We’ve all been there—you get a shiny, new computer that moves faster than anything you’ve ever had before. And you vow to protect it with your life. You tell yourself you’ll only download the essentials to keep it nice and fast, and you don’t even let your kids breathe next to it for fear of an unidentifiable sticky substance magically appearing on the keyboard.

And then… life happens. You run late to work, so you ditch the computer case, never to pick it up again. You really want that jelly donut during your morning meeting, even though you have to take notes at the same time. Let’s not forget the cute dog screensaver you landed on after downloading about 30 different options.  And, of course, you were way too tired after that movie you totally legally downloaded to properly shut down your computer—and that was two movie marathons ago.

Before you know it, your computer is slow, lagging, and even crashing on occasion. You dream of the good old days when your computer was faster, newer, and more efficient. Never fear—your once sleek and swift machine still has hopes of being revitalized. Here are some simple steps to make your computer so fast and clean inside and out, your friends will be asking if you got a new one.

Start regularly updating

We know, this sounds boring and useless. But updating your computer is actually  imperative to keeping it not only efficient, but also safe. Updates are made to patch existing vulnerabilities and fix other problems that keep your computer running faster.

Restart your computer at least once a week

Most people don’t shut down their computers every night, and restarting is a hassle in the middle of the work day. Start scheduling a weekly restart for your computer, preferably at night, and watch your computer move faster in no time. We all know that one of the most popular fixes to common computer problems is simply restarting the computer. This is because a reboot is like a clean slate for your computer’s software. Allowing your machine to start on a clean slate at the beginning of every week will stop a build-up of problems such as misbehaving programs using too much CPU or memory.

Upgrade your RAM

While this is a little more extensive of a process than a simple restart, it can do wonders for the speed of your computer. If you’ve had your computer for a couple years now, it could be running short on RAM and struggling to keep up with the demands of more recent programs and operating systems. While there are many sources online to tell you how to upgrade your RAM by yourself, we recommend getting a professional opinion. This way you can find out if computer truly needs a RAM upgrade, learn what type of RAM works for your computer, and get the upgrade all for a very affordable price.

Elevated Technologies is a great resource for assistance like this, as we are experts in this field and are happy to help keep your machine running faster and more efficiently. A RAM upgrade every three years depending on your computer is a great way to ensure this.

Do a Monthly Disk Cleanup

Disk cleanups are important for freeing up disk space on the hard drive by getting rid of unnecessary files, which will keep your processes moving faster. On Windows, the disk cleanup is found depending on which version you have. Windows 8 and 10 disk cleanups are found through the Power User Task Menu. Run the menu and type “cleanmgr” in the Run text field. You can select which files to clean, and it is not recommended to compress old files if given the option.

Schedule regular virus scans

Most computers’ security systems will allow you to schedule regular scans to rid your machine of viruses or threats, and this is a key step to keeping your computer healthy. Many people put off the scans because they can slow down the processes of the computer. Avoid this problem by scheduling the scans for a time when you are not usually on the computer.

Do a deep clean

Buy some compressed air, cotton swabs, monitor wipes, and a soft dusting cloth and spend some time giving your computer some TLC. Compressed air is a great way to get rid of the dust (and other things) from your keyboard, fans, ports, and enclosures—you wouldn’t believe the things that get stuck in there. Disinfecting your keyboard and mouse is a great way to keep up the health of not only your PC, but also yours. If you want to get really clean, you can carefully get inside of your computer with some tools and gently use compressed air to rid the machine of dust build up. Before you know it, your computer will be running like brand new!

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