There’s always room for improvement where technology is concerned, and I’ll bet that your PC is no exception. I’ve pulled together 30 tech tips to deliver improvements to most desktops and laptops, both state-of-the-art and straight-off-the-Ark. There are simple software solutions that could unlock that performance bottleneck, alongside some hot hardware tweaks if you fancy getting the screwdrivers out. As an APC bonus, there are also three things not to do, as they’re a waste of time and money.
01 Don’t double up on security
There is such a thing as too much protection, and it’s not uncommon to see machines struggling to juggle multiple security suites. There isn’t one rule for everyone where antivirus is concerned, but here are a few things to think about.
Uninstall products with trial or expired subscriptions as they’ll hog resources while supplying sub-optimal protection. If you want to run up-to-date products from different vendors (AV from one, malware protection from another), then make sure there’s no crossover. Internet security products can be extremely resource-heavy, so lightening the load can really benefit performance.
02 Turn on Game Mode
Microsoft designed Game Mode to streamline gaming experiences by suspending notifications and updates. Sadly, it didn’t work as expected, and many gamers simply switched it off.
Microsoft has beavered away and fixed the issues, so it’s now safe to switch it back on. Game Mode in Windows 11 has new functionality to assign GPUs to specific apps, so on those trips away from mains power, you can preserve battery on a multi-GPU laptop by assigning to the on-board graphics, while keeping the high-powered chip asleep.
