Downloads: The five best apps for speeding up your PC

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If your PC is slowing down, it might be time for a new machine; or you might just need to clear out the clutter. Tuning up your system, clearing out software you don't use and making sure you're not running programs you don't need in the background can make a big difference to performance.

What's more, cleaning up your system like this is better than running tweaking tools that promise improvements but can end up disabling system features you need for Windows to work properly.

1. Autoruns

The Windows Task Manager shows you what programs are running automatically when you turn on your PC, and even how much they slow you down. But if you really want to dig into what's starting up when the system boots, what runs when you log in and why it's running, get Autoruns.

You can see if what's running is coming from the registry, your startup folder or some unexpected location and whether it's a toolbar, a service, a browser helper object, a shell extension in Explorer or an actual program you want to run. You can check your own account or all the accounts on the system, and you can stop programs running just by clearing a checkbox.

2. PC Decrapifier

The number one thing slowing down your PC is likely to be the pre-installed software that came with it. Sometimes you get useful software like Adobe Photoshop Elements, but you can also find your PC is running other tools automatically. What you need in this case is PC Decrapifier.

Utilities that provide a secondary desktop interface or integrate with cloud services can be handy, but if you don't need them they'll just slow things down, plus you may find tools that look for updates or nag you to register your PC. PC Decrapifier is a reliable way of finding and removing software that came with your PC; it can also remove other software you no longer need.

3. WinDirStat

If your hard drive fills up (which happens more quickly on devices with small SSDs), Windows doesn't have as much space for the virtual memory it uses to keep your software running fast. You can run the built-in Disk Cleanup wizard to get rid of old system files cluttering up the system, but the best way to find out what's really taking up space is a tool like WinDirStat.

It runs in under a minute and shows a visual map of your drive, colour-coded by file type; bigger files take up more space on screen, so you can instantly see if it's Windows that's bloated or if you're using up all your disk space on photos and music.

4. Revo Uninstaller Free

If you need to clean up a PC with a lot of old software on, give Revo Uninstaller a try (and it's worth paying for the full version if you want even more power). The standard Windows Uninstaller does a reasonable job but badly behaved programs can leave a lot of cruft behind on your PC. Revo Uninstaller digs into the registry to make sure they're gone. It can even remove programs when their uninstall tool isn't working (or you've accidentally deleted it).

It's not as fast as we'd like it to be and you will often have to go through both the Revo interface and the uninstaller interface for the software you're removing, but it's certainly thorough, so sit back with a cup of tea and let it work its magic.

5. Microsoft Security Essentials

There are plenty of antivirus tools to choose from, but the big name options that are packed with extra features can also slow your system down significantly. If you have a recent version of Windows, it comes with Microsoft Defender built in, but you can download the same software as Microsoft Security Essentials for earlier releases of Windows and get real-time protection against malware and regular scanning.

This is a particularly helpful download if you're trying to tune up PCs for friends and relatives; it will find malware that might be slowing their system down and keep them protected without overloading their system when they're busy.