Today I’m going to show you my favourite free tools to clean up and optimise your PC to speed it up. As a modern producer, you need to keep your computer tidy and up to scratch – much in the same way that big studios of the past had to be physically ship-shape.

DAWs and music production software can be very demanding on your computer and alongside the need for processing power, storage and RAM are other things to consider.

Native Instruments Kontakt libraries, for example, need to load large amounts of files into the PC’s RAM to be able to play them back at the touch of a button. Likewise with big projects, you might find that your computer is being pushed to the limits.

Of course, the first steps are to make sure you are only running the software you need – Chrome running in the background for example is notorious for using up system resources. But once you’ve tried those methods, you might want to do a bit of a computer spring clean.

I have chosen this list based on online research as well as what has worked well for me.

(Please note: I don’t have a Mac and so don’t want to make claims I don’t stand by myself, so this list is for the PC users)