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 ...