Speed up your computer instead of buying a new one

When a computer overheats, it lowers its own performance to protect itself. It is not a fault but an emergency brake — and it shows up exactly the way people describe it: in a game or during heavier work, things start stuttering after a few minutes even though everything ran fine at first.

The cause is usually a clogged heatsink and dried-out thermal paste. On a laptop that has never been cleaned, you can expect a difference of several tens of degrees after five years. Cleaning with a workshop compressor and replacing the paste brings the computer back to the performance it should have and extends its life — components that run hot all the time fail sooner.

That is why I start with this on older machines. Before we decide what to replace, it is worth checking that the computer isn’t simply choked with dust.