Every year millions of Apple users install the latest iOS upgrade and some find it impacts the performance of their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. That's no problem for those who know what to do, but horrid for those who don't. If that's you, or someone you know, here are a few tips to get the old performance mojo back, no anxiety required.

The scenario: You installed iOS 8 (not iOS 8.0.1), and your device seems to have become buggy. Safari might be slow, apps may take ages to load, that kind of thing…

Don't panic

I have upgraded multiple Apple devices and these tips have worked. In my experience, it's usually pretty easy to make things better so long as you know what to do. Before you do anything else, try holding the Power and Home button down concurrently until the Apple logo appears and the device restarts. That single step often helps make things work better. If not, read on.

Also read: An iOS 8 troubleshooting guide

If you've been unable to upgrade your device because Apple made the stupid decision to demand 5GB (WHY??) of available space to upgrade a device that isn't connected to iTunes, then you may as well come along for the ride (you only need c.1GB of available space if you are connected to iTunes).

Follow these steps

Upgrade iTunes to the current version

Upgrade your apps (in iTunes)

Connect your device using an appropriate cable

Backup you device

Hit the Check for Update button in iTunes, download and update your device if an update is available.

Change some Settings

You may find device performance improves when you change these Settings.

Reduce Motion

Turning of Parallax on older devices can help improve performance, it stops motion effects in the home screen and in some other parts of the system. Switch this off in Settings>General>Accessibility>Reduce Motion. Tap to turn Reduce Motion on (green).

Transparency

Turning of transparency may help, though it the OS won't look as pretty. You can turn it off in Settings>General>Accessibility>Increase Contrast>Reduce Transparency>Switch to On.

Storage

How much available storage to you have? Check this in Settings>General>Usage>Look at Available Storage. Opinions differ, but if you have under 100MB of available storage (I prefer 1GB, but I think that's probably overkill -- unless you're also trying to upgrade your device) then you should delete some photos, videos or unnecessary apps to help boost device performance.

One more thing

All the above steps make a good difference (particularly ensuring you have space on your device), but in my experience the most effective step you can take is to Reset All Settings, which sounds a little scary but isn't so bad.

When you Reset All Settings on your device you won't lose everything, you'll just find a few of the settings are returned to factory settings.

You will need to rejoin your Wi-Fi networks, pair Bluetooth devices and re-create your Passcode. It is also possible some services you use your device for (which I can't predict) may require password entry.

In order to Reset All Settings go to Settings>General>Reset>Reset All Settings. You'll be asked for your Passcode and your device will switch itself off and restart.

The promise

These suggestions should help most users get good performance from their device once again. If they don't, then backup your phone (as above) and reset the device to factory settings -- though this will delete all your data and settings, so your backup is essential.

I hope this short article helps make things better for you.

Also read

Google+? If you use social media and happen to be a Google+ user, why not join AppleHolic's Kool Aid Corner community and join the conversation as we pursue the spirit of the New Model Apple?

Got a story? Drop me a line via Twitter or in comments below and let me know. I'd like it if you chose to follow me on Twitter so I can let you know when fresh items are published here first on Computerworld.