How to speed up a 5 year old laptop?

What are some of the best free tools I can download and try to speed up a 5 year old laptop? The laptop has lots of lags even when clicking on a file or opening up program. 

Best to first check your drive and perhaps add more ram. What Windows 10 build are you running? What anti-virus/security software are you using?

Copy your important files to a flash drive (or make a system image) then make a clean install of Windows 10

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/667627/doing-a-completely-clean-install-of-windows-10/

I didn't know there were different builds for Windows 10? I thought I just had the regular one. I use the built in windows anti-virus....should I change to something like Avast? Is there a way to do a test to see what is the culprit of my slow speed?

Edited by Kelly0001, 21 January 2018 - 01:40 AM.

Using the Search  or Run function, type in the word Winver and press enter to see what build you are using.

You can try to disable windows tracking and remove some of the bloatware from the machine. 

I didn't know there were different builds for Windows 10? I thought I just had the regular one. I use the built in windows anti-virus....should I change to something like Avast? Is there a way to do a test to see what is the culprit of my slow speed?

 

Using windows defender is fine if you practice good habits on the internet. 

If you get into task manager there should be a performance TAB and can drill down to see what could be causing the slowness or blockage in your system. 

What do you use the machine primarily for? Gaming, just browsing the web, work?

Edited by ciderZA, 21 January 2018 - 03:08 AM.

I use Windows defender on my Windows 10 but also Malwarebytes.

Please download and install Speccy to provide us with information about your computer.  Clicking on this link will automatically initiate the download.

When Speccy opens you will see a screen similar to the one below.

 

Click on File which is outlined in red in the screen above, and then click on Publish Snapshot.

 

The following screen will appear, click on Yes.

 

The following screen will appear, click on Copy to Clipboard.

In your next post right click inside the Reply to Topic box, then click on Paste.  This will load a link to the Speccy log.

ok so I have version 1703 build 15063.850

What does this mean? What info does it provide? 

If the drive uses a Sata port, get a SSD (solid state drive) Max out the memory it can handle and research to see if it can use a faster cpu. With a clean install of 10 you should see some improvements

Edit:

1703 is an older version

Edited by Joe C, 21 January 2018 - 05:07 PM.

You can boost speed of Windows OS by following my suggestions at below tutorial link.

Tweaking & Optimizing Windows

Edited by FreeBooter, 21 January 2018 - 06:14 PM.

You need to download the 1709 update.