How can I make my five-year-old Windows laptop run faster?

Hugh wants to keep his Toshiba Satellite P500 because he likes the 17in screen, but it's getting creakier. Can he make it run like new?

I have a five-year old Toshiba Satellite P500 with Microsoft Windows 7 installed. I like it because it's got a 17.1in screen, but it's getting slower and creakier. Could I just replace the existing hard drive with an updated one? Would this get me back to how it was performing when it was new? Hugh

The Toshiba Satellite P500 belongs to a class of high-specification laptops known as "desktop replacements", and it should still perform well. Without seeing it, I can't tell whether it's a hardware or a software issue, but both can be improved. The main issues are whether you can spare the time to fix your laptop, and how much money you're willing to invest in an old machine. These are the things that drive people to buy new laptops.