I don't know how misinformation about TVs spreads. Actually, that's not true, I absolutely do. Uninformed people make a claim online; it gets repeated as received wisdom; Reddit references it; and ChatGPT and other large language models use those posts as sources. 

As someone who has reviewed TVs since the early 2000s, and confirmed with a major TV manufacturer, I'll tell you decisively: You can't speed up an older smart TV. Sorry. 

I think some of the confusion stems from a misunderstanding of what TVs are truly capable of -- and what's actually happening when they're "slow." 

All TVs, even the best ones, use far less capable processors than what's in your phone, tablet or computer. They might do a good job in a few specialized things, like image processing, but broadly speaking, TVs use the least expensive (aka slowest) processors they can reasonably get away with. You can't speed up slow processors.

The bigger issue is figuring out why any device "feels slow." There are plenty of conspiracy theories about planned obsolescence. But the real issue is that all software gets more elaborate and complex with each generation. With ever-increasing processing power, there's little motivation to optimize for slower hardware. 

In fact, with limited development time and money, most of a company's effort and resources will be spent on adding new features and ensuring the TV runs. 

The results are big, bloated apps compared to the versions released when the TV's hardware was new. Or, to look at it another way, the old hardware is now being asked to run software that's just barely optimized for modern hardware. If that same software had been released when the TV was new, it wouldn't run on anything. 

There's no conspiracy here. This happens to apps on all devices: TVs, phones, tablets, computers, anything.

These methods won't make your TV faster

If you search for how to make your TV run faster, you'll find a variety of ideas. I confirmed these wouldn't work with a major TV manufacturer.

Deleting apps: One of the most common pieces of advice is to delete apps you don't use. This isn't how modern computing works. Apps take up storage space. The storage doesn't have anything to do with how fast something seems. That's processing power and memory (aka RAM). Deleting apps you don't use doesn't hurt anything, but it doesn't free up actual RAM or processing power to make your TV work faster.

Clearing the cache: Another common misconception. The cache is temporary memory that the TV uses during normal use. Generally speaking, there's no way to clear the cache unless there is a specific option for it deep in the settings menus. 

Theoretically, some TVs might clear the cache if you unplug it, wait a moment and then plug it back in. However, this doesn't actually solve anything. 

For one, the TV just fills the cache back up with whatever software it was using before. And, as mentioned above, the cache isn't usually why a TV feels slow. Just turning the TV off using the remote typically won't do anything because modern TVs (and any device you can turn on with a remote) don't turn "off" when you do this -- they just go into standby mode. 

Some models do allow you to fully power down with a long press of the power button, but again, this is a temporary "fix" to a persistent problem.

Factory reset: This is a more extreme option than clearing the cache, fully reverting the TV back to how it was when you bought it, and it was "faster." This is a huge pain, as the TV will want to update itself back to its most recent firmware and all your installed apps. 

Even if the apps you use came preinstalled, the older (and admittedly probably faster) versions likely won't work. So you'll also have to wait for all of them to reinstall and update. The end result of all this is, once again, the same. You'll be back to exactly where you started, minus all that wasted time. It's also, as mentioned, not addressing the issue.

Streaming might make it faster

There is one way to speed up a slow smart TV. You can't improve the TV's internal processors, but you can bypass them. An inexpensive streaming device, like a Roku Streaming Stick, Amazon Fire TV or Google Chromecast, can "improve" the TV's performance by turning it into a "dumb" TV. 

You'll basically be using the TV as a monitor, outsourcing the interface to the newer device. The higher-end Roku models or the Apple TV box will closely mimic, and perhaps even exceed, the performance of a modern TV.

And then just speed up your Wi-Fi

While not directly TV-related, if your issue is with streaming, it's worth considering some ways to speed up your home's Wi-Fi for better streaming performance. Some of the options are free and just require some slight rearranging of the gear you already have. 

In addition to covering audio and display tech, Geoff does photo tours of cool museums and locations around the world, including nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers, medieval castles, epic 10,000-mile road trips and more.

Also, check out Budget Travel for Dummies, his book, and his bestselling sci-fi novel about city-size submarines. You can follow him on Instagram and YouTube.