Windows feeling a little … slower than it used to be? Sometimes it’s a sign that it’s time to add more memory, upgrade that old hard drive to an SSD, or give up on that aging machine and upgrade to a new computer. But before you do that, try out these apps that might speed up Windows for free!
One of my favorites is Smart Defrag 4. Here’s the deal: When you use a hard drive, the data gets broken into pieces and stored anywhere the drive has open space. This is called fragmenting. Picture stashing encyclopedias anywhere in the library where there’s enough space on the shelf to fit it. When you went to look for a volume, you would have to jump all over the place to find the pieces. The same thing happens on your hard drive. It’d be nice if the encyclopedia — or your data — was all neatly filed in sequential order in one place. The hard disk head – or your librarian — just zips over there and grabs the whole set.
That process is called defragmenting. There’s a defragging tool built into windows, but it’s slooow. IObit’s Smart Defrag 4 is much faster. Just be careful when you install it that you uncheck any boxes trying to install other apps at the same time. That’s a good habit anytime you’re installing a new app!
You don’t want to defrag a solid state drive (SSD), so avoid apps that tell you they’re defragging your SSD to speed it up. What you do want is the “trim” command turned on in Windows. That should already be happening if you’re running Windows 7 or newer.
One last thought about hard drives: If you’ve filled your SSD over 75 percent capacity, you’re probably slowing it down. If Windows panics and tells you you’re running out of HD space, copy what you can onto another drive, then run an app like Piriform CCleaner. Don’t use it for registry edits — I’m not a big fan of registry cleaning — but it’s a great tool to find files you can delete from your drive to make space!
Got your drive sorted? Update your drivers. Drivers are the programs, or bits of code, that enable Windows to use, Wi-Fi, the CPU’s chipset, and all the other hardware that makes up your PC. New graphics drivers can make and amazing difference on your favorite 3D games. You can check your PC manufacturer’s website, or figure out all the hardware in your system and root through the website for each manufacturer: Intel, Nvidia, Broadcom, etc. But you can save yourself a ton of time with a tool like Slimware Utilities SlimDrivers, or IObit’s Driver Booster Free. They’ll automatically scan your system, figure out which hardware you have, and help you download and install drivers for it. By the way, if you’re a gamer with a serious 3D GPU, you need to update those drivers regularly to get the most out of your games!
Did your Windows box slow down all of a sudden? Maybe your teenager downloaded some new apps, or went browsing places they shouldn’t have? You might notice weird pop-up ads, toolbars, or apps you don’t remember installing. Maybe you type in a Web address, and get taken somewhere else? These are all signs you might have malware or a virus on your machine. They’ll often chew up clock cycles and memory that your apps need to run fast.
At the very least, you should have Windows Defender on your PC. It’s preinstalled with Windows 10, and Windows 8 should have nagged you to install it if you don’t have any other antivirus installed. Avast, Malwarebytes and Bitdefender are all good antivirus and anti-malware options. Whichever you choose, open it from the Start menu and hit the update button. This will add the latest spyware and virus definitions. Now click on the scan button. Hopefully you don’t have any nasty stuff in there, but if you do, follow the directions to remove it. Rooting out nasty piles of spyware and malware can make an unusable machine fly! And keeping your antivirus up to date will help keep that from happening again.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.