AN IT whizz from the Cotswolds has come up with a gadget which he claims will help banish the buffering blues in old computers.

Founder of Cotswold IT Guy, Adam Engberg, based in Chadlington, has launched a “PC Supercharger” service to fit the state of the art upgrade into humble, slow and, often about-to-be-junked, PC and can make then three to four times faster. The device is an SSD, or Solid State Drive, and it replaces the slowest part of a computer, immediately transforming its performance.

“We have seen computers that take six or seven minutes to start Windows suddenly boot up in less than a minute”, says Mr Engberg.

“PCs that were all but unusable and destined for landfill suddenly become not only usable again, they become fantastic machines for daily use.”

The hard disk, which nearly all computers use to store information, is the only part of a computer that is mechanical, consisting of a spinning disk and an arm that has to be physically moved back and forth to find data. The result is “disk churn”, where the computer - not least the person sitting in front of it - wait endlessly for this contraption to deliver code and information to the rest of the machine.

Mr Engberg says his SSD does away with all of that, doing the same job, but without moving parts to slow it down.

“SSDs are becoming the norm in new computers, but not many people know they can be retro-fitted to old computers too where the speed increase can be astonishing,” he said.

“Not only does it go faster, but it saves you money because you don’t need to buy a new computer and its better for the environment too.”

The PC Supercharger upgrade is available to anyone who lives or works within the Cotswolds and can be installed in most desktop PCs or laptops. The Cotswold IT Guy offers to collect and return the PC within 24 hours, although businesses and homes upgrading multiple machines can opt to have the work carried out on site. Fully inclusive prices during the offer range from £115 to £349, depending on the size of the SSD.

For a limited time, Mr Engberg is offering the 24 hour collect and return service, as well as all sundry parts needed for fitting, for free, saving an average of £30.

For more information visit www.thecotswolditguy.co.uk