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Performance
Performance
My computer is running slow — what can I try?
Most slowness comes down to four things: a full drive, too much loading at startup, a failing drive, or an update that stalled. Work through these in order — they're all free and safe to try.
Restart properly. Not sleep or close-the-lid — a full shut down and power on. On Windows choose Restart specifically, as Shut Down can leave the old session in place.
Check your free space. On Windows: Settings → System → Storage. On a Mac: Apple menu → System Settings → General → Storage. If you have less than about 10% of the drive free, that alone will slow everything down.
Cut down what starts automatically. Windows: Ctrl+Shift+Esc → Startup apps → disable anything you don't need immediately. Mac: System Settings → General → Login Items.
See what's using the machine right now. Windows: Task Manager → Processes, sort by CPU then Memory. Mac: Activity Monitor. If one app sits near the top constantly, that's your culprit.
Install pending updates and reboot. A half-applied update is a very common cause of sudden slowness.
Check the drive's health. If the machine still crawls — especially if it freezes, clicks, or takes minutes to boot — the drive itself may be failing. Stop and back up your files before doing anything else.
If it's still slow after all of that, it's usually an ageing hard drive, not enough memory, or a software problem worth looking at properly. An SSD upgrade often makes an old laptop feel new.
Nearly always this is airflow — dust in the vents, or the machine sitting on something soft. Sometimes it's one runaway app.
Check what it's sitting on. Beds, sofas and cushions block the intake vents underneath. Use a hard flat surface.
Find the vents and look for dust. A can of compressed air, short bursts, from the outside is safe. Don't stick anything into the fan.
Check for a runaway process. Windows: Task Manager. Mac: Activity Monitor. A browser tab or a stuck update can peg the processor at 100% and run the fan flat out.
Close what you're not using — especially browser tabs and video calls, which are heavier than most people expect.
Make sure it's up to date. Fan-control behaviour is often fixed in updates.
If it's still running hot and loud after a clean, the thermal paste has usually dried out — that's a workshop job, and it makes a big difference to both temperature and speed.
Battery and speed problems on phones are usually storage, background apps, or a battery that's simply worn out.
Restart the phone. It clears a surprising amount.
Check free storage. iPhone: Settings → General → iPhone Storage. Android: Settings → Storage. Under 10% free will cause problems.
Check battery health. iPhone: Settings → Battery → Battery Health & Charging. Below about 80% maximum capacity means the battery is worn.
See which apps use the most battery: Settings → Battery. Uninstall or restrict anything unexpected near the top.
Install pending updates, then charge to full and use it normally for a day before judging.
A worn battery is a normal wear item rather than a fault. We don't repair phone hardware, so a battery replacement is one for a phone specialist or the manufacturer — but if the phone is slow rather than short on battery, that is usually software and we can help.
Office installs from your Microsoft account — the licence lives with the account, not the computer, so you don't need a disc or a product key if it's already attached.
Go to office.com and sign in with the Microsoft account that owns the licence.
Click Install apps (or My account → Apps & devices).
Choose the 64-bit version unless you specifically need 32-bit, then click Install.
Run the file that downloads and leave it alone until it finishes — it can take several minutes.
Open Word or Excel and sign in with the same account when prompted, so the licence activates.
If you have a product key on a card, redeem it first at microsoft.com/setup while signed in, then follow the steps above. If Office is already installed but says unlicensed, sign out inside the app (File → Account → Sign out), then sign back in with the correct account.
Windows can rebuild itself without a USB stick, and it can keep your personal files while doing it. Back up first regardless.
Back up your files first. A reset should keep them, but should is not a guarantee.
Go to Settings → System → Recovery.
Choose Reset this PC.
Pick Keep my files to reinstall Windows but keep your documents, or Remove everything if you're selling or giving the machine away.
Choose Cloud download if your internet is decent — it fetches a fresh, up-to-date copy rather than reusing a possibly damaged one.
Leave it plugged into mains power and let it run. It can take an hour or more, and it will restart several times.
Your apps will need reinstalling afterwards, and you'll need your Wi-Fi password and any software licence details. If Windows won't start at all, hold Shift while clicking Restart, or interrupt the boot three times to reach the recovery menu.
macOS reinstalls from Recovery, which is built into the Mac. The way you get there depends on whether it's an Apple Silicon or an Intel Mac.
Back up your files first, ideally with Time Machine.
Apple Silicon (M1 and later): shut down, then press and hold the power button until you see Loading startup options. Click Options, then Continue.
Intel Mac: shut down, then start it up holding Command+R until you see the Apple logo.
In the Recovery window choose Reinstall macOS and follow the prompts.
Stay on mains power and connected to Wi-Fi throughout. It will restart more than once.
Reinstalling this way keeps your files. Only use Disk Utility to erase the drive if you're selling the Mac or specifically want a clean start — and only after a verified backup.
A Mac that hangs on the logo or the progress bar is usually a software or disk problem rather than a dead machine.
Force it off by holding the power button for 10 seconds, then start it again — sometimes it's a one-off.
Start in Safe Mode. Apple Silicon: hold the power button, select your disk, then hold Shift and click Continue in Safe Mode. Intel: hold Shift while it starts.
If Safe Mode works, restart normally — that alone repairs a lot of startup problems.
If it still hangs, boot into Recovery (see the reinstall macOS guide) and run Disk Utility → First Aid on the internal disk.
If First Aid reports errors it can't repair, stop. Don't reinstall over it — that risks your data.
Repeated startup failures with disk errors can mean the drive is failing. Get your data secured before doing anything else.
There's usually a legitimate way back in, as long as the account belongs to you.
Windows with a Microsoft account: reset the password at account.live.com/password/reset from your phone, then sign in on the PC with the new one.
Windows with a local account: answer the security questions on the sign-in screen if you set them up.
Mac: at the login screen, enter a wrong password three times and you should be offered a reset using your Apple ID.
Mac alternative: hold the power button to reach Recovery (Apple Silicon) or Command+R (Intel), then use Utilities → Terminal → resetpassword.
If it's a work or school device, contact your IT department — only they can reset it.
We can only help with a device you can show is yours, and we'll always ask for proof of ownership. Some resets will lose access to encrypted data, so ask before you start if that matters.
Adobe software installs through the Creative Cloud desktop app, which manages every Adobe program you have a licence for. Acrobat Reader — the free PDF reader — is a separate, simpler download.
For the free PDF reader only: go to get.adobe.com/reader, untick any optional extras it offers, and download.
For Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere and the rest: go to adobe.com and sign in with the Adobe account that holds your subscription.
Download the Creative Cloud desktop app when prompted, then run the installer.
Open Creative Cloud, sign in with that same account, and you'll see every app your plan includes.
Click Install next to the app you want. Large apps like Photoshop and Premiere can take a while — leave it running.
If an app says you have no licence, sign out inside Creative Cloud and back in with the account that actually holds the subscription — this is nearly always the cause.
Adobe apps are subscription-based, so there's no one-off purchase for most of them. Be wary of sites offering 'free' or cracked versions of Photoshop — they're a common route for malware, and cleaning that up costs more than the subscription.
Most problems we see with 'viruses' start with a program downloaded from the wrong place. The download source matters more than the antivirus you run.
Always download from the maker's own website, or from the Microsoft Store / Mac App Store. Type the address yourself rather than clicking a search advert — the top result is often a paid ad impersonating the real thing.
On Windows, check the file is a .exe or .msi from the expected publisher. Windows will show you the publisher name in the security prompt.
On a Mac, drag the app into Applications. If macOS blocks it, go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and use Open Anyway only if you're certain of the source.
Read each installer screen and untick bundled extras — toolbars, 'PC optimisers' and changed search engines are usually opt-out, not opt-in.
Restart afterwards if the installer asks. Half-finished installs cause a lot of odd behaviour later.
Never install anything a pop-up or cold caller tells you to, especially remote-access tools like AnyDesk or TeamViewer. That's the single most common way people get scammed.
Most email now sets up automatically once you enter the address and password. You only need server settings if it's an older business mailbox.
Open the Mail app (Windows, Mac or phone) and choose Add Account.
Pick the provider — Outlook, Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo — and sign in. That's usually all it takes.
For a business address like yours@yourcompany.co.uk, choose Other or IMAP and you'll need the incoming and outgoing server names from whoever hosts it.
Use IMAP rather than POP if you're offered the choice. IMAP keeps mail in sync across your phone and computer; POP downloads it to one device and can remove it from the others.
If sign-in fails repeatedly on an account with two-factor authentication, you may need an app password rather than your normal one.
Before assuming the worst, rule out power and a stuck power state. These checks cost nothing and fix a fair number of "dead" machines.
Leave it on charge for at least 30 minutes. A fully flat battery often shows no signs of life at first.
Check the charger itself. Try a different cable and socket, and look for a light on the adapter. On a MacBook, look for a light or a chime.
Look and listen closely. Any fan noise, keyboard backlight, or faint screen glow means it has power and the fault is elsewhere.
Force a power cycle. Hold the power button down for 15–20 seconds, release, then press it normally.
On a Mac laptop, reset the SMC: with it shut down, hold Control+Option+Shift for 7 seconds, add the power button for another 7, release everything, then start it up.
Disconnect everything — docks, USB devices, external monitors — and try again with nothing plugged in but the charger.
If there's still no sign of life, it's usually the charging circuit, the power management chip or the board itself. That's board-level work, and it's very often repairable rather than a write-off.
Before assuming the battery has died, rule out the cable and the port — a blocked charging port is one of the most common causes and costs nothing to fix.
Try a different cable and a different plug socket. Cables fail far more often than devices do.
Look into the charging port with a torch. Pocket lint compacts at the bottom and stops the connector seating fully.
If you see debris, switch the device off and gently hook it out with a wooden or plastic toothpick. Never use metal.
Check whether it charges intermittently, or only if you hold the cable at an angle. That points to a worn or loose port rather than a battery.
Leave it charging for 30 minutes and check whether the battery percentage has moved at all.
If the port is loose or the device only charges at an angle, the connector usually needs re-soldering or replacing — a board-level repair from £35, and much cheaper than a new device.
My laptop is completely dead — no lights, no fans, nothing
No signs of life at all usually means power isn't reaching the board. Work through these in order before assuming it's finished — a fair number of 'dead' machines are a failed charger.
Leave it charging for a solid 30 minutes and don't touch it. A deeply flat battery can show nothing at all at first.
Check the charger has a light on it. No light means test another socket, then another cable — chargers fail far more often than laptops.
Look at the charging port itself with a torch. Lint packed in the bottom stops the connector seating properly.
Do a hard power cycle: unplug everything, hold the power button down for 30 full seconds, plug the charger back in, then press power normally.
On a MacBook, try the SMC reset — shut down, hold Control+Option+Shift for 7 seconds, then add the power button for another 7, release all, then press power.
If you have another compatible charger, try it. Borrowing one for two minutes can save an unnecessary repair bill.
If none of that produces a single light or sound, it's usually the power circuit on the board — the DC jack, the charging IC or a blown fuse. That's exactly the board-level work most shops won't attempt, and it's very often repairable rather than a write-off.
There are only a few things this can be, and you can narrow it down at home in about five minutes.
Look for a charging light on the laptop or the charger. No light anywhere points at the charger or the cable.
Try a different socket, then a different cable, then a different charger if you can borrow one.
Check the port with a torch. If the plug feels loose, wobbly, or only charges at a certain angle, the port itself is worn — a common and repairable fault.
On Windows, check Battery health: open Command Prompt and run powercfg /batteryreport, then open the file it creates and compare design capacity to full-charge capacity.
On a Mac: hold Option and click the Apple menu → System Information → Power. Look at Cycle Count and Condition. 'Service Recommended' means the battery is worn out.
Note whether it runs fine on mains but dies instantly when unplugged — that's a battery, not a charging fault.
Charging problems split roughly three ways: the charger, the port, or the battery. Each is a different price, so it's worth a free diagnosis rather than guessing and buying the wrong part.
I spilled liquid on my laptop — what do I do right now?
What you do in the first few minutes matters more than anything else. Corrosion, not the liquid itself, is what kills boards — and powering it on is what causes the real damage.
Shut it down immediately. Hold the power button until it goes off. Don't wait for a normal shutdown.
Unplug the charger and any accessories.
Turn it upside down like an open tent so the liquid runs out rather than further in.
Blot what you can with a towel. Don't rub it into the keyboard.
Do NOT use a hairdryer, radiator or oven — heat spreads the liquid and warps components.
Do NOT put it in rice. It does nothing for liquid already inside, and rice dust makes matters worse.
Do NOT try to turn it on to "see if it works". That's what turns a cleanable spill into a dead board.
Get it looked at as soon as you can. Corrosion keeps spreading while it sits there, even when it looks dry.
Sugary drinks and salt water are far more aggressive than plain water. The sooner a board is cleaned properly, the better the outcome — we do free diagnosis on liquid damage.
Do this before any repair, any OS reinstall, and ideally once a month anyway. It takes about ten minutes to set up.
Windows: plug in an external drive, then Settings → System → Storage → Advanced storage settings → Backup options, or use File History.
Mac: plug in an external drive and macOS will offer to use it for Time Machine. Say yes and let it run.
Cloud alternative: OneDrive, iCloud Drive or Google Drive will sync your Documents, Desktop and Photos automatically.
Check it actually worked. Open the backup and confirm you can see real files — an untested backup isn't a backup.
Keep at least one copy that isn't attached to the computer. A drive left permanently plugged in won't survive theft, fire or ransomware.
If the machine is already failing or won't boot, stop and don't run repair tools — every extra attempt can reduce what's recoverable. Bring it in and we'll assess the drive first.
Often yes, but what you do next decides it. Every write to the drive risks overwriting what you're trying to recover.
Check the Recycle Bin (Windows) or Trash (Mac) first — deleted files usually sit there until it's emptied.
Windows: right-click the folder it was in → Restore previous versions, if File History or a restore point is available.
Mac: open Time Machine and browse back to before the deletion.
Check cloud storage. OneDrive, iCloud and Google Drive all keep deleted files for a period, and have their own recycle bins online.
If none of that works, stop using the drive. Don't install recovery software onto the same drive — installing it can overwrite the very files you want.
For anything important, the safest route is to stop and let it be imaged properly. Deleted-file recovery starts from £50, and we assess what's recoverable before you commit.
Plan for two things: your files, and the accounts and licences that get forgotten until you need them.
Back up the old machine first, so you have a fallback if anything goes wrong mid-move.
Mac to Mac: use Migration Assistant (Applications → Utilities). It moves apps, accounts and settings, not just files.
Windows to Windows: sign in with the same Microsoft account and let OneDrive sync Desktop, Documents and Pictures, then copy anything outside those folders manually.
Copy the folders people forget: Downloads, and anything saved outside Documents.
Write down what you'll need to sign back in to — email, banking, password manager, and any software licence keys.
Keep the old machine intact until you've used the new one for a week and confirmed nothing is missing.
Don't wipe or sell the old computer until you're certain. If you're selling it, make sure it's properly erased and signed out of your accounts first — we can handle both.
Work from the router outwards — it's the fastest way to tell whether the problem is your device or your connection.
Check whether other devices have the same problem. If everything is affected, it's the router or the line, not your laptop.
Restart the router: unplug it for 30 seconds, plug it back in, and wait two minutes for it to settle.
Forget the network on your device and reconnect. Windows: Settings → Network & internet → Wi-Fi → Manage known networks. Mac: System Settings → Wi-Fi → Details → Forget.
Move closer to the router to rule out range, and note whether it holds a connection there.
Try the 5GHz band if your router offers both — it's faster and usually far less congested than 2.4GHz.
Update your network drivers (Windows) or install pending system updates (Mac).
If one device fails on every network while others are fine, it's likely that device's Wi-Fi card or antenna — worth a proper look.
Pop-ups, a hijacked browser homepage, new toolbars, or sudden slowness are the usual signs. Most of it is removable.
Disconnect from the internet if you think details have been stolen, and change important passwords from a different device.
Run a full scan with Windows Security: Start → Windows Security → Virus & threat protection → Scan options → Full scan.
Check your installed programs for anything you don't recognise and remove it: Settings → Apps → Installed apps.
Reset your browser. In Chrome: Settings → Reset settings → Restore settings to their original defaults. This clears hijacked search engines and rogue extensions.
Review browser extensions and remove anything you didn't deliberately install.
Never call a phone number that a pop-up gives you, and never let anyone who cold-called you connect remotely to your machine — that's the scam itself, not the fix. If you already gave someone access, treat it seriously and get the machine checked.
The useful question is whether the fault is in the screen itself or in what's driving it. This tells you which.
Plug in an external monitor or TV. If the external picture is perfect, the problem is the screen or its cable, not the graphics.
If the same lines or flickering appear on the external display too, the fault is the graphics chip or the board.
Open and close the lid slowly and watch. If the picture changes as you move it, the display cable or its connector is the likely cause.
Press gently around the edges of the screen. Changes under light pressure point at a loose connection.
Restart and watch the very first screen. Faults visible before the operating system loads are almost always hardware.
A cable or connector is a much smaller job than a panel, and a panel is much smaller than a board — worth diagnosing properly before anyone quotes you for a whole screen.
First work out whether it's the keyboard hardware or the software above it.
Plug in a USB keyboard. If that works perfectly, the built-in keyboard is the problem.
Open an on-screen keyboard and test the dead keys there. Windows: search On-Screen Keyboard. Mac: System Settings → Keyboard → Accessibility Keyboard.
Check your keyboard language. A layout set to US instead of UK swaps @ and ", and moves the £ sign — it looks like a fault but isn't.
Restart. A stuck modifier key can make the whole keyboard behave strangely until it clears.
If keys are sticky rather than dead, and something was spilled, treat it as liquid damage and stop using it.
Individual dead keys are usually the keyboard membrane or ribbon connector. On MacBooks the keyboard and battery are often one assembly, so it's worth a proper quote before deciding.
Sound problems are usually the output device being set to the wrong thing rather than a broken speaker.
Check the obvious: volume up, and not muted — including the volume inside the app itself, which is separate.
Windows: click the speaker icon and check which output device is selected. If a monitor, headset or Bluetooth speaker is picked, sound is going there instead.
Mac: System Settings → Sound → Output, and check the right device is highlighted.
Unplug headphones and any HDMI cable. A headphone socket with a stuck switch inside makes the computer think headphones are still connected.
Restart. An audio driver that's crashed usually comes back cleanly after a reboot.
Windows only: Device Manager → Sound, video and game controllers → right-click your audio device → Update driver.
Whether it's one port or all of them tells you most of what you need to know.
Try the device in a different port, and try a different device in the original port. That tells you whether it's the port or the accessory.
If every port is dead, restart — the USB controller can hang and a reboot resets it.
Check the port for debris with a torch. Pocket lint and dust compact in there.
Windows: Device Manager, look for anything with a yellow warning triangle, right-click and uninstall it, then restart — Windows reinstalls it automatically.
Windows power saving can switch ports off: Device Manager → USB Root Hub → Properties → Power Management → untick 'Allow the computer to turn off this device'.
Try the accessory on another computer to rule the accessory out entirely.
One physically loose port that works when you hold the cable at an angle is a board-level repair — the connector has usually cracked away from the motherboard. That's repairable rather than a replacement.
Drift and connection problems are two different faults with two different fixes.
For connection: charge it fully, then connect it by cable first to confirm the controller itself works.
PS5: hold the small reset button on the back with a pin for 5 seconds, then re-pair by cable.
Xbox: hold the pair button on the controller and the console until the light flashes.
For drift — the character moving on its own — first try the console's own calibration or a controller firmware update, which sometimes resolves mild drift.
Blow compressed air around the base of the stick, then work the stick in circles for a minute. This clears dust from the sensor and helps often enough to be worth trying.
Persistent drift is a worn potentiometer inside the stick module. It's a component replacement, not something cleaning will permanently fix — but it's a small job, and much cheaper than a new controller.
Rule out the disc before assuming the drive has failed.
Try several different discs, including one you know worked recently. A single scratched disc misleads a lot of people.
Look at the disc surface for scratches, fingerprints or a cracked centre ring. Wipe it from the centre outwards, never in circles.
Listen when you insert one. Grinding or repeated clicking means the drive mechanism, not the disc.
Make sure the console is on a flat, level surface — a console on its side or on carpet causes read errors and overheating.
Check for a system update. Drive firmware issues are occasionally fixed in updates.
Fully power down: hold the power button until it switches off completely, unplug for a minute, then restart.
If the drive doesn't take the disc in at all, or spits it straight back, that's usually the loading mechanism or the drive board — both repairable without replacing the console.
A forced restart fixes most frozen phones, and it's safe — it doesn't erase anything.
iPhone: press Volume Up, then Volume Down, then hold the Side button until the Apple logo appears. Keep holding past the slider.
Android: hold Power and Volume Down together for about 10–20 seconds.
If the screen responds in some areas but not others, take the case off — a tight case can press on the digitiser edges.
Clean the screen and your hands. Moisture and screen protectors with trapped air both cause dead patches.
Charge it for 30 minutes and try again. A phone at 0% behaves very strangely before it has enough power.
If it's frozen after a drop or a spill, don't keep restarting it — get it looked at, especially with liquid, where every minute it stays powered makes corrosion worse.
Most devices that arrive damaged were posted in a padded envelope. A box and five minutes of packing prevents nearly all of it.
Use a rigid cardboard box with about 5cm of space around the device on every side.
Wrap the device in two or three layers of bubble wrap and tape it closed so it can't slide out. A towel or thick clothing works if you have no bubble wrap.
Fill every gap with scrunched newspaper until nothing moves when you shake the box.
Put your repair slip — or the reference written on paper — inside the box.
Tape the box closed along every seam and send it tracked and insured.
Laptops, phones and tablets with a built-in battery are fine to post within the UK as long as the battery stays inside the device. Don't post a loose or visibly swollen battery — message us first.
If you can hear fans or see lights but nothing on screen, the computer is probably running fine and the problem is the display, the backlight, or what's driving them. These checks tell you which.
Shine a torch at an angle across the screen. If you can faintly see the desktop or a logo, the screen is working but the backlight has failed — that's a repair, not a dead machine.
Plug in an external monitor or TV via HDMI. If that picture is perfect, the fault is the laptop's own screen or its cable, not the graphics.
Turn the brightness right up using the function keys — it sounds obvious, but a stuck brightness setting looks identical to a dead screen.
Disconnect everything: docks, USB devices, second monitors. A confused display output can leave the built-in screen blank.
Hold the power button 20 seconds to force off, then start it and watch the first few seconds for any logo. A logo that appears then disappears points at software, not the screen.
Backlight and display-cable faults are usually far cheaper than people fear — often much less than a full screen replacement. Worth getting diagnosed before assuming the worst.