How to Speed Up an Old Laptop for Free in 2025 – Complete Guide Is your laptop slow, laggy, or taking forever to load apps? Before you spend money on an upgrade, there are several completely free steps you can take to make it faster. In this guide, we’ll cover practical methods that work for both Windows and macOS laptops. 1. Disable Unnecessary Startup Programs When you turn on your laptop, some programs automatically launch in the background. Too many startup programs = slow boot times. For Windows: Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager . Go to the Startup tab. Check the “Startup Impact” column. Right-click and select Disable for programs you don’t need at startup (e.g., Spotify, Discord, Zoom). For Mac: Go to System Preferences → Users & Groups . Select your account and click the Login Items tab. Select apps you don’t need → Click the “–” button to remove them. 2. Uninstall Unused or Heavy Programs Old apps you no longer use take up storage ...
How to Flash a USB Drive with Linux on macOS and Windows (Step-by-Step Guide) Linux is one of the most powerful and flexible operating systems in the world. If you’ve ever wanted to try it out or install it on your computer, one of the first steps is to create a bootable USB drive from a Linux ISO file. A bootable USB allows you to: Try Linux without installing it (“Live” mode) Install Linux on your computer Troubleshoot and repair existing operating systems In this detailed guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know to flash a USB drive with Linux — for both macOS and Windows — along with explanations for each step, and tips for avoiding common mistakes. What You’ll Need Before we start, make sure you have the following: A USB Drive Capacity: At least 8 GB is recommended. Warning: Flashing will erase all data on the USB drive, so back up anything important first. A Linux ISO File This is the operating system image you’ll wr...