9 cheap or free ways to make your old PC run faster

There’s a reason that unboxing videos and the phrase “new car smell” are firmly ensconced in the zeitgeist. New stuff is exciting! New stuff is (theoretically) better! New stuff is just plain cool.

But new stuff also costs an arm and a leg—at least if you’re talking about a new PC, especially in these turbulent, painful days of ludicrously priced components and widespread shortages of RAM, storage, and more. And you might not even truly need a new PC to accomplish what you’re looking to do...