Hack of the day: Make your old PC feel new again

'The Times of India' brings you 'Hack of the Day'—a new weekday series of quick, practical solutions to everyday hassles. Each hack is designed to save you time, money or stress, using tools and features within your reach—from government websites to everyday apps. In simple terms, it's simple fixes for smarter living.'If your computer feels like it’s crawling every time you turn it on, you’re not alone. Over the years, PCs tend to accumulate dozens of background apps that insist on launching during startup.

These programs quietly hog memory and processing power, forcing you to wait longer before your system is ready to use. The result? Sluggish performance, endless loading, and frustration that makes even simple tasks feel like a chore.Fortunately, there’s a quick way to breathe new life into your machine. By auditing your startup list and disabling resource-heavy apps, you can reclaim speed and slash boot times. Windows makes this process straightforward through the Task Manager, giving you control over which apps run when your PC powers up.

Step-by-step guide

1. Open Task Manager – Press CTRL + SHIFT + ESC.2. Go to Startup Apps – Click the Startup apps tab.3. Check Impact – Look for apps labeled High Impact.4. Disable Non-Essentials – Right-click on software you don’t need at startup and select Disable.

A word of caution

Only disable apps you recognize. Keep essential programs like security software, drivers, and system utilities enabled to avoid stability issues.