How to reduce game lag: methods and tips

For those who experience consistent or random lag spikes because of an old PC or laptop, I feel you. I decided to put together a list for ways to reduce lag and game latency while maintaining decent graphics and a great overall experience. Nobody wants to go purchase a 2,000 dollar PC just to be able to run minecraft smoother.

My first tip and first resort should be reducing things in game, like graphics settings.
Fancy leaves isn't a big deal but can be annoying in games like war where you can shoot through leaves so it may be better to leave on depending on the game being played. Brightness all the way down unless mining, dont lower framerate all the way but lower it until you see visual improvement. Turn off fancy clouds. Lower Graphical User Interface (GUI) to large or normal from auto. Set render distance to 8-10 chunks You can turn particles off but some games particles can be a vital asset. This should be first resort in reducing lag.

My second tip is to reset your computer. This will clean up any processes that are wasting cpu memory and RAM, therefore slowing your game and affecting your overall game experience.

My third tip is to set RAM priorities.
This is a tip that will only work for windows users. Mac will not.
Step 1 hold ctrl alt delete simultaneously.
Step 2 open task manager
Step 3 Hit more details listed at the bottom left corner of the task manager window.
Step 4 then once there open details in the top line of tabs, it is the second to last one.
Step 5 find Javaw.exe
Step 6 right click on Javaw.exe
Step 7 hover over Set Priority
Step 8 Set to high, if that is not enough do realtime. The problem with realtime is it can cause java to trip making minecraft crash all together.