1. Rebooting
If your PC is slow, try rebooting. It’s too obvious, but it’s often overlooked if it’s simple.
Sleep or power-saving mode saves electricity, but in the end, eliminating the messy mess left in Windows is to turn off your entire computer and start over. Repeat this every day if your PC is very slow.
2. High performance option
Windows defaults to power saving mode. But if you want a little more power consumption, you can speed up your PC. This tip is only for people who don’t mind paying a little more electricity or reducing battery life.
Right click on the Start button and select Power Options from the menu. In the “Power and sleep” window, select Related settings> Additional power settings, then select “Show additional power plans” in the Control Panel window. Select the “High Performance” option that was hidden. Some low end PCs may not have this option.
3. Give up the aesthetic
Windows has put a lot of effort into making the screen easier to see. But if your PC is slow, there is a way to speed it up at the expense of some aesthetics.
Right-click on the Start button and select System. In the System Control Panel window, select Advanced System Settings on the left. Then click the Settings button in the Performance menu on the Advanced tab, and the following screen will appear. You can optionally turn off some options, or choose the performance-driven recommended setting for tuning to optimal performance.
4. Disabling Unnecessary Autoloading Programs
You know that every time you boot your PC, a lot of programs run automatically. As these programs increase, the boot process slows down, and some of them slow down the computer even after Windows is fully turned on.
But there are also programs that are absolutely necessary. An antivirus program must be turned on during boot and throughout the life of the computer. Programs that need to remain on in the background, such as OneDrive, should be left running automatically.
But some programs don’t always need to be turned on. You don’t have to delete it completely, but you can change it so that it doesn’t run automatically.
To find out how many programs are currently running automatically, select Task Manager in the taskbar. Then select the “Startup” tab. If you see a window with no tabs, just click ‘Details’ in the lower left.
The Startup tab shows all programs that run automatically. Look at this list and think about which programs you might want to turn off. To stop autorun, right-click on the program and select Disable.
Some programs may not be known just by their name. In this case, right-click on the program and select Search online for more information.
5. Find Processes that are CPU-intensive
One process running on a PC is one that is eating up too much resources on its own. Enter the task manager as in the previous tip.
Selecting the CPU column head in the Processes tab sorts the processes by processor usage. The top items in the list are processes that consume the most CPU resources. (If the top processes are all marked 0%, the alignment is reversed. Click the column head again.)
This does not mean that all the processes on the list are unnecessarily occupying the CPU. Some large applications require the use of that much resource. To manage these programs, you have to work with them and then turn them off. Or you can switch to a similar, smaller program.
You can also close a process from within Task Manager. Click on the process and press the ‘End Task’ button. But this is only a last resort and should not be done.
6. Turn off search indexing
Searching for a word in every file in the document library will give you results almost immediately. It’s a very useful feature, but in return we’ve given up on computer speed. Even when you don’t use the search feature, you’re using indexing for faster searches, which slows down.
Follow these steps to turn off all indexing:
- Turn on Windows Explorer, right click the C: drive and select Properties.
- Uncheck the “Allow file properties and content indexing of this drive” option at the bottom of the General tab.
- You’ll see a notification window, and select “Apply changes to drive C: \, subfolders and files.”
It may take some time to turn off all indexing. Let’s go for a walk. A slow PC will soothe annoying minds.
7. Disabling Windows Tips
Windows 10 often offers users tips on how to use the OS. The problem is that the computer is always monitoring your PC usage to provide this functionality. You may be worried about privacy violations first, but this can also slow down your PC.
To turn it off, click Start> Settings> System, then select Notifications & Tasks from the left menu.
At the bottom of the notification section, turn off Show tips for windows, new features and suggested options. You can also check for any other notification options you don’t need and turn them off. I don’t know if there’s anything else that makes your PC slower than Windows tips, but the less annoying the better, anyway.
8. Cleaning Your Internal Drive
If your internal storage (hard drive or SSD) is full, your PC can slow down. If you have enough space on your drive, you can skip this section.
Start with Windows’s own disk cleaning tool. Let’s start with disk cleanup. Wait while the Disk Cleanup tool scans your drive, then click the “Clean up system files” button and wait for a while. This requires an administrator password.
Check the options. If you see an option called Previous Windows Installation History, you’re lucky. Click this option and press OK to save a lot of space. You can also select and click other items to free up space.
Another good idea is to remove programs you no longer use.
9. Scan for malware.
Malware infections rarely slow your PC by itself. This is because nothing is gained by slowing down your PC. In addition, slowing down your computer can lead to suspicion and increase your chances of catching malware. However, some malicious code can make your PC slow, if not intentionally.
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