@draonmouth,

You’re absolutely right — the title should’ve said “Linux” instead of “Ubuntu” since the tips work on most distros, not just Ubuntu.

Good point about lightweight window managers too. They can boost speed but might slow you down if you’re not used to them. That should have been explained better.

Regularly cleaning files with a cron job is a smart habit, not just something to do when the system slows down. That was a missed opportunity in the article.

And yes, Google and Cloudflare aren’t always the best DNS options. Using NameBench to find the fastest provider is a great tip we should’ve included.

Thanks again for your helpful feedback! Would you like to see a revised version with your suggestions added?

“7. Use a Lightweight Window Manager”

While that may speed up the distro, it will slow down your workflow since going from a Desktop Environment to a Windows Manager could entail a steep learning curve.

“9. Clean Up Unnecessary Files”

That should be done on a regular basis, not just when a speed up is desired or when the system runs out of space. One should set up a cron job to run regularly and clean out all the junk on the system. For heavy system users, cron should be scheduled weekly, if not not daily. For casual users, cron should be scheduled monthly.

“13. Switch to a Faster DNS Provider”

Google and CloudFlare are not always the fastest or best DNS Providers. NameBench is an open-source Domain Name System benchmark utility. I suggest running it occasionally to check for the fastest DNS Providers available at the time and changing your DNS settings accordingly. I run it at least once a month.

NameBench is available in most distro repositories.
To install it:

sudo apt install namebench

Upgrade will modify your system config file only which usually reside in /(root) partition if you are not using different partition for boot,home or other custom partition.

Note : Tecmint is not responsible for any data loss. Follow the things at own your own Risk.

I want to ask you wether the upgrading from Ubuntu 13.10 to 14.04 via the Update Manager will remove my data on the local drive?