My old laptop was so slow it took 5 minutes just to open a browser tab

I was ready to buy a new one, but first I ran a free program called CCleaner to clear out old junk files (like my 2GB of browser cache). Then I opened the Task Manager and stopped 12 programs from starting up when I turned it on. After that, I took off the bottom panel and blew out a ton of dust from the fan with a can of air. Now it boots up in under a minute, which is good enough for me. Has anyone else tried just cleaning the inside of an old computer and been surprised?

3 comments

3 Comments

abby_palmer2mo ago

Ever open up an old desktop? I did that for my parents' computer and the dust inside was like a small animal... it was crazy. Just cleaning the heatsink made it stop shutting down from overheating.

faithb782mo ago

Oh man, that's not dust, that's a whole new pet. Bet it had a name and everything.

mila_craig41mo ago

That "small animal" comment about the desktop dust is exactly what I'm talking about. How packed was the heatsink before you cleaned it? I'm asking because on my laptop it was basically a solid mat of fuzz, and I'm trying to figure out if desktops get it worse since the fans are usually bigger and pull in more air over time.