Bringing an Aging Computer up to Snuff for Casino Gaming

One of the most common first world problems we see our readers complain about is the need to act as tech support.

In an age where so many older users have seemingly internalised that computers run on magic rather than logic, basic competency often gets you regarded as some type of wizard, or at least a minor warlock. To this end, chances are you’ve experienced some type of request to speed up somebody’s computer so they can manage their daily duties. Using online casino games as a reference point for what difference each step makes, we’re going to cover the basic measures you can take to accomplish this goal or to guide somebody else to manage it themselves.

Illustrating the Average Users

Digital casino games like online slots reflect the maximum demands that millions of average users will ever put on their computers. Here, titles like Ice Cave and Land of Gold still feature advanced gameplay and developed visual flairs, but they’re still far from putting the demands on a system that a big AAA video game would. In simple terms, if a computer can run online casino games well, then it will work for almost all basic uses just fine too.

Deleting data technology concept as a broom wiping clean binary code as a cyber security symbol for erasing computer information or to delete an email and clean a hard drive server with 3D illustration elements.
Copyright: Adobe Stock

Cleaning Unnecessary Data

Like our closets, computers eventually end up filled with things we don’t need. Sometimes this is because we simply forget about them, other times it’s because computers ship with bloatware, or users don’t even know what they’re installing. Too often these programs can run in the background without users’ realising. They might be small individually, but as a group, bloatware can even prevent low-demand titles like online casino games from playing smoothly.

To remove these programs, users can either use the Windows uninstaller to take care of the programs manually or turn to an uninstaller program to do the heavy lifting. Usually, a combination of both approaches will be the best at removing everything you don’t want.

From here, you’ll also want to consider freeing up space by using a program to visualise where data is centralised. Programs to help in this way can be free and will help reduce clutter. This is incredibly important because as a drive approaches full capacity, it will slow tremendously, again causing problems for even data-efficient titles like online casino games.

Copyright: Adobe Stock

Maintenance Scans

Now that we have a little space, it’s time to get everything in order. The first method we’d recommend is that users with mechanical drives run a defragmentation tool. This organises data on mechanical drives into sequential order whenever possible, meaning less seeking and potentially much faster load times. If it takes five minutes to load into a slot game from power on, fragmentation could be the problem. Just note that solid-state drives should not be defragmented, as this can cause problems.

Finally, the last step is to run regular malware scans. Malware can be anything from viruses to crypto miners placed on a computer, which can steal information or, again, slow everything to a crawl. When you’re playing online casino games, either of these issues is undesirable. Luckily, free tools like Malwarebytes are extremely effective at finding and removing these interlopers, as long as regular scans are performed.

Follow these basic steps, and your friends or family will be back spinning the slots or writing you emails with ten-year-old memes in no time. Just keep in mind that the better job you do, the more likely you’ll be to be recruited again in the future. Hey, nobody said helping people was always easy.

Jim Devereaux
Jim Devereaux
Editor-In-Chief. Has contributed gaming articles to a variety of publications and produced the award-winning TV show Bored Gamers (Amazon Prime). He loves racing games, classic LucasArts adventures and building new PC gaming rigs whenever he can afford it.
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