

First, it's best to remove anything that's unnecessary if you want to improve your computer's abilities. Not only will this lighten the load on what the computer has to do, but it also will make the next steps faster. To do this, open the start menu and go to the control panel. Look for either "add and remove programs" or "uninstall a program." This will bring up a list of most or all of the programs on your computer. Look for applications you have used in the past but know you're no longer using. Remove one or two things at a time. That way, if there is a problem, you'll know what happened. But don't worry too much about removing programs. At worst, they will have to be reloaded later.

Remove spyware and viruses

Once you have removed everything you don't need, you'll want to ensure nothing is on the computer that you didn't put there. You can choose from a number of good online virus and spyware programs. These can help considerably if you happen to have something running that shouldn't be, and they won't hurt anything if you don't. Be careful downloading any of these programs on an older computer, though, as they often use considerable resources and can slow down the computer. Stick with the online programs unless you know one of the programs well.

Repairs

The next step is to make things simpler for your computer. Windows builds in two tools to help with this. Look under "accessories" and "system tools" for "disk cleanup" and "disk defragmenter." Disk cleanup should be run first and will remove any unnecessary files and temporary files. More important is the disk defragmenter. This will ensure the programs are easy for the computer to find and run. It can make things a lot easier on the computer. Other programs on the Internet can remove unnecessary information from the computer's registry, which will help as well.

Upgrading

If you've done all of this and still don't see enough change, you can try one final step. Random active memory (RAM) is far cheaper than in the past. It is also generally not all that difficult to load. You will need to open the computer and find the RAM slots, but you can find plenty of photos and videos on the Internet to guide you. Ensure that you have at least two slots open. Once you have purchased RAM, you simply need to turn off the computer and slide the new memory pieces into the open slots. You likely will be able to double the amount of RAM in an old computer for very little -- and if you buy a new computer, there is a good chance the RAM can be moved into that.

Nothing will turn an old computer into a new computer, but these steps can certainly help you to rejuvenate a home PC. So for those who want to surf the Internet, use a word processor, or check email, these steps should allow you at least a couple more years before you need to buy a new computer.