The slowness of a computer is a frustrating thing. Every time you try to use your computer for some work, you find it hard to keep going. You are not alone who is facing a crisis with the computer. Many users struggle to continue having faster performance from their computers.
When you feel so, sometimes you restart your computer, or sometimes you delete some files and put them in the recycle bin to make your computer speedy. But still, you find the laptop reacting slowly or the right-click button not working properly.
At that moment, you feel like throwing it into the bin and buy a new one instead. Let us stop you right there. Because we think we can cooperate with you coming out of this problem. To have the best performance from your computer, we are going to give you some invaluable tips below:
Check Hard Disk Space
A rule of thumb to make sure your computer is fast enough is keeping 15% of your hard disk free. If your hard disk runs out of space, that might cause trouble by making your pc slow. For this reason, remove unnecessary files and programs.
Also, you can clear browser history, delete temporary files to improve your pc speed. Alternatively, you are free to use different cleanup programs to free up the space of your hard drive. As most of the free cleanup programs are scams, we suggest you use premium ones.
Shut Down Unused Tabs
When you remain busy with your web browser and open limitless tabs, that can slow down your computer for sure. So always shut down a tab once you are done with that and keep your pc running smoothly.
Delete Unnecessary Files
Many unnecessary files come with software automatically that you normally install to use on your pc. Also, caches and cookies can take up a large amount of space on your computer. That’s why delete all of them to make sure there is enough free space.
Restart Your Computer
When you use your computer for a long time, various programs and apps keep staying in the background. As a result, you face a slow performance. In that case, restarting your computer is a wise approach to refresh the memory that you want to eradicate. Then, all the running programs will no longer be available and you can start comfortably again. Just make sure you have saved your works before restarting your pc.
Stop Startup Programs
Well, this is a common problem for so many computer users among us. Many programs can run on startup automatically that can make your pc slow. Some of them can be necessary for you, whereas others may not be. To get rid of them, right-click the taskbar and select either Ctrl-Shift-Escape or Task Manager. Move to the Startup tab then and you can see all the items on Task Manager that are running on startup, including their impacts.
Search for the ones that you don’t want to allow starting automatically. If you find some of them with high impact, don’t hesitate to disable them. Eventually, that will help your computer run faster than before. To initiate the process, again right-click and select the Disable option.
If you run the Windows 7 operating system, you have to look for System Configuration instead of Task Manager to stop Startup programs.
During the overall process, keep in mind not to stop programs that help Windows to operate the system. Otherwise, you might be in big trouble.
Defragment your hard drive
Fragmentation of files is something that you always want to avoid. But over time, it happens and you have no control over stopping it. In any of Windows 10, 8, or 7 operating systems, the defragmentation process runs automatically as per a schedule. However, if you find your computer facing issues, you can operate it manually.
But at first, bear in mind to defragment the hard disk drive (HDD) only.
Go to My Computer, right-click the hard drive. After that go to Properties>Tools and click the Optimize button under Optimize and defragment the drive. Click ok then and the defragmentation process will start. You may find the icon named This PC instead of My Computer in Windows 10.
Backup Your Important Data
Keeping a data backup of your computer is always a good idea. If you think these data are fill up a massive amount of hard drive space on your pc, move them elsewhere. You have various options to backup them:
- External hard drive
- Google cloud
- Google Drive
- Amazon Drive
- Dropbox
- CD or DVD space
Change Power Settings
System performance depends largely on the power settings options in the pc. Generally, there are three different options available: Power Saver, High Performance, and Balanced.
Using your computer under the “Power Saver” plan in Windows 10 is not a good idea at all. In fact, it slows down your pc, and the overall performance falls drastically.
So better go for a High Performance or Balanced plan to boost your Windows performance. If you are a desktop user, there is no valid reason to use the “Power Saver” mode. On the other hand, as a laptop user, you should opt for a Balanced option when unplugged and High Performance when plugged.
For processing power settings, open the Control Panel, select Hardware, and Sound, then select Power Options. There you can find two different choices: Balanced (recommended) and “Power Saver.” Choose the one you want to enable and exit.
Organize Desktop Icons into Folders
If you allow keeping so many desktop icons, each of them takes up a certain RAM space to load that hampers your computer’s speed. So instead, organize individual icons as folders and enhance your pc performance.
Add RAM Storage if needed
Every computer has a fixed RAM or Random Access Memory storage based on which the device works properly. If you use software and programs that cross the RAM capability to serve you well, you are going to suffer. Hence, add more RAM to your pc to smoothly operate large files or manage multiple tasks at once.
You can also check out if your computer requires more RAM. To do that, press Ctrl+ Alt+ Del to open the Task Manager. Then press the Performance tab and find the Memory area. If it shows there is less than 25% of the memory available, consider adding more ram to your computer.
Uninstall Unused Programs
Never hesitate to uninstall a program that you never use in your day to day life. This is no wonder that you might have plenty of unused programs running on your pc. Eventually, they are wasting a lot of storage space. Hence, get rid of them soon to improve your computer speed.
Go to the control panel, click on Uninstall a program. There you will find all the programs you are using. Put your cursor on the program that you want to uninstall. Right-click and hit the uninstall button. Exit from the control panel. This is it!
Before you uninstall a program, we warn you to be careful about recognizing it. Some of the programs can be vital to maintain your operating system.
Remove unused languages
Every computer uses several language resources and files. If you use only one language, there is no reason to keep the unused languages.
If you are on pc, open settings, select time and language. Then, choose language > Windows Display Language and from there select the Default language that you want to continue and remove others.
Update Softwares
Softwares without updates for a long time can cause a lot of issues to your pc. You can easily resolve bugs or glitches by updating various software. Therefore, run regular updates to resolve all performance issues.
To perform the process, simply select the Start button. Then choose All Programs > Windows Update. There, click on Check on Updates to find out if your computer software needs updates. If the answer is yes, start updating the software.
Erase Internet Browsing History
If you use the web browser a lot, it is obvious you have tons of webpages on the browser history. But the accumulation of them in the browser history can cause trouble to your computer performance. That’s why you must ensure removing those web pages which are no longer necessary for you.
To perform the action, go to the History tab, find out the unnecessary web pages, and erase all of them.
Delete Unnecessary Extensions/Plugins
Many use plugins and extensions to have a convenient web browsing experience. But if you use a lot of them, they can slow down your pc. So check out the unnecessary ones and uninstall them instantly.
Run Windows ReadyBoost
Windows ReadyBoost is a great build-in function to make your computer faster if you use Windows Vista or later. It uses an external flash drive that adds extra memory to your computer. Windows ReadyBoost will do the work of caching, increase hard drive speed, and help applications open swiftly by using a certain section of the memory of the USB flash drive. It can be a good idea if your computer has less than 2 GB RAM and a mechanical HDD as the main system drive.
However, Solid-state drives (SSD) are faster than these USB flash drives. So if you can afford to use an SSD, add them instead.
Avoid Third Party Software
Your device is at risk! That’s the precaution you receive when you download third-party software from a malicious site. This is not going to be a good idea if you still go for it. The reason is that such a third party software can contain various programs and features full of virus and malware. When you install it from an inauthentic site, they affect your pc data and become a threat to your privacy.
So better to stay away from such software and be careful of any site that carries harmful links.
Clean out Hard Disk
If you want your pc to run faster, it is high time you should clean the hard drive properly. You can do it in different ways.
Storage Sense
A bloated hard drive full of useless files, programs, and features has a major impact on your pc speed. So, what’s the solution? Windows 10 comes with an excellent built-in tool named Storage Sense. It is helpful to remove the old junk files that you don’t need anymore.
On the search box, type Settings > System > Storage, and you will find a toggle on the top of the screen. Switch it on and the process will allow Windows to monitor your pc to delete all temporary files and programs.
Also, it will erase the files of the Downloads folder that are no longer in use for a while and the old files of Recycle Bin.
Moreover, you have a customization option to use the process as per your requirements. You get the opportunity to fix the time when you want to remove those files.
In case, you want to delete the old version of the Windows operating system from your pc, you are free to do that as well, click “Delete previous versions of Windows” at the bottom of your screen and they will vanish after ten days of installing an update.
Disk Cleanup
Alternatively, you can delete temporary files from your pc through the Disk Cleanup option. In the search box, type disk cleanup and click on open. Then you will have the option to choose any drive that you want to clean. Click ok and the cleanup process will start. If you don’t want to remove all the files from a single drive, you can tick on the unnecessary files from it.
In addition, you can delete the system files. Similar to the previous way, go to Disk Cleanup, choose a particular drive. Then, click on “Clean up system files” and click ok.
Avoid Using Animated Windows
Many computer users face problems with the slow start menu. Often the problem becomes so severe that you can’t do anything on your pc. Avoiding the use of animated windows is one of the ideal solutions to this issue.
In Windows 10, to speed up your start menu, maintain the following steps:
- Press Windows key and R key together and the command box will show up.
- Type Sysdm.cpl and press the Enter button.
- The advanced tab will open up where you will find the Settings option just below the Performance section.
- Click on that and you will see a list of multiple visual effects.
- If you intend to make your start button faster, untick “Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing then press the Apply button.
Here you go! Your start menu will again work faster than before.
Final Thought
A slow computer is a curse. You just can’t keep going with your machine when you face non stop lagging. No matter if anyone uses Windows 7, Windows XP, or Windows 10, slowness of computers is a regular occurrence for many. When you faced a similar problem, obviously you looked for informative content like “How to make your computer faster.”
For sure, there are various effective solutions to make your laptop or desktop working fast and smooth. That’s why to help your computer speed boost, we provided some crucial tips to you. We believe all of our tips will come in handy to release you from the curse of your slow computer.