How to speed up an old computer — Logical Cybersecurity

Beginner's Guide to Privacy and Security

Best practices and recommendations on how to protect and recover from compromised accounts and computers, use real-world scenarios to detail how scams and phishing emails are used and provide best practices on how to use the internet in a more safe and secure manner to protect yourself, your family, and your clients.

A Beginner's Guide to Privacy and Security

Trying to remain safe online, practicing good security and working to keep your data private is extremely challenging. This is made even more difficult with the speed at which technology changes, vulnerabilities are discovered, and attackers change their tactics. Just when you think you have learned the right techniques to keep your data private and your devices, email, etc., secure, another breach is announced, a new vulnerability is discovered in your operating system or web browser, and/or attackers come up with another scam/trick to gain access to your devices or information...all of which are out of your control. If you aren't tech savvy, it can be even more overwhelming. Since technology and attack methods change so rapidly, there are no simple answers or steps you can take to be 100% protected. This is where we are hoping we can help by recommending steps you can take to increase the security of your accounts and devices, better protect your privacy, and be safer online. Check out our "Security 101" section for a collection of the minimum security procedures everyone should be following.

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I am often asked, "What can I do to speed up my old computer?" I actually went through this fire drill myself recently and the computer came out with a new lease on life.

It really depends on how old your computer is, but let's assume it's only 2-3 years old, still works great (other than being slow), you still like it, and you don't want to spend a lot of money to get a new one. Like I said before, we actually went through this same fire drill a few months ago. One of our laptops was extremely slow, but it was only 2 years old, had a 17" screen, and we still really liked it. We priced out a new laptop with the specs we wanted and it was coming out to at least $900. We didn't want to spend that much, so we decided to upgrade our current laptop instead. When we were done, our current computer was almost equal to the $900 new one for just over $300. I could have done the work myself, but I didn't want to fuss with it, so we used Geek Squad at Best Buy. We bought a new 250GB Samsung SSD hard drive ($110), a new copy of Windows 10 ($100) and paid Best Buy about $110 to install the new SSD, install Windows, and move the current HDD to the 2nd bay so we would have 2 hard drives. The biggest upgrade was the SSD, but reinstalling Windows to a fresh state is equally as helpful. If you are in a similar situation, I would follow a similar path. Install a new SSD and a fresh copy of Windows. You may not have to spend the money to purchase the operating system if you have the original discs, product keys, etc.. I would suggest speaking with the IT person performing the updates to make sure. If you are able to use your current hard drive as a secondary drive, a 250GB SSD should be enough. If you aren't able to have a second drive for data, grab a larger SSD or use an external hard drive for all your data. If an IT friend of yours can do the work or you can do it yourself, you could save at least $100 off what we spent. Plus, as stated previously, you may not have to spend money to purchase a copy of the operating system.