A five-year-old computer can feel new again with an hour of honest maintenance. Work through this list in order; each step targets the most common causes of slowdown first.
1. Tame the startup list
Task Manager → Startup: disable everything you do not need in the first minute of your day.
2. Uninstall the forgotten
Old toolbars, trials and duplicate players consume disk and background cycles.
3. Switch to an SSD
If you are still on a spinning drive, this single upgrade outperforms every other fix combined.
4. Give the browser a diet
Remove unused extensions and keep tabs under control — the browser is the heaviest app you run.
5. Check storage health
A drive above 90% full slows everything; move media to an external or the cloud.
6. Update drivers and Windows
Performance fixes ship constantly; pending restarts hold them hostage.
7. Scan for the uninvited
One full offline antivirus scan often finds the crypto-miner behind the mystery fan noise.
8. Add RAM if you multitask
8GB is the floor for comfortable office work today; 16GB removes the ceiling.
Do this twice a year and most machines will retire from boredom, not slowness.
