The one bad thing about computers is that, as they get older, their performance gets worse.  They get glitchy, they slow down, they stutter and lag more, and they get noisier and less efficient.  The longer you use the computer, the worse the performance gets, unless you take special care of it. 

Fortunately, LifeHacker has 5 tips to get the most out of your old computer.  Most of these are things you should already be doing, but I’ve learned not to have faith in Microsoft’s automatic computer maintenance utilities.  Recently, after my father complained about his computer’s performance, I updated his virus scanner, adware scanners, and whatnot and did a virus sweep.  I removed at least 20 viruses and untold cookies.  Apparently it hadn’t been autoscanning every week like it was supposed to.

That’s the only thing I would add to the list:  Take one day a week, or perhaps every night before you go to bed, and run something on your computer.  Adware screener, virus scanner, cookie cleaner, defragmenting program… let them run while you’re asleep, and check on them in the morning.  Your computer will thank you, and your computer’s performance will remain consistent.

Image Credit:  Compaq Portable III from OldComputerMuseum.com