When you use a computer every day, you get a feel for its abilities, rhythms, and idiosyncrasies. So it always comes as a bit of a surprise when—after months or years of use—the device that previously zipped along like a puppy on speed seems to have slowed, now a geriatric hound no longer interested in chasing the ball.
There are a lot of reasons this happens. After all, when you start the computer the first time, it doesn't have much to do but boot up and glow at you. The minute you install some software, you've started the slowdown process. You fill the hard drive and use more precious RAM until the eventual corruption of the operating system, especially in the Windows registry, where all the instructions and settings used by everything on the computer are stored.
Of course, there are other reasons computers slow down; it could be simply trying to run too many programs at startup. Malware is also a big problem, so be sure you have the best antivirus solutions on hand. You may also have massive downloads happening on your system (or elsewhere on a network) that slows things to a crawl. Be aware of network usage of things like BitTorrent or streaming video.
It's also possible your old hardware simply isn't up to snuff when the time comes to running the latest software. The occasional full reinstallation of the OS might fix the issue, but there's a reason people upgrade things like RAM, hard drives, and entire computers every few years: new software gets better and better partly because it's written to work with the latest and greatest components.
We've focused here on PC slowdowns that you can fix. Most of these are problems for Windows users, but we found a couple of helpers for Mac OS X users, too. There are lots of great paid utilities out there, but don't forego the free utilities galore that help you clean up and speed up the computer. Regular system maintenance will go a long way to eking out many more years of use from your PC, so check out your options in the next few pages.
Top Free System Maintenance Utilities
Top Free System Maintenance Utilities
CCleaner Windows ' Mac
Piriform has cornered the market somewhat on incredibly well-crafted utilities that anyone can use for free, and the cornerstone of its offerings is CCleaner. The latest version 4.10 (it updates regularly) tackles cleanup of so much stuff on a PC: The Windows registry; all the crud left behind by browsers like IE, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and Safari; and of course the detritus of Windows both purposeful (the Recycle Bin) or not (temp files and log files and more).
There's a Mac version for OS X 10.5 to 10.9 that also goes after the browsers' left-over rubbish as well as Mac OS X and System Application leftovers. There's even an integrated application uninstaller tool.
Everything is logged so you can analyze it before deleting, if desired, but CCleaner is well regarded for seldom steering customers wrong. (It will zap your cookies if you're not careful, though, so you may have to sign into websites again.) Piriform guarantees CCleaner as 100 percent free of spyware and adware—not something you see from every vendor. You can upgrade to a Pro version for $25, which throws in automatic updates and real-time monitoring for all user accounts at once, if inclined.
SlimWare Utilties SlimCleaner Windows
PCMag's Editors' Choice utility for cleaning up a computer happens to be totally free. SlimCleaner comes with no restrictions on how many PCs you use it on and had great tuneup results in testing.
How it differs is in aggregating the collective data of many, many SlimWare customers, so it has a much better idea of what to delete, what to keep, and how to optimize a Windows PC for the best performance. In our review, analyst Jeffrey Wilson called SlimCleaner "a mashup of social network and utility that does a fine job of cleaning gunked-up PCs."
On top of those socially powered improvements, SlimCleaner also includes a duplicate file finder, a disk defrag, a disk analyzer so you get a visual idea of a hard drive's contents, and a wiper that cleans over the data you thought you deleted (but didn't really, due to the way hard drives work.) It even works with solid-state drives. And it's portable: you can run SlimCleaner from a USB drive and take it from PC to PC without having to re-install it each time.
WinUtilities Free Edition Windows
Millions have downloaded this software and for good reason: it packs in a lot of optimization for Windows in one package. It's got the usual cleanup tools including those for browsers, disk defragmenting, and much more, but all with one clear interface. Users can customize it to run just what tools they want. There's even a task scheduler to set it up to run as needed without user input. If you want to clean up even more, the Pro version will set you back $30 a year for a single computer license.
OnyX MacOS
OnyX is not a standard cleaning app—Macs don't need standard cleaning. No, it's for accessing mostly hidden features of the operating system. But it does have a "cleaning" tab that will help you delete caches, clean up cumbersome files, and other functions to help performance and peace of mind. OnyX comes in different flavors for each version of OS X, so download the right version for your Mac.
Other Free System Maintenance Utilities
Other Free System Maintenance Utilities
Auslogics Disk Defrag Free Windows
Many would argue that today's hard drives don't need to be defragmented (they fragment when data is written all over the platter, making everyday data access a little slower than it needs to be). But why not do everything you can to go faster? Defragmenter tools come with Windows, but this standalone freebie is small, a breeze to use, consolidates free space, checks for errors, and best of all, it's ultra-fast. (Pro version: $30)
Soluto Windows
Soluto is a little different from the rest—it's more of an IT tool you use to manage up to three computers (such as your parent's or kids' PCs). It's all cloud-based and you can pay a monthly fee to manage a lot more than three computers. Even then Soluto doesn't let you do a big cleanup of a PC like other utilities here, but it will give you a lot of information on what's happening in each system and help you do some upgrades to select pieces of software.
Eraser Windows
Eraser doesn't tune up Windows as much as it clears the way for your hard drive to work better. It does this by over-writing the "empty" areas of a drive you thought were deleted. Even if you empty the recycle bin, the data might still be recoverable, for example. Eraser makes sure it isn't, and that also helps with hard disk performance.
Glary Utilities Windows ' Android
The free version of Glary Utilities (the Pro edition is $40) offers "one-click maintenance of a PC. You pick all the functions you want to run, click once, and the utility does the work. The Android version is much the same. You have to run it manually, only the Pro edition works in the background. The utility works great, just beware when you install it on Windows, the check boxes will try to get you to install a toolbar that will take over the search on your browser.
JetClean and JetBoost Windows
JetClean would put itself up against CCleaner and SystemCare and others any day. It offers a complete performance enhancing clean and registry fixes all from one light piece of software. Couple it with JetBoost to get even better performance—JetBoost will shut down everything but your most essential apps, at least temporarily, something many gamers will appreciate.
Speccy Windows
Speccy won't clean up a thing, but this handy utility from Piriform will give you plenty of one thing: Information. Speccy looks at your PC's internal systems and provides a report on exactly what you're running—processor, drives, RAM, graphics, OS – all info you'll have on hand when needed. It's invaluable when making tech support calls.
Advanced SystemCare 7 Free Windows
Not too many products try to take on the mash-up of system maintenance and malware/virus monitoring, but IObit takes on that task with SystemCare. Even this free version (Pro is $20 for 1 year for 3 PCs) offers basic protection, basic optimization, and automatic privacy cleaning whenever you log in. Check out PCMag's review of version 6. Mac users might want to check out IObit's MacBooster.
Iolo System Mechanic Free
WindowsDon't be thrown off by the price on the linked page: System Mechanic Free is still free, but it is a stripped down version of the more powerful $40 version. For what you get, however, Windows XP to Windows 8 users will be pleased: there's a registry tuner, startup optimizer, PC cleanup, shortcut repair tool, even a fix for bad Internet connections.
Further Reading
- Vivaldi Browser Launches on Android, Adds Integrated Tracker Blocking
- Hackers Are Abusing 2 New Firefox Vulnerabilities
- Safari Now Blocks All Third-Party Cookies
- Google Abandons Chrome 82 Development
- More in System Utilities