// FOR THE PARENT WHO BOUGHT IT
Gaming PC gone slow? We tune it up remotely — nothing wiped
You bought the gaming computer a year or two ago, it flew, and now it crawls, stutters, or refuses to load the games it was bought for. We connect to it, with you watching, find what has piled up, and put it right — without wiping a machine that has your files and your accounts on it too.
Rated 4.9 on GoogleFamily-run since 1995 · no fix, no fee// WHY IT SLOWED DOWN
Why a gaming PC that flew now crawls
Gaming computers slow down for the same reasons ordinary ones do, only faster, because they are used harder and download more. After a year or two, many of the ones we see have several of these at once:
- A full drive. Modern games are 80–150 GB each. A drive that is more than about 85–90% full slows the whole machine, and games often refuse to update or launch at all.
- Graphics drivers a year out of date, or updated and now broken. New games ship needing new drivers; old drivers mean stutter, crashes on launch, or a black screen.
- Things that start with Windows. Every launcher, overlay and “helper” ever installed — Steam, Epic, Discord, Xbox, the RGB lighting software — running before the game does.
- Adware and worse from “free” downloads. Cracked games, mods from the wrong site, and “free V-Bucks / Robux” tools are the commonest way a young person’s PC ends up carrying software that eats it alive. No blame; it is how these things are designed.
- Heat. Dust in the fans and heatsinks means the processor and graphics card slow themselves down to survive. It shows up as a machine that is fine for five minutes and then stutters.
- Windows itself — updates half-applied, a version that never finished installing, power settings that throttle everything.
None of that needs a wipe. It needs someone to go through it methodically, which is what a tune-up is.
// WHAT WE DO
What a remote gaming tune-up covers
We connect on a secure remote session — you make the call, you watch the screen, our access ends when we finish. In that session we:
- Free the drive: temporary files, old game installs nobody plays, shader caches and Windows leftovers, so there is breathing room again. Nothing of yours is deleted without asking.
- Update the graphics driver properly — the NVIDIA App or AMD Software, a clean install where the old one is broken — plus the DirectX and Visual C++ pieces games quietly depend on.
- Cut the start-up crowd: launchers and overlays that only need to run when they are wanted, not at boot.
- Remove adware, unwanted programs and malware, and check the browser and extensions while we are there.
- Repair the games that will not launch — verify game files in Steam or Epic, fix the launcher, sort the anti-cheat driver that so often breaks after an update.
- Set Windows up for gaming: Game Mode on, the right power plan, hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling where it helps, updates finished.
- Check temperatures and drive health, so we can tell you whether the machine needs a physical clean or has a part on the way out — which is honest news you want before, not after.
Then we test: the game that would not load, loaded. You see it happen.
From £65, confirmed before we start, and most often done in a single session.
// NOTHING WIPED
Your files, their games: both stay
The reason parents put this off is the fear of losing things. A shared family PC often has the business accounts, the photos and the school work on it as well as the games, and “just reinstall Windows” is the advice that costs a weekend and a lot of passwords.
A tune-up is the opposite of that. We work on the machine as it is: files stay where they are, programs stay installed, game saves and accounts stay signed in. If we ever think a fresh installation is the honest answer — rare, and usually only after serious malware — we say so first, we back your files up before anything happens, and you decide.
And because it is remote, nobody needs to unplug a tower, carry it anywhere, or wait a week to get it back.
// WHAT WE CANNOT DO REMOTELY
The honest limits — and what we do about them
Some causes are physical, and a remote session can find them but not fix them:
- Dust and heat. We can see the temperatures and tell you the fans need cleaning; we cannot hold the air duster. We will show you or your son or daughter how to do it safely, or we collect it for a proper clean.
- A failing drive or a graphics card on its way out. The health checks tell us; the fix is a part. We quote it straight.
- Not enough memory. A two-year-old machine bought with 8 GB is now below what many games want. A memory upgrade is cheap and transformative, and we tell you exactly which sticks fit.
- Games the machine was never fast enough for. If a new release simply needs more graphics card than it has, we say so rather than tune around it. Our free PC speed test and graphics card benchmark put a number on it.
Physical work happens by arrangement, with free collection and return across Bournemouth, Christchurch, Poole and Dorset — see computer repairs. Remote is where we start because it is where most of these problems live.
// AFTERWARDS
Keeping it fast without another call
Before we sign off we leave the machine with the habits that keep it fast: Storage Sense tidying temporary files on a schedule, drivers set to update through the maker’s own app, and a short list — in plain English, for whoever uses it — of what not to download. If you would rather someone kept an eye on it, our home support plan is £18.25 a month per computer with unlimited remote help, and our free 365 PC Manager app shows the drive, memory and protection at a glance so the next slowdown is caught early.
Thinking about a bigger step? Our PC build budget tool shows where the money goes in a new machine, and our custom gaming PCs are built locally and supported by the same people who tune them. Most of the time, though, the machine you have is fine — it just needs the clutter out.
FAMILY-RUN SINCE 1995 · ★ 4.9 ON GOOGLE · 200+ COMPUTERS UNDER OUR CARE · NO FIX, NO FEE · SAME-DAY REMOTE SUPPORT
// GOOD QUESTIONS
Frequently asked
How much does a gaming PC tune-up cost?
From £65 for a remote tune-up. We confirm the exact price before we start — after a few minutes on the phone or a quick look at what the machine is doing — and it does not change. Most tune-ups are a single remote session. If it turns out to need a part, more memory or a physical clean, that is a separate, straight quote.
Will my files and my child’s games be safe?
Yes. A tune-up works on the machine as it is: files, programs, game saves and signed-in accounts all stay. Nothing is deleted without asking, and if a fresh installation ever became the honest answer we would say so first and back everything up before anything happened.
Does my son or daughter need to be there?
It helps, for two reasons: they know which games matter and which launchers they use, and they see what we do and why, which is how the machine stays fast afterwards. But a parent can sit in just as well — we explain everything in plain English either way.
Can you do it if we are not in Dorset?
Yes. The tune-up is remote, so we do it anywhere in the UK. Only the physical jobs — dust, parts, memory upgrades — need the machine with us for a day or two, collected and returned free across Bournemouth, Christchurch, Poole and Dorset.
Is it worth tuning up rather than buying a new gaming PC?
Usually, yes. A two- or three-year-old gaming PC that has slowed down is almost always suffering from clutter, old drivers, heat or a full drive, not age. If the graphics card genuinely cannot run what they want to play, we will tell you, and our free benchmarks put a number on it — but we would rather fix the machine you have than sell you one you do not need.
From £65, remote, nothing wiped — tell us what it is doing
Call 01202 775566 (Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm) or text 07520 615332. A remote tune-up is from £65 — we confirm the price before we start and it does not change. Most are done in one session while you or your son or daughter watch; parts and physical cleaning are quoted separately.
01202 775566 · help@365techies.co.uk · MON–FRI 9AM–5PM