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5 Ways to Make a Laptop Run Faster

The best ways to speed up your old Windows 10 laptop

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Clean Your Hard Drive

  • Uninstall Programs You Don't Need

Reduce Startup Programs

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This article explains how to make your Windows 10 laptop run faster and restore it to the performance it had when it was new.

You should start by removing unimportant data and cached files from your disk since this is the easiest, most painless way to gain some performance back. Over time, your hard drive fills up with temporary files that can slow down your computer's ability to access the hard drive.

In the search box to the right of the Start button, type Cleanup and then click Disk Cleanup when you see it appear in the search results. 

In the Disk Cleanup dialog box, be sure the C drive is selected and click OK .

Check all the boxes and click OK .

Then press Delete Files to confirm and start the deletion process.

Uninstall Programs You Don't Need

After you clean up your hard drive, the next step is to remove programs you don't need. Not only do installed programs take up valuable storage space on your hard drive, but they can often run processes in the background which slow things down.

If you don't know what a program does, look it up online to see if it's something you still need. As a general rule, if you don't know what a program does, you don't need it and can remove it, because Windows won't let you uninstall any programs that are critical to Windows itself.

Third-party software uninstallers like IObit Uninstaller can help you find programs taking up the most space as well as infrequently used software.

Click the Start button and then click the Settings icon (it's shaped like a gear).

In the search box in the Settings window, type uninstall and then click Add or remove programs when you see it appear in the search results.

Scroll through the list of programs at the bottom of the window. If you see a program you don't need, click it and select Uninstall . Then follow the instructions, if there are any, to remove the program. Usually, the app will simply uninstall on its own.

When the uninstall is complete, Windows may ask permission to restart. If so, choose to do it later.

Go back to the list of programs and continue to uninstall additional programs you don't need anymore. 

When you're done, restart your laptop . 

Many programs run automatically when you start your laptop and then run in the background. While this can be convenient and help certain programs run more efficiently, it also slows down your laptop overall. That's why you should reduce the number of apps that run at startup. 

Right-click a blank space in the taskbar and click Task Manager in the pop-up menu. 

In the Task Manager, click the Startup tab. This tab lists all the programs that run automatically at startup, and you probably have quite a few of them.

You might not see this if you've never used Task Manager. Select More details to expand Task Manager first.

You can sort these programs based on how much they affect your computer's startup speed by clicking Startup impact . This should sort them from High to Low. 

If you don't know what a program does, right-click and choose Search Online . Windows will open a web browser and show you results for that app. It should generally be easy to see how important it is for that program to run at startup and what the impact of disabling it will be.

For every program that doesn't need to run at startup, right-click and choose Disable .

While somewhat unlikely, it's possible your laptop is infected with some form of malware that's slowing down your computer. To be sure, check for the presence of malware.

Click Start and then click Settings .

In the Settings window, click Update & Security .

In the navigation pane on the left, click Windows Security . You should see the security status of your laptop.

Click Virus & threat protection and click Quick scan . Let the scan run. If your computer finds any threats, follow the instructions to deal with it. 

Sometimes, a laptop's Windows installation is simply too corrupted or cluttered with digital detritus for any of the above solutions to solve the problem. There's one last option available: You can start fresh with a clean installation of Windows. This is always a last resort because it's time-consuming and there is some small amount of risk involved.

It's a good idea to have a reliable backup of your data in case anything goes awry.

Windows is designed to let you reset your installation of windows back to factory conditions without damaging or deleting your personal data, but be aware that if you do this, Windows will remove third-party programs that you'll need to reinstall yourself.

In the search box at the top of the Settings window, type Reset . Click Reset this PC when you see it appear in the search results.

In the Reset this PC section, click Get started . 

Click Keep my files and follow the directions to let Windows reset itself. The process may take some time, but when you're done you should be left with a computer which runs as quickly as when it was brand new.

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Tips to improve PC performance in Windows

If your PC is running slowly, the following suggestions might help speed things up. The tips are listed in order, so start with the first one, see if that helps, and then continue to the next one if it doesn’t. 

1. Make sure you have the latest updates for Windows and device drivers

One of the best ways to get the most out of your PC is to make sure you have the latest version of Windows 11 installed. When you check for updates, your PC will also search for the latest device drivers, which can also help improve your PC’s performance.

To check for updates

Select the Start  button, then select Settings  > Windows Update  >  Check for updates . Check for Windows updates

Do one of the following:

If the status says "You're up to date," continue and check for optional updates.

If the status says "Updates are available," once they are downloaded, select Install now .

Select the updates you want to install, then select Install .

Restart your PC and see if it seems to run better.

Sometimes an optional update, like a new non-critical driver, will be available that may help.

To check for optional updates

Select the Start  button, then select Settings  > Windows Update  > Advanced options > Optional updates .

If additional updates are available, select them and then select Download & install .

For more info about updates, including how you can have them installed automatically, see the Windows Update FAQ .

For Windows Update troubleshooting info, see Update Windows  and Troubleshoot problems updating Windows .

If your PC still runs slowly, continue to the next tip.

2. Restart your PC and open only the apps you need

Having many apps, programs, web browsers, and so on open at once can slow down your PC. Having a lot of browser tabs open at once can also slow it down quite a bit. If this is happening, close any apps, browser tabs, etc., that you don't need and see if that helps speed up your PC. If it doesn't seem to help, restart your PC and then open just the apps, programs and browser windows you need.

To restart your PC

Select the Start  button, then select Power  > Restart .

After your PC restarts, open just the apps you need, then close them when you’re done.

Sometimes apps that were made for an earlier version of Windows will still run on Windows 11, but they might slow down your PC. If this happens after you open a certain program, check the software company’s website for an updated version, or run the Program Compatibility Troubleshooter.

To run the Program Compatibility Troubleshooter

Select Search , type troubleshoot  in the search box, then select Troubleshoot settings  > Other troubleshooters .

Under Other , select the Run button next to  Program Compatibility Troubleshooter .

Select the program that you’re having problems with, then select Next and continue through the troubleshooter.

PC still running slowly? Continue to the next tip.

3. Use ReadyBoost to help improve performance

ReadyBoost lets you use a removable drive, like a USB flash drive, to improve your PC’s performance without opening your PC and adding more memory (RAM). To use ReadyBoost, you’ll need a USB flash drive or a memory card that has at least 500 MB free and a high data transfer rate.

To use ReadyBoost

Insert the USB flash drive into a USB port on your PC.

Select File Explorer from the taskbar.

Press and hold (or right-click) the USB flash drive (or SD card if you used one instead), then select Properties .

Select the ReadyBoost tab, then select Use this device . Windows determines if the device can use ReadyBoost. If it can’t, it'll let you know.

After Windows determines how much free space to use to optimize memory, select OK to reserve this space so ReadyBoost can use it. When you look at the contents of the USB flash drive in File Explorer, you’ll see a file named ReadyBoost.sfcache on the flash drive. This file shows how much space is reserved for ReadyBoost.

Note:  ReadyBoost can't be used if Windows is installed on a solid state drive (SSD). An SSD is already fast, and ReadyBoost won't be able to improve its performance.

4. Make sure the system is managing the page file size

The paging file is an area on your hard disk that Windows uses like memory. There's a setting in Windows 11 that manages the page file size automatically, which can help improve your PC’s performance.

To make sure automatic page file management is turned on

Select Search on the taskbar, type advanced system  in the search box, and then select View advanced system settings , which has Control panel listed underneath it.

In System Properties , select the Advanced tab, then select Settings in the Performance area.

In Performance Options , select the Advanced tab, then select Change in the Virtual memory area.

Make sure the Automatically manage paging file size for all drives check box is selected. If it is, continue to the next tip. If it's not, select it and then restart your PC by selecting Start  > Power  > Restart .

Use your PC and see if it’s running better. If it’s not, try the next tip.

5. Check for low disk space and free up space

You may improve performance if you free some disk space on your PC.

To check for low disk space

Select the Start button, then select Settings  > System > Storage . Open Storage settings

Your drives will be listed in the Storage area. Note the amount of free space and total size for each drive.

Note:  If your PC is not low on space, try the next tip.

You can use Storage Sense to delete unnecessary or temporary files from your device, which can also free up space. 

If you turn on Storage Sense, Windows will automatically free up space by getting rid of unnecessary files—including files in your recycle bin—when you're low on disk space or at intervals you specify. The instructions below show you how to delete temporary files and how to turn on and configure Storage Sense.

If you can't find Storage Sense on your device using the following steps, see the "Free up space with Disk cleanup" section below instead. 

Note:  You may not want to delete temporary files to improve performance. While these files may not be used at the moment, they help your apps load and run faster.

To delete temporary files with Storage Sense

Open Settings , then select System > Storage . Open Storage settings

Select Temporary files in the storage breakdown. Note : If you don't see Temporary files listed, select Show more categories .

Windows will take a few moments to determine what files and apps are taking up the most space on your PC.

Select the items you want to delete, and then select Remove files .

To see what's in your Recycle Bin before you empty it, open it from your desktop. If you don't see the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop, in the search bar on the taskbar, type recycle bin , then select Recycle Bin from the list of results. 

Note:  Windows moves files you delete to the Recycle Bin in case you change your mind and need them again in the future. You might be able to free up a significant amount of space by deleting Recycle Bin files to permanently remove files you've previously deleted.

To turn on and configure Storage Sense

Open Settings , then select  System  > Storage . Open Storage settings

In the Storage management area, turn on Storage Sense .

Select the for Storage Sense to configure it.

Under Cleanup of temporary files , ensure Keep Windows running smoothly by automatically cleaning up temporary system and app files is checked.

Under Configure cleanup schedules , choose how often you want Storage Sense to run.

For the files you want Storage Sense to delete (your choices are files in your Recycle Bin and in your Downloads folder), select the preferred time intervals, or select Never if you want Storage Sense to leave those types of files alone.

Scroll down and select Run Storage Sense now .

Windows will take a few moments to clean up your files, and then you'll see a message indicating how much disk space has been freed up.

If your system doesn't have Storage Sense, you can use the Disk Cleanup tool to delete temporary files and system files from your device.

To run Disk Cleanup

Select Search , type disk cleanup , then select Disk Cleanup from the list of results.

Select the checkbox next to the type of files you want to delete. (To view a description of each type of file, select the name.) By default, Downloaded Program Files , Temporary Internet Files , and Thumbnails are selected. Be sure to clear those check boxes if you don't want to delete those files.

To free up even more space, select Clean up system files . Disk Cleanup will take a few moments to calculate the amount of space that a can be freed up. 

Note:  If it’s been fewer than 10 days since you upgraded to Windows 11, your previous version of Windows will be listed as a system file you can delete. If you need to free up drive space, you can delete it, but keep in mind that you'll be deleting your Windows.old folder, which contains files that give you the option to go back to your previous version of Windows. If you delete your previous version of Windows, this can't be undone. (You won't be able to go back to your previous version of Windows.)

Select the types of files you want to delete, select OK , then select Delete files in the confirmation window to start the cleanup.

If your PC still runs slowly, try uninstalling apps you don't use anymore.

To uninstall apps you don’t use anymore

Select the Start button, then select Settings > Apps  > Installed apps  . Open Apps & features settings

Search for a specific app or sort them to see which ones are using the most space.

When you find an app to remove, select the More icon next to it and, if possible, select Uninstall .

Restart your PC and see if performance has improved.

If your PC still runs slowly, try moving files to another drive.

If you have photos, music, or other files that you want to keep but don't use often, consider saving them to removable media, like a USB drive. You'll still be able to use them when the drive is connected, but they won't take up space on your PC.

To move files to another drive

Connect the removable media to your PC.

Select File Explorer  from the taskbar and find the files you want to move.

Select the files, then on the taskbar, select Cut .

Select your removable media from the location list, then select Paste .

When the move is complete, restart your PC and see if performance has improved.

Get more info about freeing drive space in Windows .

If your PC still runs slowly, try the next tip.

6. Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows

Windows 11 includes many visual effects, such as animations and shadow effects. These look great, but they can also use additional system resources and can slow down your PC. This is especially true if you have a PC with a smaller amount of memory (RAM).

To adjust the visual effects in Windows

Select Search , type performance , then select Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows in the list of results.

On the Visual Effects tab, select Adjust for best performance > Apply .

Restart your PC and see if that speeds up your PC.

7. Pause OneDrive syncing

Your PC settings let you choose where files will be saved by default. You can save files on your PC or to OneDrive by default and sync files between the two locations. This lets you get to your files from any device that can connect to the internet, and it helps make sure your files are backed up in case your PC is ever damaged or lost. However, files must sync between your PC and OneDrive, and syncing can slow down your PC. You can pause OneDrive syncing temporarily and see if it helps improve your PC performance.

To pause syncing to OneDrive

On the taskbar, look for  OneDrive near the notification area.

Select  OneDrive > Help & Settings  > Pause syncing ,   and then choose how long you want to pause syncing your files.

Restart your PC and see if your performance issues have improved with syncing paused.

To resume syncing your files, select OneDrive  > Help & Settings > Resume syncing .

You can also visit  Fix OneDrive sync problems  to check for any sync issues. 

8. Disable unnecessary startup programs

When you turn on your PC, some programs start automatically and run in the background. You can disable these programs so they don’t run when your PC starts.

Many programs are designed to start automatically when Windows does. You don’t realize they're running, but they'll open quickly when you go to use them. This is helpful for programs you use a lot, but not for programs you don’t use often because it increases the time it takes Windows to start.

Find the programs that start automatically

Sometimes you can determine which programs start automatically by looking at the program icons in the notification area on the far right of the taskbar. Check there first to see if there are any programs running that you don’t want to start automatically. To try to find out the name of the program, point to the icon with your mouse pointer. Make sure you select Show hidden icons , so you don’t miss any programs.

Even after you check the notification area, you might still miss some programs that run automatically at startup. Here’s how you can find all the programs that start automatically, and stop the ones that you don’t want to start automatically when Windows starts.

To stop a program from starting automatically

Select the Start  button, then select  Settings  >  Apps  >  Startup . Open Startup Apps settings

In the Startup Apps area, find the program you want to stop from starting automatically and set it to  Off .

Note:  If you turn off a program and it continues to start automatically when Windows starts, you should scan for viruses and malware. See the next section for more info.

9. Check for and remove viruses and malware

A virus, malware, or malicious software could cause your PC to run slowly. Other symptoms include unexpected pop-up messages, programs that unexpectedly start automatically, or the sound of your hard disk constantly working.

The best way to handle viruses and malicious software is to try to prevent them by running antimalware and antivirus software and keeping it up to date. However, even if you take precautions, your PC can still become infected.

You can scan your PC for viruses or other malicious software by using Windows Security (formerly Windows Defender Security Center), which is included in Windows 11. For more info, see  How to protect your Windows PC .

If you’re using other antivirus or anti-malware software, see the documentation for that program to learn how to scan for viruses. Also, make sure multiple antivirus programs aren’t running at the same time. If they are, choose the one you want to run, and then disable or uninstall any others.

If you have another antivirus program installed and turned on, Windows Security will be turned off by default.

To scan for viruses using Windows Security

Select Start  > Settings  > Privacy & security  > Windows Security , and then select  Open Windows Security . Open Windows Security settings

Select Virus & threat protection , then select Protection updates  under Virus & threat protection updates .

On the Protection updates screen, select Check for updates to make sure you have the most recent updates.

Select Virus & threat protection , then select Quick scan . Wait for Windows Security to finish scanning for viruses and malware.

Do one of the following, depending on the results of the scan:

Run the recommended advanced scan. This scan takes longer but searches more extensively for threats on your PC.

If Windows Security finds a virus or malware and can’t remove or quarantine it, contact Microsoft Support for help.

If no viruses are found, restart your PC and try to reproduce the performance problem you were having with your PC.

Note:  If Windows Security doesn’t open, can’t update the definition file, or can’t finish scanning for viruses, try running Microsoft Defender Antivirus (offline scan), which is explained below.

To scan for malware and viruses with Microsoft Defender Antivirus (offline scan)

Save any documents or anything else you might have open on your PC.

Select  Start  > Settings  > Privacy & security > Windows Security , and then select  Open Windows Security . Open Windows Security settings

Select Virus & threat protection , and then under Current threats , select Scan options > Microsoft Defender Antivirus (offline scan)  > Scan now . Your PC will restart, and Microsoft Defender Antivirus (offline scan) will run and scan for viruses and malware. The scan might take 15 minutes or so, and your PC will restart again after that.

Try to reproduce the performance issue.

10. Restore your PC from a system restore point

Restoring your PC undoes recent changes that might be causing problems. If you think a recently installed app, driver, or update for Windows could be causing problems, you might get things running normally again by restoring your PC to an earlier point, called a restore point.

Restoring from a restore point won’t affect your personal files, but it will remove apps, drivers, and updates that were installed after the restore point was created.

System restore works for changes made in the last 7 to 14 days.

To restore your PC from a restore point

Select Search on the taskbar, type advanced system , then select View advanced system settings  from the list of results.

On the System Protection tab, select System Restore .

Select Recommended restore to go with the most recent restore point Windows has made automatically, or Choose a different restore point to select one yourself, then select  Next .

If you chose to select a different restore point, select one, then select Next . Either way, select Finish to begin restoring.

Once the restore is completed, restart your PC and see if performance has improved.

If you don’t see any restore points, it might be because system protection isn’t turned on.

To turn on system protection

In the search box on the taskbar, type create a restore point , then select Create a restore point from the list of results.

On the System Protection tab, select Configure .

Select Turn on system protection > OK .

One of the best ways to get the most out of your PC is to make sure you have the latest version of Windows 10 installed. When you check for updates, your PC will also search for the latest device drivers, which can also help improve your PC’s performance.

Select the Start  button, then select Settings  > Update & Security  > Windows Update  > Check for updates . Check for Windows updates

If the status says "You're up to date," go to the next tip.

If the status says "Updates are available," select Install now .

For Windows Update troubleshooting info, see Update Windows 10 and Troubleshoot problems updating Windows 10 .

Select the Start   button, then select Power  > Restart .

Sometimes apps that were made for an earlier version of Windows will still run on Windows 10, but they might slow down your PC. If this happens after you open a certain program, check the software company’s website for an updated version, or run the Program Compatibility Troubleshooter.

In the search box on the taskbar, type troubleshoot , then select Troubleshoot settings , which has System settings listed underneath it.

In the list of troubleshooters, select Program Compatibility Troubleshooter > Run the troubleshooter .

ReadyBoost lets you use a removable drive, like a USB flash drive, to improve your PC’s performance without opening your PC and adding more memory (RAM). To use ReadyBoost, you’ll need a USB flash drive or a memory card that has at least 500 MB free and a high data transfer rate. 

Select File Explorer  from the taskbar.

The paging file is an area on your hard disk that Windows uses like memory. There's a setting in Windows 10 that manages the page file size automatically, which can help improve your PC’s performance. 

In the search box on the taskbar, type advanced system , and then select View advanced system settings , which has Control panel listed underneath it.

Make sure the Automatically manage paging file size for all drives check box is selected. If it is, continue to the next tip. If it's not, select it and then restart your PC by selecting the Start  button > Power  >  Restart .

Select the Start button, then select Settings   > System  > Storage . Open Storage settings

Select the Start  button, then select Settings  > System  > Storage . Open Storage settings

To see what's in your Recycle Bin before you empty it, open it from your desktop. If you don't see the Recycle Bin icon   on your desktop, in the search bar on the taskbar, type recycle bin , then select Recycle Bin from the list of results. 

Select the Start   button, then select Settings   > System  > Storage . Open Storage settings

In the Storage area, turn on Storage Sense .

Select Configure Storage Sense or run it now .

In the Storage Sense area, choose how often you want Storage Sense to run.

In the Temporary Files area, select Delete temporary files that my apps aren't using .

Select which files you want Storage Sense to delete (your choices are files in your Recycle Bin and in your Downloads folder), then select the corresponding time intervals.

Scroll down and select Clean now .

Windows will take a few moment to clean up your files, and then you'll see a message indicating how much disk space has been freed up.

In the search box on the taskbar, type disk cleanup , then select Disk Cleanup from the list of results.

To free up even more space, select Clean up system files .Disk Cleanup will take a few moments to calculate the amount of space that a can be freed up. 

Note:  If it’s been fewer than 10 days since you upgraded to Windows 10, your previous version of Windows will be listed as a system file you can delete. If you need to free up drive space, you can delete it, but keep in mind that you'll be deleting your Windows.old folder, which contains files that give you the option to go back to your previous version of Windows. If you delete your previous version of Windows, this can't be undone. (You won't be able to go back to your previous version of Windows.)

Select the Start button, then select Settings  > Apps   > Apps & features . Open Apps & features settings

When you find an app to remove, choose it from the list and select Uninstall .

Select File Explorer  from the taskbar and find the files you want to move.

Select the files, go to  Home , then select Move to > Choose location .

Select your removable media from the location list, then select Move .

Restart your PC and see if performance has improved.

Get more info about freeing drive space in Windows 10 .

Windows 10 includes many visual effects, such as animations and shadow effects. These look great, but they can also use additional system resources and can slow down your PC. This is especially true if you have a PC with a smaller amount of memory (RAM).

In the search box on the taskbar, type performance , then select Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows in the list of results.

Your PC settings let you choose where files will be saved by default. You can save files on your PC or to OneDrive by default and sync files between the two locations. This lets you get to your files from any device that can connect to the internet, and it helps make sure your files are backed up in case your PC is ever damaged or lost. However, files must sync between your PC and OneDrive, and syncing can slow down your PC. You can pause OneDrive syncing temporarily and see if it helps improve your PC performance. 

Select  OneDrive  >  More   > Pause syncing ,   and then choose how long you want to pause syncing your files.

To resume syncing your files, select OneDrive  >  More   > Resume syncing .

If you have Window 10 version 1709 or higher, you can use OneDrive Files On-Demand to choose which files you want to sync and always keep on your PC. This can help improve PC performance if you reduce the number of files that are synced to your PC. To see which version of Windows 10 your device is currently running, select the Start   button, then select Settings  > System  > About . Open About settings

For more info on OneDrive Files On-Demand, see Learn about OneDrive Files On-Demand .

Show hidden icons in the notification area

Notification area with mouse pointing to show hidden icons

Select the Start  button, then select  Settings   >  Apps   >  Startup  . Open Startup Apps settings

If you turn off a program and it continues to start automatically when Windows starts, you should scan for viruses and malware. See the next section for more info.

To use the procedure above to stop a program from starting automatically, you need to have Windows 10 (Version 1803 or higher) installed. To see which version of Windows 10 your device is currently running, select the Start   button, then select Settings   > System  > About . Open About settings

If you have Windows 10 (Version 1709 or earlier) installed, press Ctrl + Alt + Delete , select Task Manager , select Startup , select the program you want to stop from starting automatically, then select Disable .

You can scan your PC for viruses or other malicious software by using Windows Security (formerly Windows Defender Security Center), which is included in Windows 10. For more info, see  How to protect your Windows 10 PC .

To scan for viruses using Windows Security (Windows 10 Version 1809 or later)

Select Start   > Settings  > Update & Security  > Windows Security   and then select  Open Windows Security . Open Windows Security settings

Select Virus & threat protection , then select Check for updates under Virus & threat protection updates .

If Windows Security doesn’t open, can’t update the definition file, or can’t finish scanning for viruses, try running Windows Defender Offline, which is explained below in To scan for malware and viruses with Windows Defender Offline (Windows 10 Version 1809 or later) .

To see which version of Windows 10 your device is currently running, select the Start   button, then select Settings  > System > About .  Open About settings

To scan for viruses using Windows Defender Security Center (Windows 10 Version 1803)

Select  Start   > Settings  > Update & Security  > Windows Security  and then select   Open Windows Defender Security Center . Open Windows Security settings

Select Virus & threat protection , then select Virus & threat protection updates > Check for updates to make sure you have the latest definition file.

Select the  Virus & threat protection tab, then select Scan now . Wait for Windows Defender Security Center to finish scanning for viruses and malware.

If Windows Defender Security Center finds a virus or malware and can’t remove or quarantine it, contact Microsoft Support for help.

If Windows Defender Security Center doesn’t open, can’t update the definition file, or can’t finish scanning for viruses, try running Windows Defender in Offline Mode, which is explained below in To scan for malware and viruses with Windows Defender Offline (Windows 10 Version 1803) .

To see which version of Windows 10 your device is currently running, select the Start   button, then select Settings  > System > About . Open About settings 

To scan for malware and viruses with Windows Defender Offline (Windows 10 Version 1809 or later)

Select  Start   > Settings  > Update & Security  > Windows Security  and then select  Open Windows Security . Open Windows Security settings

Select Virus & threat protection , and then under Current threats , select Scan options > Windows Defender Offline scan > Scan now . Your PC will restart, and Windows Defender Offline will run and scan for viruses and malware. The scan might take 15 minutes or so, and your PC will restart again after that.

To scan for malware and viruses with Windows Defender Offline (Windows 10 Version 1803)

Select  Start   > Settings  > Update & Security  > Windows Security  and then select  Open Windows Defender Security Center . Open Windows Security settings

Select Virus & threat protection , then select Run a new advanced scan > Windows Defender Offline scan > Scan now . Your PC will restart, and Windows Defender Offline will run and scan for viruses and malware. The scan might take 15 minutes or so, and your PC will restart again after that.

In the search box on the taskbar, type restore point , then select Create a restore point from the list of results.

Select Next , then choose the restore point related to the app, driver, or update that might be causing the problem. Then select  Next > Finish .

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How to make a slow laptop faster

Laggy laptop? Here's how to make a slow laptop faster

Your old laptop may be slow, but that doesn't mean you need to replace it. Through heavy use, your notebook will collect a ton of excess files and programs, not to mention some literal dust. The parts will age, and software updates will become more demanding. But don't worry, we're here to help speed things up.

But before you go shopping for a new workstation , there are a few hardware and software fixes you should try. A little time, a screwdriver and a few tweaks in the settings can have your laptop running like new. Here are 12 ways to speed up your system.

1. Upgrade your hard drive to an SSD

Adding a solid-state drive (SSD) is the single biggest hardware change you can make to speed up a laptop. It makes everything faster; booting up, shutting down and launching apps will all occur in the blink of any eye when compared to traditional hard drives. More and more laptops are coming with built-in SSDs , but not all of them do. And if your old laptop has a traditional hard drive inside, you can crack it open for a significant speed boost at a reasonable price. 

2. Upgrade Your RAM

Your laptop should have at least 8GB of RAM. These days, your best bet is to buy your laptop with that much memory, as more and more manufacturers are soldering it to the motherboard, making it impossible to add more. A number of laptops still let you open them up, however, and RAM is relatively cheap. If you have 4GB, upgrade to 8GB, as the additional memory will probably cost you less than $25. 16GB, 32GB, and even 64GB upgrades are on the table, depending on your laptop.

3. Update your startup programs

Anything running in the background will slow your computer's boot-up time and devote resources to programs you may not even be using. Luckily, it's simple to turn these off:

In Windows 10, go to Task Manager > Startup to see the list of programs you have running when you turn on your computer.

On a MacBook , go to System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Items to adjust which programs launch when you turn on the computer.

4. Uninstall unused apps

Unused programs take up storage on your hard drive and can suck resources from the CPU. Delete the junk to free up space and processing power for a faster computer. Be sure to check your library files for any junk that may stick around. 

Here's how to uninstall programs on Windows 10 , and how to uninstall apps on a MacBook .

5. Run regular malware scans

It's possible that something you didn't install intentionally — like malicious software — could be the reason your laptop is slow. Run regular virus and malware scans to prevent something malicious from slowing down your laptop — or worse. Being vigilant can help you avoid and eliminate threats that are hoarding resources or filling your laptop with junk files.

6. Kill animations

The animations in your OS might look cool, but they take up precious resources that could be going elsewhere.

In Windows: 1. Search for "View advanced system settings." 2. Choose Settings under Performance. 3. Choose "Adjust for best performance," which will turn off a bunch of special effects and animations.

In OS X: 1. Go to System Preferences > Dock. 2. Check the boxes to turn off magnification and stop the animations in opening applications.

7. Speed up your shutdowns

When you go to shut down Windows, you often have to wait a long time while the computer attempts to close open programs that won't close gracefully on their own. If you're willing to dig into your registry, you can force the shutdown process to kill these rebel apps right away. Be sure you always save your work when you do this, as it will close open programs without prejudice.

Here's how to change your shutdown speed in Windows 10 .

8. Disable web results

In Windows 10 , Cortana searches the web and your local files when you search. This takes time to download and can be a drag on your system. If you use the Cortana box primarily to find files and apps that live on your hard drive, Windows 10 makes it easy to turn off web results.

Here's how to disable web results in Windows 10 search .

9. Speed up your downloads folder

The File Explorer, one of the most-used folders in Windows, can take forever to load if it's chock-full of your downloads. If you're seeing a loading bar every time you open the folder, you'll want to optimize it.

Here's how to fix a slow-opening windows downloads folder .

10. Keep it clean

Don't let your laptop get too dusty, or you'll risk letting it overheat. When that happens, the processor and graphics card have to work harder to perform well. Get a can of compressed air , and clean out the vents to give your processor and graphics card a breather.

11. Change your browser

Some browsers are faster than others. If you're a heavy user, Chrome can eventually hog your RAM, especially with a whole bunch of tabs open. Microsoft's Edge isn't as full-featured yet, but it has the benefit of being lighter and faster. On Macs, you can try Safari.

12. Update your drivers

Some new drivers can breathe new life into your hardware and fix any issues it may be having. Be sure to check your manufacturer's website to make sure your drivers are up-to-date.

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  • How to speed up laptop

How to make your laptop faster for free

Slow laptop?

Laptops and computers slow down over time, it’s a fact of life. If the problem gets too bad, you might be tempted to visit a computer repair shop, or even take a more drastic step like buying a whole new computer!

Put your wallet away, there’s good news. Spending an afternoon running through the list of tried and tested tricks below, you may find that you can speed up your laptop or computer for free!

Note that our tips will focus on speeding up system performance on Windows laptops and PCs. The screenshots below are of Windows 11 but don’t worry if you’re using a different version; most settings will be in a similar place, and we’ll let you know if there are any major differences.

Note: We won’t cover any network and internet speed performance issues in this guide.

How to speed up your laptop or PC: checklist

  • Close unnecessary system tray programs
  • Stop programs running on startup
  • Update Windows, drivers, and applications
  • Delete unneeded files
  • Identify resource-hungry applications
  • Adjust your power options
  • Uninstall programs you don’t use
  • Turn Windows features on and off
  • Run a disk clean up
  • Defragment your hard drive
  • Adjust graphics and animations settings
  • Check for malware
  • Disable Cortana
  • Restart your browser
  • Closer your browser tabs
  • Try a different anti virus program
  • Try not to multi-task as much
  • Upgrade your hardware

We recommend working through the points above in order to improve your laptop speed. For more information, on each of the points, scroll below.

A quick fix to fixing a slow laptop

Iolo System Mechanic is our preferred tool for automatically fixing a maintaining laptop system performance speeds. It’s both cheap and effective, offering:

  • Real-time CPU, RAM, and hard drive performance optimizations
  • Junk file removal to free up space
  • Unwanted program identification that slows down start-up
  • Monitors for and fixes over 30,000 known problems that can cause errors or performance issues
  • Patches known Windows security vulnerabilities

Iolo has offered Comparitech readers a 70% discount on System Mechanic .

How to fix slow laptop and make it faster

Follow the steps below to optimize your laptop and make it faster:

1. Close system tray programs

Some software keeps running after you close the program by clicking the X in the top-right corner. Instead, they simply minimize into the system tray and keep running in the background using your laptop’s resources.

To find and close these programs, simply click to upward arrow in the right corner of your main screen. If there are any programs that appear in the pop-up that shouldn’t still be running, simply right-click and close or quit them.

A desktop with the system tray open.

2. Stop programs running on startup

When installing software, the installation wizard will have a pre-checked option that will allow the program to automatically run when you turn on your computer. Each additional piece of software that automatically runs on start-up can add significant load time. We recommend reviewing these apps and limiting them only to essential apps that are required for start-up.

To do this right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager (or hit Ctrl-Shift-Escape ). Head to the Startup tab and you’ll be able to view each item that runs on startup, along with its impact.

To prevent a process from starting at boot, simply right-click and hit Disable . Remember, you’re not disabling the program, just the fact that it runs on startup.

Windows 7: Instead of accessing Task Manager , you’ll need to search for System Configuration .

The Task Manager screen.

Handy tip: If you’re unsure which are safe to turn off on start-up, we recommend leaving the ones with Microsoft listed as the publisher alone.

3. Update Windows, drivers, and apps

Keeping software up to date is good for security, but it can help performance too. Windows will automatically send you a notification when an update is available. You just need to make sure you don’t keep putting it off.

To check if you’re up to date, go to Start and click Settings or the settings icon. Then go to Windows Update (or Updates & Security > Windows Update in older versions)

make my laptop work faster

Drivers and apps should be kept up to date too. Again, this is good for both security and performance. A quick online search should be able to tell if you’re running the latest drivers for your system.

4. Delete unnecessary files

Just like our closets, computers can get cluttered too. As you add more software and files to your computer, the amount of available space dwindles. This is especially true if you deal with a lot of large files, such as high-resolution images, audio files, or videos on a day-to-day basis.

You should get into the habit of regularly maintaining your computer’s files by deleting any that you don’t need and empty the recycle bin afterwards . Regular maintenance means your computer doesn’t become cluttered with unnecessary files.

Handy tip: HDDs usually run at peak speed until they reach roughly 90 percent capacity. So if you check how much space is used up and you’re over 90 percent, that may be what’s slowing things down. SSDs slow down more gradually as they fill up, so it’s good to stay on top of things. It’s recommended not to fill an SSD to more than 75 percent of its capacity.

5. Find programs that eat up resources

If you have noticed a sudden decline in your PCs performance, there could be one program that is to blame. One way to identify if this is the case is to look at your task manager and find out where your laptop’s resources are going.

To do this, right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager . Click the Processes tab to find out information about the programs that are currently running on your computer.

The Processes tab within the Task Manager screen.

By clicking each header, you can sort the list according to which applications are using the most of that particular resource. If you need to close something, try closing the actual application first. If it won’t close, come back to the Task Manager screen, right-click the application, and hit End task .

6. Adjust your power options

By default, Windows laptops run on a Balanced  power plan which splits resources to optimise performance against battery life. If you’ve noticed that your laptop performance is slowing down, you might want to consider optimising your power plan for fast performance.

High performance is a better power plan option for a slow performing laptop. Although, beware this option uses more energy, so keep an eye on your battery levels.

To change your power plan, right-click on the battery icon in the bottom right corner of your screen and select power options . From here just select High Performance .

Alternatively, you could choose to create your own custom plan. Go to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options > Change power-saving settings > Create a power plan . Choose which existing plan you would like to start with, enter a name for your new plan, and select Next .

Power plan options.

Basic options include how long the display stays on for when you’re inactive and how long before the computer goes into sleep mode. These won’t really affect your computer’s speed, but if you go into Change advanced power settings , you can make more adjustments that will have an impact.

7. Uninstall programs you don’t use

If you have any programs that you don’t use, or only use once in a while, it might be worth considering uninstalling these apps. Often we install software without properly realizing just how much space they’re taking up on our devices.

make my laptop work faster

To uninstall a program, head over to Contro l Panel > Programs > Uninstall a program (or Programs and Features > Uninstall a program in older versions)

We recommend navigating to the window above and scanning the list deciding which programmes you can live without.

Handy tip: If there’s software that you only use every once in a while, it might still be worth uninstalling it and reinstalling it the next time you need it.

8. Turn Windows features on or off

While you’re in the Programs and Features (Control Panel > Programs), you might want to check to see if there are any Windows components you don’t need. Click Turn Windows features on or off and you’ll see a list of these components.

A Windows Features screen.

Be careful not to turn off anything you actually need. So again, a search for anything you’re unsure about is a good idea.

9. Run a disk cleanup

As junk builds up on your laptop over time, you can run a Disk Clean-up to get rid of anything unnecessary. Disk Clean-up is a built-in Windows tool that it’s a good habit to run every few months to keep performance fast.

To access the Disk Cleanup tool, go to Control Panel > System and Security > Windows Tools > Disk Clean-up .

If you’re running an older version of Windows, you’ll find it in Control Panel > System and Security >  Administrative Tools instead.

The Disk Cleanup options.

Here, you can select the types of files you want to get rid of and click OK . Then click Clean up system files and choose any system files you want to remove.

If you’d rather not do this manually, there is software you can purchase to help. For example, Iolo System Mechanic will detect and remove junk files in real time so you don’t have to worry about them.

It has lots of other features designed to boost your computer’s performance such as cleaning up your browsing history, optimizing settings and application processes, and defragmentation (see below). This software currently costs around $50 for a one-year subscription .

Iolo system mechanic

10. Defragment your hard drive

Over time, files your computer needs to run can become fragmented, which means your computer has to check multiple places to gather relevant files when running, leading to slower performance. You can defragment your hard drive which is the process of putting files back together to help your system perform more efficiently.

Windows is meant to perform a defrag once per week, but it is possible to manually run one if you suspect there could be an issue causing your laptop or PC to run slow.

First, it’s important to note that you only need to do this if your computer uses a traditional mechanical Hard Disk Drive (HDD). A Solid State Drive (SSD) works differently from an HDD, and there is no need for defragmentation. If you have both, only defragment the HDD.

Start by pressing the Windows key and typing “defragment”, then clicking the first result.

The Tools tab of the drive properties screen.

You’ll then get an Optimize Drives screen popup.

A list of the drives to be optimizied.

Note that in the above screenshot, all of the drives are SSD. These do not need to be defragmented. As in the image, Analyze will be grayed out for SSD drives, but will be available for hard drives.

Select an HDD drive and click Analyze to see how fragmented it is. A good rule of thumb would be to keep it below five percent. If it’s above, you can click Optimize to defragment the disk.

If you have an SSD, you’ll notice Optimize is actually an available option. Clicking it will run the TRIM command, which wipes data that is no longer considered in use.

Windows 7: Look for Disk Defragmenter using the search bar and select an HDD under Current status .

11. Adjust or disable graphics and animations

As new iterations of Windows are released, the number of animations and graphics that are used within the OS increases also. While this gives the user the impression of a sleek and refined UI, it can in fact slow down your PC or laptop.

The good news is that it’s fairly simple to adjust these settings and hopefully save a little processing power. Go to Control Panel > System and Security > System > Advanced system settings .

Then, in the Performance section, hit Settings and you’ll have a full list of options.

The Visual Effects tab within Performance Options.

You can select Adjust for best performance (this will remove all visual effects) or opt to remove some individually. It’s a matter of preference, but fade and shadow features are some you could probably live without.

Windows 7: Search for Performance Information and Tools , select Adjust visual effects , and use the Visual Effects tab.

12. Check for malware

Malware is a catch-all term for a virus or malicious program that could cause harm to your computer, or steal your laptop’s processing power for its own ends. Malware can come from all kinds of sources like email attachments, software downloads, or even banner ads that you click on.

Good antivirus software can help protect against malware threatening your computer’s processing power. But, some antivirus software is badly optimized and can become a drain on processing resources. To help we have compiled a list of the best antivirus software for Windows , there are also some solid free antivirus options are available , so you don’t need to spend a penny.

If you suspect malware is already affecting your computer, you can check for it using a scanner such as Zemana AntiMalware . You can then remove it using a removal tool like Malwarebytes Anti-Rootkit . We’ve tested both of these products and were very satisfied with the results.

13. Restart your browser

While we’re only focusing on laptop performance speeds and not network issues in this guide, if you do experience slow speeds when using the internet, the culprit could be your browser.

As you use your browser it can become clogged up with temporary files which have a negative impact on performance. To solver this issue quickly, you just need to simply close down your browser and restart it.

Doing so might be enough to flush your browser and get things back up to speed. But, you may want to go a step further and install an adblocker (such as Adblock Plus) and a tracker blocking extension (such as Privacy Badger or uBlock Origin).

To keep your browser working as efficiently and quickly as possible, you will also want to check that it is up-to-date. If all else fails, you could decide to uninstall and re-install your browser to give it a fresh start. Alternatively, you may want to try removing the cookies and clearing the cache in your browser to see if this helps to speed things up.

14. Close your browser tabs

If closing and reopening your web browser doesn’t work, it might be that the number of open tabs is draining your RAM causing your laptop or PC to run slow.

Each tab you open in your browser requires an allocation of RAM to run. If you are opening a browser full of tabs, chances are it’s negatively impacting your system performance.

We recommend taking the time to close down old tabs to free up some resources for other tasks – chances are you will experience better performance.

15. Try a different antivirus program

Everybody needs a solid antivirus program to ensure they do not accidentally download malware or end up infected with other malicious infections. A reliable antivirus will run in the background at all times, and will even scan incoming files in real-time. This will ensure you never let anything nasty onto your laptop, so it is important to use one.

The only potential problem is that some antivirus programs are extremely heavy on CPU and RAM consumption. This means that if your laptop is a little low on processing power, the antivirus could be sapping away too much raw power. As a result, you may find that it is causing your laptop to come to a grinding halt.

If you are using an antivirus that is known to eat up system resources, you may want to try something else. For more information on the best antiviruses to use, check out our antivirus reviews .

16. Limit multi-tasking

Sometimes, we simply ask too much of our computers. They have limited processing power, after all, and most laptops (especially older ones) will struggle to run a game at the same time as a music app. It’s possible to mitigate this somewhat by lowering graphics settings, but a lot of the time, your best bet is to lower your expectations.

Also, if you’re downloading a large file, you may not have enough bandwidth to stream at high resolutions. This is why Netflix playback can seem choppy when lots of people are using the internet at the same time. If you’re planning on torrenting , or doing other data-intensive tasks, consider leaving them running overnight so that they don’t interfere with your day-to-day activities.

17. Upgrade your hardware

If you’ve tried all of the tricks above, it might be time to invest in some new hardware. Here are a couple of things you may want to consider putting some money into:

  • Add an SSD: While HDDs offer more space for a lower price, adding an SSD can make your computer load programs and write files much faster.
  • Add more RAM: If you have an older system, it may have too little memory to run modern applications efficiently. What’s more, if you use a lot of programs simultaneously, you might not have enough Random Access Memory (RAM) to carry you through. Installing more RAM  could give you the boost you need.

A few more tips

How you use your computer can potentially affect the speed at which your machine is running. this makes it essential for you to keep an eye on what apps are running and how your system may be getting clogged, leading to slow speeds. To help you out we have included a few additional tips below:

  • Keep your computer clean: This may sound obvious, but accumulated dust and grime can actually slow down your computer. Physically cleaning your computer regularly could help speed it up and prevent overheating.
  • Remove unused browser extensions: These can slow down your browsing experience so it’s worth doing some regular housekeeping there.
  • Use a memory-saving extension: Speaking of extensions, there are some popular options including Auto Tab Discard and New Tab Suspender, which will reduce the memory footprint of open tabs.
  • Restart regularly: Sometimes all you need is a fresh boot. Restarting your computer can enable updates to take effect and shut down stuck programs. When you’re taking a break, it could be a good time to hit restart while you go and make yourself a cuppa.
  • Run fewer simultaneous programs: Just like multitasking can be detrimental to our productivity, running lots of programs simultaneously can dampen your computer’s speed. Make a habit of closing programs instead of just minimizing them and you should see some improvement.
  • Reinstall the operating system: If you’ve tried everything and you’re still running into problems, a last resort might be a fresh install of Windows.

FAQs about slow laptops (and making them faster)

Can my vpn make my computer slow.

A VPN won’t impact your computer’s overall performance but they can slightly increase the time it takes to load webpages. This is especially true if you use a service with poorly-optimized servers or algorithms.

On the plus side, larger VPN providers have made real progress in this area recently. As such, you’re unlikely to notice any difference unless you’re used to extremely high speeds already. For more information, check out our guide to the fastest VPNs on the market.

My laptop is still slow after trying all of the tips in this guide. What else can I do?

If your laptop is still slow after thorough maintenance or a fresh installation, it could just be that the hardware itself is falling behind. In other words, newly-released applications demand stronger and stronger hardware, and your laptop just can’t keep up. Unfortunately, since you can’t really upgrade specific laptop components, you may have to think about upgrading it in the near future.

Will Windows 11 slow down my laptop?

No, Windows 11 will not slow down your laptop. Microsoft has designed the OS to be as efficient and lightweight as possible, ensuring it requires minimal resources while providing a great user experience. Additionally, Windows 11 includes many performance-enhancing features, such as improved startup times and enhanced memory management, that should make your laptop run faster than before. So don’t worry—upgrading to Windows 11 shouldn’t cause any slowdown on your device.

How often should I clean my laptop's hardware components to keep it running smoothly?

Is your laptop getting sluggish and overheating? It’s time to roll up your sleeves and give it some TLC!

To keep your laptop running smoothly, it’s recommended to clean its hardware components, such as the fan and vents, at least once a year. Dust and debris buildup can seriously impact your laptop’s performance, causing it to overheat and unexpectedly shut down. Trust me; nothing is more frustrating than losing valuable work time due to an overheating laptop.

However, don’t worry! Regularly cleaning your laptop can help defeat these mortal enemies of your hardware components. By removing dust and debris, you can improve your laptop’s performance and give it a shiny, new look.

So, get ready with your cleaning supplies and give your laptop the spa day it deserves. Your laptop will thank you for it, and you’ll be able to work and play without any pesky interruptions.

Which parts of a laptop can I upgrade?

This really depends on which kind of laptop you’re using. Most allow you to replace the RAM and hard drive, but higher-end models may also support CPU-swapping as well. However, a lot of the time, you’ll have to remove the entire casing (and sometimes even the motherboard) to even perform routine cleaning. If you’re not comfortable doing this, we strongly recommend asking for a professional’s assistance.

67 Comments Leave a comment

AMAZING! JUST AMAZING! The tips helped A LOT! I had a very slow system, running Microsoft Teams was very slow, and Microsoft Edge was very poor. I did some of the things listed in the article and my laptop became as fast as the speed of light!! 10/10 for this aritcle! PS: my laptop is Windows 11, and all the things listed here still worked!

AMAZING! JUST AMAZING! The tips helped A LOT! I had a very slow system, running Microsoft Teams was very slow, and Microsoft Edge was very poor. I did some of the things listed in the article and my laptop became as fast as the speed of light!! 10/10 for this aritcle!

Thank you! I was about ready to retire my laptop, and this run through fixed it! It’s working better now than it has in years.

The best tutorial out there! Spent all day following these steps on a 6 year old laptop that was basically useless. Now it’s working like a dream. Doing a final defrag after putting it through the ringer all day – but already am able to open files and browse with minimal lagging. Thank you!

Thanks a million, I was at a point where I felt like breaking the whole laptop and smashing it to pieces and throw it away. Your explanation has made me save my laptop.

Thank you for fixing my laptop

You can also make your system by stopping window update services since it always runs in the background and taking alot of performance By going to services then locating windows update then disabling + stopping it

Disable the fast startup option. Found it actually takes longer to shutdown and startup Windows.

Great article with great tips. I, for one, am always nervous when digging into my computer’s registry or deleting files and turning certain applications off. Here are the step-by-step instructions someone like me needs to keep things running smoothly. Thanks Comparitech!

Wow! My computer now is running over speed. Thanks so much!

OMG thanks so much!!!! My laptop was slow or laggy so I used this guide and it worked!!!!!

Wowww… But, I got an issue in Display drivers after I reinstalled OS without knowing these things. AMD driver. I tried manual installing from official websites. But, it’s still troubling. The problem is ,screen freezing for a second at a regular intervals of 5 seconds. When i disable the display driver, it works normally, but with no brightness option. Pls help!!!…

Thanks for going to the trouble of putting all of this up for free, Comparitech. Has gotten a bit of extra speed out of my laptop!

Super helpful tips! My laptop is now faster in Great post and very informative booting up and usage.

Yes, it really works. I’m going through step by step as it is given.. now my laptop is running fast..

Guys if your laptop heats up, even that causes it to lag and you can fix it very easily… Just spend some money and purchase a laptop cooling pad and look at the results…

I’d add to your comment to check the case /cpu fan. It’s advanced tip but on many models the laptop bottom is easily removed and you can get canned air and make sure the cpu cooler and fan are clean as possible. CAUSE will automatically slow down if the get too hot and that could contribute to speed problems

thank you so much after following all the steps my laptop is working so much better I am very grateful.

Thank you to whoever wrote this help guide. It has worked so far with me taking a lot of stuff off my laptop and doing things to help it run faster 🙂

HUGE THANK YOU! This actually works! I bought my Asus laptop 3 years ago and then I forgot my login password. So I took back to the shop to get fixed, 5 hours before my flight. Since then, it got so slow. I need an hour to let it warm up before I can use it. So I followed this guide and man, I can now multitask and no more waiting time before I could use it. 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾

Will this work to speed up my laptop it was slow when I got it from best buy new.

Bought a brand new Dell laptop from the internet. It ran slow from the get go.

My wife threw her hands up and went back to her old laptop. She gave me the new one to replace my dead 6 year old laptop, which was faster.

There may be some items here that can help. A laptop might be slow after purchase due to updates on the operating system, antivirus software, and other applications. If it’s still slow after the initial updates and trying relevant items on this list (e.g. stopping programs running on startup and adjusting your power options), then it’s advisable to contact Best Buy or the manufacturer.

hello, for some reason my computer does not let the update happens what can I do

This could be happening for a number of reasons. The Microsoft forum offers several troubleshooting options for update issues so I’d suggest searching there and following the advice provided.

Wow, Thanks so much I mostly use my laptop for gaming but then it started to get really laggy, games/apps/programs keep on crashing, but after I came across the article it really helped my laptop is now the way it used to be- with no lag! 🙂

So what did you do that made it faster ???

what did you do in particular, if i may ask?

Thanks so much for the advice. My laptop is already running more smoothly and I have a better understanding of what to do on a regular basis to keep it that way.

Amazing tips and written so even a non tech head like me can understand! Thanks x

Great tips.. Used most of them & they helped. Thanks for making it easy to understand and follow.

This was the most helpful compared to the other articles out there.

Only when I started using my laptop without the battery it started getting slow. Do u know why?

Most laptops have default settings that cause them to run slower when not plugged in, to conserve the battery life. To change this, check out section 6 above on adjusting your power options.

Good explanations. How do I know which programs I don’t need? I don’t want to delete something that’s needed. Thank you.

If you’re not sure on what you mean by the question as far as what you’re asking how do I know what’s needed there is an option to hide all windows system apps so you can look at the optional program that you’ve installed in your system then you can choose an option to look at least used apps in your programs and features and then when you see the least use programs that you know you don’t need those are the ones that are completely safe to remove because they were added by the user not part of the operating system and then you uninstall those the ones that are the least use that you know you can go without I hope that helps.

It can be tricky to decide on which programs to install. General advice would be to first go through the list and uninstall anything you recognize and know you don’t need anymore. Avoid deleting anything that is obviously associated with your hardware or operating system. If there are programs you are unsure about, try typing the name in a search engine to see what they are. This may jog your memory about a program you installed in the past but no longer need. There is a also a handy tool called PC Decrapfier which will scan your PC for unwanted programs.

Most genuine and resourceful article I have read so far. Thank you for the invaluable insights!

What a really great easy to use tutorial. No 11 significantly sped up my laptop. I was too chicken to try to disable Cortana!

Super helpful tips! My laptop is now faster in booting up and usage.

Thanks a lot

Great tips, my laptop performance has improved. Also steps are well explained and easy to follow.

It doesn’t appear System Mechanic is still running that 70% off promo for the year subscription. Is there a discount code that I should be using? Great article for sure! I cannot wait to implement some of these ideas.

Did you click the link in the article? If so, you should see an automatically discounted price for System Mechanic.

Yes but when I went to check out it charges full price or asks for a discount code.

The discount link should be working now if you want to try again.

Number 11 is great

This was so helpful. I used a bunch of the suggestions made throughout the article and it helped speed up my laptop. I’m a cavewoman when it comes to tech jargon, but this helped break it down and made it easy to understand.

Amazing article. I don’t really comment anywhere but this prompted me to do so. It really has helped my PC to speed up. Thanks.

Don’t know what one it was that has improved the laptop the most but it seems to be running a lot quicker. Most likely getting rid of Cortana has made the biggest improvement

Thank you for the screen shots helps me being an older user lol always unsure as to what to or not to remove

Thanks for all the screen grabs! Made it much easier to grasp and locate where to navigate to and accomplish the various tasks.

Good explanation. my System has taken more than 70% for services. I have now disabled a lot and bring it down to less than 40%.

Hate this unnecessary services.

Extremely useful my laptop was getting very slow. I had already done a few of your suggested solutions, but working through one item at the time has taken my laptop from nearly unusable to being like new.

Excellent article reminding me of some features I have used in the past and introducing some new key functions. Thank you.

God bless you.. so helpful and straight forward. Thank you

Great article, thank you for the guided instructions, tools and tips.

Great guides and well explained, thanks

Well explained.

Thanks, it was very useful.

Great post and very informative

it was useful…thanks for that

Thank you! This solved my problem.

It was very helpful.Turning of the animations has fasten my laptop.

Good explanation indeed.

Very nicely explained. Easy understanding. Thank you for these points.

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Choose a different computer, how to make a laptop run faster.

INTRODUCTION

Wondering why your laptop is so slow?

Laptops can slow down for various reasons, so it takes some troubleshooting to figure out what the issue is. You may even find that it’s a build-up of several problems that’s slowing you down.

A few common causes:

  • Resource-heavy programs
  • Automatic start-up programs
  • Maintaining unused programs
  • Not having enough storage
  • No external SSD
  • Needing more memory
  • A disk that needs cleaning
  • Needing to defrag your HDD
  • Using an old version of your web browser
  • Dusty ventilation
  • Not regularly restarting your laptop

How to speed up an old laptop

Before you go shopping for a new laptop, follow this step-by-step guide to learn why your laptop is slow and how you can resolve some of the issues your device might be facing.

1. Identify resource-heavy programs

The first step in speeding up an old laptop is to look at the programs it’s running. Programs can take up a lot of processing power, which will impact your laptop’s performance and speed. Some programs use very few resources when they’re idle; others use a lot of processing and memory power. Discovering which programs could be slowing down your laptop is the first step.

To see which programs are using the most resources on a PC:

  • Press the Ctrl , Alt , and Delete keys at the same time.
  • Select Task Manager .
  • On the Processes tab, you can see the items that are currently open and how much of the CPU, memory, and disk each is using.
  • You can then close programs you’re not using to reallocate resources to programs you are using.

If you have resource-heavy programs, you need to decide if they’re worth keeping, considering the impact they are having. If they’re not worth keeping, it may be best to permanently remove them.

2. Prevent start-up programs

Laptops often have programs that are set to start in the background automatically when you boot up your laptop. These are often programs that you’ll only use occasionally, meaning you won’t want them to start every time you turn on your laptop.

To prevent programs from starting automatically, follow these steps:

  • Select Task Manager.
  • Click the Startup tab.
  • Look through the list of programs and right click on any you don’t want to start automatically.
  • Select Disable .

Depending on how many programs you prevent from starting automatically, you should see a faster start-up time. After starting up, your laptop should also run faster because you’ve freed up the resources that were running these programs in the background.

3. Uninstall unused programs

Many computers come with programs and apps pre-installed; you might not even know they’re on your laptop. Or you may have downloaded an app that you don’t use anymore. Deleting these programs can free up disk space so that the system can find the files you want more quickly.

To uninstall programs on a PC, follow these steps:

  • Open the Control Panel .
  • Select Programs and Features .
  • Right click on the program you want to remove and select Uninstall then follow the directions.

Note: Your computer will not show the Uninstall option for programs necessary to run the system.

4. Find out if you need more storage

Storage is essential for your laptop and plays an integral part in its speed and performance. When required, your processor will retrieve a file from your drive so you can carry out a task.

If your laptop has a hard disk drive (HDD), consider upgrading it to a solid state drive (SSD). An SSD can speed up your everyday tasks by up to six times as they use flash memory instead of the moving parts in HDDs, allowing the computer to find files faster.

Most laptop manufacturers use SSDs in their new laptops, either in SATA or NVMe form, because they are more durable, weigh less, and use less battery power than hard drives. Even if you have an SSD, it may be worth upgrading, especially if you're continuously getting messages about maxing out your storage.

To find out how much storage your laptop has:

  • Click the Windows button and type Settings.
  • Select System.
  • Followed by Storage.

You’ll get an overview of how much free space you have and what file types are taking up most of your storage capacity. If you don’t have much free space, you may consider deleting files or installing a drive with more memory.

If you choose to install a 2.5-inch SATA SSD or an NVMe SSD in your laptop, the installation process is fast, and you’ll instantly notice the results.

How to install a Crucial PCIe NVMe, part 1 of 4

5. add an external drive.

If you aren't ready to upgrade your internal storage, a quick and easy way to expand your storage is adding an external SSD . External storage plugs straight into your laptop via a USB cable, giving you tons of space in a matter of moments.

An external SSD can make a laptop faster by freeing-up space from your internal drive which will allow your laptop to retrieve files faster and more efficiently. They’re also great if you’re regularly on the go, or need to access files on multiple devices.

6. Check if you need more memory

Your laptop's RAM (random access memory) is vital to determining your system's performance, so adding more RAM can help to speed up a laptop.

Laptops with insufficient memory can struggle to keep up with even the simplest tasks. Upgrading your RAM will instantly increase the speed, performance, and responsiveness of your system, making multitasking much more seamless.

Follow these steps to see how much RAM is in your laptop:

  • Press the Ctrl , Alt , and Delete keys simultaneously.
  • Open the Performance tab and open the Memory window.
  • You'll see how much RAM is in use and how much is available. The overall RAM capacity is in the top right corner of the window.

It's hard to know how much RAM your laptop needs but, under regular use, if the available option is less than 25% of the total, it may be worth considering an upgrade. There are multiple generations of RAM, including the DDR3, DDR4 and DDR5, which generally offer performance improvements .

But be aware: newer generations of RAM will not fit in older systems. Before upgrading, you will need to check which RAM hardware is compatible with your device. The Crucial System Scanner can do that quickly.

And thankfully, upgrading your laptop's RAM can be done in 10 quick steps, so you should be able to get the issue fixed in no time.

How to install Crucial memory into a laptop

7. clean your disk.

Cleaning your disk will remove files that are no longer needed and can be safely deleted. It also deletes temporary files and empties the Recycle Bin.

To perform a Disk Clean up, follow these steps:

  • Type Disk Clean up into the search box on the taskbar.
  • Open the Disk Clean up app.
  • Select the drive you want to clean. This is usually the C: drive.
  • Under Files to delete , select the file types you'd like to remove, or click on a file type to see a description.
  • Once you’ve checked the boxes for all the files you’d like to remove, click OK .

You should find that your computer is able to find your files more quickly.

8. Defragment your hard drive

This step is only applicable if your laptop uses a hard drive rather than an SSD. If you already have an SSD, you can skip this step.

You may need to defragment a hard drive because HDDs access information sequentially; having information in multiple places (fragments) increases the time the drive takes to access the data. Defragmenting (defragging) your hard drive moves data on the HDD into a logical formation, making it quicker to access.

9. Optimize your web browser

If you notice that your laptop is running slowly when you’re on the web, check that you have the most recent version of your web browser installed. Although the location of version information varies by browser, there will always be an "About" selection to show you. If there is an option to install new versions automatically, then enable it.

Having too many add-ons and extensions can also slow your web browsing. Again, it depends on your browser, but you should be able to find a menu called "Add-ons" or "Extensions" that will allow you to delete any add-ons and extensions you don't want.

10. Remove dust

Some laptops become slow because of dust build up and one of the most overlooked ways to speed up your laptop is, simply, to clean it.

When dust collects in the fan, it obstructs airflow and causes the computer to overheat; the system will automatically reduce performance to stay cooler. In addition to wiping off the keyboard and case, you can use compressed or canned air to blow dust out the fan vents. Use short bursts of air to avoid damaging the fans.

11. Restart your laptop regularly

Leaving your laptop on is convenient but uses a lot of memory resources. Restarting your computer regularly closes programs you've forgotten about and are running in the background. Restarting also clears the memory cache and triggers any updates or patches waiting on a restart.

Be sure to restart correctly:

  • Open the Start menu.
  • Select Power , followed by Restart or Shut Down . Unless something has gone very wrong, always perform the proper restart or shut down process before pressing buttons, pulling out power cables, etc., as these won't do your system any good.

Simple steps to a faster laptop

The time spent waiting on a slow computer is frustrating — and all that time adds up. You don’t have to make monumental changes to fix a slow laptop. Just a few small, manageable fixes can deliver immediate and lasting results.

If the steps in this guide haven’t helped you to speed up your laptop, it may be worth speaking to a technician or considering replacement, but this should be a last resort.

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There are many reasons why laptops become slow over time. Running unnecessary programs,  lack of memory, shortage of storage, dusty fans, overheating, using old web browsers, and more.

Adding an external SSD to your laptop can improve system performance as it will enhance load speeds, free up storage for other system resources, and generally improve the laptop's overall speed.

RAM (random access memory) temporarily holds data for active applications so that information can be retrieved quickly while you use your laptop. Therefore having more RAM will allow you to multitask on multiple apps while facing fewer load delays.

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Home › Knowledge Base › Technical Tips

10 Tips to Make Your Laptop Run Faster (2024)

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Ellie Zhuang

Working or gaming with a slow laptop can be extremely irritating. If you’re looking for methods to speed up your laptop and improve its overall performance, you’ve come to the right place. This post will guide you through how to speed up your laptop.

Try these methods:

Method 1: disable startup programs, method 2: check your hard disk for error, method 3: free up your disk space, method 4: defragment your hard drive, method 5: uninstall unnecessary programs, method 6: change your laptop’s power plan, method 7: update drivers for your devices, method 8: adjust visual effects, method 9: use fortect to optimize your system, method 10: check for windows updates.

You may not have to try them all; just choose the method you need.

Startup programs start automatically when your PC turns on. They’ll run in the background and hog your PC resources.

So, if you have multiple auto-start programs, you are likely to run into the slow boot issue, and your laptop may also require more time to respond due to overloading. To fix this issue, follow the instructions below to ditch unwanted startups:

Disable startup programs on Windows 7

  • Disable atartup programs on Windows 8 &10

1) On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and type msconfig . Then, select msconfig .

make my laptop work faster

2) Click Startup.

make my laptop work faster

3) Uncheck the box next to the program that you don’t need to launch automatically at startup.

make my laptop work faster

4) Click OK . Then, restart your laptop.

make my laptop work faster

Hopefully, your laptop boots faster than before.

Disable startup programs on Windows 8 & 10

1) On your keyboard, press the Shift, Ctrl and Esc keys at the same time to open Task Manager.

make my laptop work faster

2) Click Startup. Then, right-click the program you want to prevent it from opening on startup and select Disable .

make my laptop work faster

3) Restart your laptop.

Your laptop should be able to start faster now. If your laptop still runs frustratingly slow, then move on and try the method below.

If you’re suffering from a low read and write disk speed, chances are that there are errors in your hard disk. To spot them, you can perform a check disk on your laptop.

The disk error checking utility will scan through your hard drive and fix the problems it detected. Follow the instructions below:

1) On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and E at the same time.

2) Right-click your C drive and select Properties.

make my laptop work faster

3) Click Tools, and then click Check .

make my laptop work faster

4) Click Scan drive .

make my laptop work faster

5) On completion, Windows will display a message.

If errors are found, follow the on-screen instructions to start the error fixing. If Windows didn’t detect any errors, then go ahead and try the next method.

Over time, your laptop accumulates files and programs, leaving you insufficient disk space to perform regular tasks. Eventually, this will slow down your laptop.

To see if that’s the core issue, try running Disk Cleanup on your laptop to free up your disk space. Follow the instructions below to see how to do it:

1) On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and type disk cleanup .

make my laptop work faster

2) Check all the boxes to select the file types to get rid of. Then, click OK .

make my laptop work faster

You can delete all temporary files and unnecessary system files by running Disk Cleanup on a monthly basis.

Defragmenting rearranges the layout of files on your hard disk. It’s a process to help make accessing the files on your disk faster. To see if defragmenting your drive can improve your laptop’s performance, follow the instructions below:

1) On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and type defragment .

2) Select Defragment and Optimize Drivers if you’re on Windows 8/10. (If you’re on Windows 7, select Disk Defragmenter. )

make my laptop work faster

3) Select your C drive and click Optimize .

make my laptop work faster

4) Apply this method for all the drives.

This should fix the performance lag on your laptop. If it didn’t help, move on and try the next method.

Another way to increase your laptop speed and enhance your laptop security is by uninstalling unused programs. Here is how to do it:

1) On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and type control. Then, click Control Panel.

make my laptop work faster

2) Select Uninstall a program .

make my laptop work faster

3) Right-click the program that you don’t use and select Uninstall .

make my laptop work faster

The power plan on all computers is set to Balanced by default to save more energy, so your laptop may slow down automatically to save energy. In this case, changing the power setting to High Performance help speed up your laptop. Here is how:

1) On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and type control . Then, click Control panel .

make my laptop work faster

2) Under View by, click Large icons .

make my laptop work faster

3) Select Power Options.

make my laptop work faster

4) Select High Performance .

make my laptop work faster

One of the most common causes of the performance lag on your laptop is outdated or faulty device drivers. It’s essential that you have the latest correct drivers for your hardware devices. There are two ways you can get the right drivers for your devices: manually or automatically.

Manual driver update – You can update drivers manually by going to the manufacturer website for each of your devices, and searching for the most recent correct driver. Be sure to choose only drivers that are compatible with your Windows version.

Automatic driver update – If you don’t have the time, patience, or computer skills to update drivers manually, you can, instead, do it automatically with Driver Easy . Driver Easy will automatically recognize your system and find the correct drivers for your devices, and your Windows version, and it will download and install them correctly:

1) Download and install Driver Easy.

2) Run Driver Easy and click the Scan Now button. Driver Easy will then scan your computer and detect any problem drivers.

make my laptop work faster

3) Click the Update button next to the driver you want to update to automatically download the correct version of this driver, then you can manually install it (you can do this with the FREE version). Or click Update All to automatically download and install the correct version of all the drivers that are missing or out of date on your system (this requires the Pro version – you’ll be prompted to upgrade when you click Update All).

make my laptop work faster

Visual settings such as menu fade, animation effects, and transparency settings can also be a drag on your laptops’ performance. Follow the steps below to adjust visual effects:

2) Right-click on the blank area and select Properties .

make my laptop work faster

3) Click Advanced system settings .

make my laptop work faster

4) Click Settings.

make my laptop work faster

5) Select Adjust for best performance and click OK .

make my laptop work faster

Over time, the performance of your laptop can decrease due to all kinds of problems, for example, malware, broken system data, etc.

While some people might choose a clean reinstall of the system to either replace corrupted system files or get rid of problematic old files, it requires time and computer techniques to do so.

If you don’t feel like going through all the trouble reinstalling the system, you can use Fortect to run a free scan on your computer. This will analyze various aspects of your computer, including security issues, stability issues, and broken registry files that require repair.

1)  Download  and install Fortect.

2) Open Fortect and run a free scan. This might take 3~5 minutes to fully analyze your PC. Once complete, you will be able to review the detailed scan report.

3) You’ll see the summary of detected issues on your PC. Click  START REPAIR  and all the issues will be fixed automatically.

make my laptop work faster

You’ll need to purchase the full version to unlock Fortect’s repair feature. It comes with a 60-day Money-Back Guarantee so you can refund anytime if Fortect doesn’t fix your problem.

Windows updates can address bugs related to both hardware and software. So, make sure you’ve installed all the new Windows updates to keep your laptop running correctly. Here is how to do it:

1)  On your keyboard, press the  Windows logo  key. Then, type  windows update  and select  Windows Update settings . 

make my laptop work faster

2)  Click  Check for updates,  and then wait for Windows to download and install the updates automatically.

make my laptop work faster

3)  Restart your computer after the update is complete.

So, that’s all the recommended methods to speed up your laptop. Thanks for reading and hopefully, you would find this article helpful!

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment below.

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Ellie is a technical writer for Driver Easy. She writes tech tips, tricks and tutorials to help people solve computer, PS4 and mobile problems. As a long-time tech enthusiast, she enjoys researching and investigating complex tech issues, and when she’s not tinkering with computers and software, she can be found tinkering with DIY projects.

Contributor(s):

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How-To Geek

10 quick ways to speed up a slow pc running windows 7, 8, 10, or 11.

It is frustrating when your Windows PC grinds to a halt - it isn't even that old! Here are a few ways you can speed it up.

Quick Links

Find resource-hungry programs, close system tray programs, disable startup programs, reduce animations, lighten your web browser, scan for malware and adware, free up disk space, defragment your hard disk, uninstall programs you don't use, reset your pc / reinstall windows.

Windows PCs don't have to slow down over time. Whether your PC has gradually become slower or it suddenly ground to a halt a few minutes ago, there could be quite a few reasons for that slowness.

As with all PC issues, don't be afraid to give your computer a reboot if something's not working properly. This can fix quite a few problems and is faster than attempting to manually troubleshoot and fix the problem yourself.

Your PC is running slow because something is using up those resources. If it's suddenly running slower, a runaway process might be using 99% of your CPU resources, for example. Or, an application might be experiencing a memory leak and using a large amount of memory, causing your PC to swap to disk. Alternately, an application might be using the disk a lot, causing other applications to slow down when they need to load data from or save it to the disk.

To find out, open the Task Manager. You can right-click your taskbar and select the "Task Manager" option or press Ctrl+Shift+Escape to open it. On Windows 8, 8.1, 10, and 11,  the new Task Manager provides an upgraded interface that color-codes applications using a lot of resources. Click the "CPU," "Memory," and "Disk" headers to sort the list by the applications using the most resources. If any application is using too many resources, you might want to close it normally --- if you can't, select it here and click "End Task" to force it to close.

Windows 10 task manager.

Many applications tend to run in the system tray, or notification area . These applications often launch at startup and stay running in the background but remain hidden behind the up arrow icon at the bottom-right corner of your screen. Click the up arrow icon near the system tray, right-click any applications you don't need running in the background, and close them to free up resources.

Windows 10 taskbar with lots of programs running.

Related: How to Speed Up Windows 11's Boot Time

Better yet, prevent those applications from launching at startup to save memory and CPU cycles, as well as speed up the login process.

On Windows 8, 8.1,10, and 11 there's now a startup manager in the Task Manager you can use to manage your startup programs. Right-click the taskbar and select "Task Manager" or press Ctrl+Shift+Escape to launch it. Click over to the Startup tab and disable startup applications you don't need. Windows will helpfully tell you which applications slow down your startup process the most.

The startup menu in Task Manager.

Related: Speed Up Any PC, Smartphone, or Tablet By Disabling Animations

Windows uses quite a few animations, and those animations can make your PC seem a bit slower. For example, Windows can minimize and maximize windows instantly if you disable the associated animations.

To disable animations , press Windows Key + X or right-click the Start button and select "System." Click "Advanced System Settings" on the left and click the "Settings" button under Performance. Choose "Adjust for best performance" under Visual Effects to disable all the animations, or select "Custom" and disable the individual animations you don't want to see. For example, uncheck "Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing" to disable the minimize and maximize animations.

Click "Adjust for best performance" to disable animations.

Related: How to Enable Click-to-Play Plugins in Every Web Browser

There's a good chance you use your web browser a lot, so your web browser may just be a bit slow. It's a good idea to use as few browser extensions, or add-ons, as possible --- those slow down your web browser and cause it to use more memory.

Go into your web browser's Extensions or Add-ons manager and remove add-ons you don't need. You should also consider enabling click-to-play plug-ins . Preventing Flash and other content from loading will prevent unimportant Flash content from using CPU time.

Disable unnecessary browser extensions.

Related: What's the Best Antivirus for Windows 10 and 11? (Is Microsoft Defender Good Enough?)

There's also a chance your computer is slow because malicious software is slowing it down and running in the background. This may not be flat-out malware --- it may be software that interferes with your web browsing to track it and add additional advertisements, for example.

To be extra safe, scan your computer with an antivirus program . You should also scan it with Malwarebytes , which catches a lot of "potentially unwanted programs" (PUPs) that most antivirus programs tend to ignore. These programs try to sneak onto your computer when you install other software, and you almost certainly don't want them.

Malwarebytes running a virus scan.

Related: 8 Ways to Free Up Disk Space on Windows

If your hard drive is almost completely full, your computer may run noticeably slower. You want to leave your computer some room to work on your hard drive. Follow our guide to freeing up space on your Windows PC to free up room. You don't need any third-party software --- just running the Disk Cleanup tool included in Windows can help quite a bit.

Disk cleanup tool configured to clear temp files.

Defragmenting your hard disk actually shouldn't be necessary on modern versions of Windows. It'll automatically defragment mechanical hard drives in the background. Solid-state drives don't really need traditional defragmentation, although modern versions of Windows will "optimize" them --- and that's fine.

Related: Do I Really Need to Defrag My PC?

You shouldn't worry about defragmentation most of the time . However, if you do have a mechanical hard drive and you've just put a lot of files on the drive --- for example, copying a huge database or gigabytes of PC game files --- those files might be defragmented because Windows hasn't gotten around to defragmenting them yet. In this situation, you might want to open the disk defragmenter tool and perform a scan to see if you need to run a manual defrag program.

The optimize drive window.

Open the Control Panel, find the list of installed programs, and uninstall programs you don't use and don't need from your PC. This can help speed your PC up, as those programs might include background processes, autostart entries, system services, context menu entries, and other things that can slow down your PC. It'll also save room on your hard drive and improve system security --- for example, you definitely shouldn't have Java installed if you're not using it.

Uninstall unnecessary programs that are causing bloat.

If the other tips here didn't fix your problem, the one timeless solution to fix Windows problems --- aside from rebooting your PC, of course --- is getting a fresh Windows installation.

Related: Everything You Need to Know About "Reset This PC" in Windows 10 and Windows 11

On modern versions of Windows --- that is, Windows 8, 8.1, 10, and 11 --- it's easier to get a fresh Windows installation than ever. You don't have to get Windows installation media and reinstall Windows . Instead, you can simply use the " Reset your PC " feature built into Windows to get a new, fresh Windows system. This is similar to reinstalling Windows and will wipe your installed programs and system settings while keeping your files.

Reset Windows.

If your PC is still using a mechanical hard drive, upgrading to a solid-state drive --- or just ensuring your next PC has an SSD --- will offer you a dramatic performance improvement, too. In an age where most people won't notice faster CPUs and graphics processors, solid-state storage will offer the single biggest boost in overall system performance for most people.

How to speed up Windows 11

See how to speed up your Windows 11 PC with these simple tips

The Windows 11 logo seen through a digital magnifying glass

If your Windows 11 PC is lagging or taking a while to perform tasks that should be almost instant, you may be wondering how to speed up your Windows 11 laptop or desktop computer. 

Windows 11 is Microsoft's latest operating system , but it can still be prone to the slowdowns that have plagued Windows computers for decades. Fortunately, with some simple housekeeping and maintenance, you can make Windows 11 run fast — just as it was intended to do.

If you upgraded to Windows 11 from an older version of Windows, chances are your computer contains a bunch of temporary files and unused programs that are putting a strain on your machine. There may also be older or missing drivers that need to be updated. Even machines that come with Windows 11 can get bogged down over time.

But don’t worry — there are plenty of things you can do to speed up your Windows 11 laptop or desktop, just by tweaking a few things here and there. Just bear in mind that a lot of traditional Control Panel features can now be found on the Settings app . 

This is as simple as it sounds, and you don't necessarily need to install more RAM or an SSD make your computer go faster. So, follow this guide to find out how to speed up your Windows 11 PC — and if you're still on the previous OS, we also have a guide to how to speed up Windows 10 . In case you have a Mac, you can look at our guide on how to speed up your Mac as well.

How to speed up Windows 11: Restart your device

Many of us are guilty of leaving our computers in "sleep" or "standby" mode for weeks, or even months, on end. But restarting your computer every now and then is one of the simplest ways to speed up Windows 11. 

Restarting your Windows 11 computer is a way for it to refresh itself and close down anything that doesn't need to be running. It may also fix a number of technical issues you may be experiencing, as restarting your computer also resets the underlying processes and drivers that are essential for the system to run smoothly.

There's a reason "Did you try restarting it?" is usually one of the first questions IT techs ask — it's like a silver bullet for computer problems, even if you're using one of the best laptops .

1. To restart Windows , simply click the Windows icon on your taskbar (or press the Windows key on your keyboard ) then click the " power " icon. Next, click the " restart " icon.

How to speed up Windows 11: Update your system

It may seem like Windows 11 is constantly asking you to update, but there's a good reason for that: Windows updates often contain a lot of bug fixes and driver updates, and they also refresh the operating system's built-in anti-virus software. So, even though it may cause a few moments of inconvenience, updating is always a wise choice. 

Here's how to update your Windows 11 PC: 

1. Click the Windows icon on your taskbar (or press the Windows key on your keyboard ) to open the Start menu. Type " updates " — this will bring up the option " Check for updates " in the Start menu . Click " Check for updates ."

2. Now you're in the Windows Update menu, click " Check for updates ." Windows should automatically begin downloading any available updates.

3. Once your updates are finished downloading, click " Restart now " to immediately install them. Alternatively, click " schedule the restart " to choose a more convenient time to restart your computer. Not all updates require a restart, so you may not see these options every time.

How to speed up Windows 11: Disable apps from running automatically

Having too many apps opening automatically when you start or restart your Windows PC can cause it to be slow from the get-go. You may not even realize that apps are starting themselves up in the background when you power on your PC. To fix this, follow this guide on how to disable startup apps on Windows 11.

1. Click the Windows icon on your taskbar (or press the Windows key on your keyboard ) then type " startup. "  This should bring up the option " Startup Apps " in the Start menu. Click " Startup Apps " to enter this setting.

2. You'll now see a list of all the apps that have the option to start automatically when you sign into Windows. To the right of each app that is set to start automatically will be a toggle saying " On ," as well as a note to the right which describes the impact this has on your system — low , medium , or high . Any apps that are set to " Off " will say " No impact " by them.

3. To stop an app from starting automatically when you sign into Windows, click the " On " toggle next to it. It's recommended to do this with any apps that say " Medium impact " or " High impact " next to them. You could also do this with " Low impact " apps if you rarely use them.

Don't worry about disabling any of the apps in this menu. They'll still work as normal when you need them — you're simply stopping them from opening by themselves and running in the background unnecessarily when your computer starts up. 

How to speed up Windows 11: Free up storage space

Windows 11 has a handy built-in tool to free up space on your computer. If you're running out of storage space, the Storage tool can be a quick way to remedy this — and potentially speed up Windows 11 at the same time. Here's how to free up storage space on Windows 11 using the Storage tool. 

1. Click the Windows icon on your taskbar (or press the Windows key on your keyboard) to open the Start menu. Type " storage " until you see the " Storage settings " option appear, then click it .

2. You'll now see a list of the top five categories where most of your storage is being used on your main drive. For now, we'll focus on " Temporary files ," as they're usually the least important files on your system. To get started, click " Temporary files ."

3. You'll now see a list of file types that Windows 11 has selected automatically. You may safely also select " Recycle Bin, " " System error memory dump files " and " Delivery Optimization Files " to free up even more space — however, check your Recycle Bin on the desktop first to check there's nothing important in there before you empty it. It's not recommended to delete any of the other files in this menu.

4. To delete the selected file categories, click " Remove files " at the top of the page. Click " Continue " on the prompt to confirm.

If you have more than one drive on your Windows 11 PC, you can clear up some space on the other drive, or drives, too. To do this, go back to the main Storage page , then click " Advanced storage settings ." Then, click " Storage used on other drives ."

You'll now see a list of every drive on your computer. Click the one you want to clean up.

You'll notice that Windows hasn't pre-selected any file categories like it does for your main drive. With this in mind, you must be careful not to select any important categories , such as " Photos " or " Videos ," as you may delete valuable files by mistake. To be safe, it's recommended to only choose " Temporary files ."

After clicking " Temporary files ," you should see the categories of files that can be deleted. With secondary drives, you're most likely to only see " Recycle Bin ," which is safe to delete — just check through your Recycling Bin first before deleting anything.

To empty your Recycling Bin on your secondary drive, simply click the checkbox next to " Recycling Bin ," click " Remove files ," then confirm by clicking " Continue " on the prompt.

How to speed up Windows 11: Uninstall unused apps

The Windows 11 storage tool can also be used to uninstall any apps you don't need, freeing up more storage space and potentially speeding up your computer. Here's how to uninstall unused apps on Windows 11 using the Storage tool.

1. Click the Windows icon on your taskbar (or press the Windows key on your keyboard ) to open the Start menu. Type " storage " until you see the " Storage settings " option appear, then click it .

2. Click " Apps & features. " 

3. You'll now see an alphabetical list of every app installed on your computer. You can sort the list by clicking " Sort by " and choosing " Name ," " Size ," or " Installation date ." It's a good idea to sort apps by size, so you can see which ones are taking up the most space.

4. To uninstall an app, click the three dots to the right of its name, then click " Uninstall ." Click " Uninstall " again after the prompt appears.

Depending on the type of app, you may have to follow further prompts to uninstall it fully.

How to speed up Windows 11: Disable visual effects 

Windows 11 features a lot of fancy visual flourishes and animations when opening and closing menus or switching between apps. They look cool, but they can slow your computer down if your hardware's not up to the task. Thankfully, there's an easy way to switch them off. Here's how to disable visual effects in Windows 11.

1. Click the Windows icon on your taskbar (or press the Windows key on your keyboard ) to open the Start menu . Type " visual " and click " Visual effects " once it appears.

2. On the list of effects, if " Transparency effects " and " Animation effects " are set to " On ," click the toggles next to them to set them to " Off ."

Do all — or even some — of the above and you should notice a nice speed boost for your Windows 11 PC or laptop.   

How to speed up Windows 11: Add RAM or an SSD

We've focused solely on software tweaks in this tutorial, because hardware upgrades are a whole different ball game. But obviously they can help too, with the addition of extra RAM or a super-fast SSD among the most substantial upgrades you can make.

We'll be covering those topics in future Windows 11 tutorials, so check back regularly for more expert advice.  

And in the meantime, you may also be interested in what we think are the 7 best new Windows 11 features , and in our guides on how to set up multiple desktops in Windows 11 and how to enable God Mode in Windows 11 or 10 . If you work on the cloud often, read 11 Google Drive tips to save you time

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Dale Fox

Dale Fox is a freelance journalist based in the UK. He's been a tech nerd ever since childhood, when he used the money from his first job as a paperboy to buy a subscription to GamesMaster magazine. Dale was previously a presenter and editor in China, where he also worked as a copywriter for OnePlus at its Shenzhen HQ.  

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  • tom Pulu Has anyone had the two specific issues I have had since upgarding to 11. Restarted the pc and done most of the speedup referred to above . Issue 1. File explorer / manager "working on it" meesage opening a folder with two small files takes between 30 seconds and a minute with the infuriating message and then if you delete a file in the folder it repeats the Working on it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Issue 2. Opening ANY program can take up to 2 minutes. I have nearly given up on Edge as a BROWSERas it it is just insipd cXXX, every function is unedifying and things like search engines "delete unwanted does not work. Reply
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How to Make Your Computer Run Faster

Last Updated: December 23, 2022 Tested

Before You Begin

This article was written by Chiara Corsaro and by wikiHow staff writer, Travis Boylls . Chiara Corsaro is the General Manager and Apple Certified Mac & iOS Technician for macVolks, Inc., an Apple Authorized Service Provider located in the San Francisco Bay Area. macVolks, Inc. was founded in 1990, is accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) with an A+ rating, and is part of the Apple Consultants Network (ACN). There are 17 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. The wikiHow Tech Team also followed the article's instructions and verified that they work. This article has been viewed 3,374,377 times.

Is your computer slowing down, whizzing and whirring as it tries to keep up with you? Before you spend hundreds or even thousands on a new computer, you may find it only takes a few simple steps to make your Windows or Mac computer run faster.

Step 1 Back up your...

  • Purchase an external hard drive that is larger than the hard drive you want to back up. [2] X Research source Inserting the USB of the external hard drive should automatically prompt your computer to give you the option to use the drive for back up. If you need more help, read the wikiHow article about how to back up a hard drive.
  • If you are worried about losing or damaging an external hard drive, you can back up important files online. Subscribe to a secure backup service, or a cloud-based service like Google Drive, iCloud, or Dropbox.

Step 2 Restart your computer

  • Make sure you save any projects you are working on before turning off your computer!

Step 3 Clean the inside of your computer case and vents.

  • Warning: Before touching anything inside your computer, be sure to ground yourself by touching something metal, or wearing static wrist bands. Static discharge can permanently damage the electronic components of your computer.
  • Don't use any liquid cleaners. If there is dust or build-up that you can't remove using a dry microfiber rag, you can use a little bit of rubbing alcohol applied to the microfiber rag, or alcohol swabs.
  • When cleaning your fans, hold them in place with your fingers. Don't let them spin when blowing or cleaning the fans.

Step 1 Check your hard disk space.

  • Open File Explorer. It has an icon that resembles a folder with a blue clip. You can find it in the taskbar or the Windows Start menu.
  • Click This Computer.
  • Check the disk drive space. All disk drives are listed below "Drives and devices." There is a bar graph next to each disk drive that shows how much space is being used.

Step 2 Remove any programs

  • Don't forget to empty your recycling bin.

Step 3 Prevent unnecessary programs from starting when the computer boots up

  • Right-click the taskbar at the bottom of the screen.
  • Click Task Manager
  • Click More Details at the bottom of the Task Manager.
  • Click the Startup tab at the top of the screen.
  • Click an app.
  • Click Disable in the lower-right corner.

Step 4 Change the power plan of your desktop computer to High-Performance mode.

  • Right-click the Windows Start menu.
  • Click Power Options .
  • Click Additional Power Settings in the menu bar to the right.
  • Click Create Power Plan in the menu bar to the left.
  • Check High Performance
  • Click Next .

Step 5 Install an anti-virus...

  • Click the Windows Start menu.
  • Type Disk Cleanup and click the Disk Cleanup icon.
  • Select a drive.
  • Check the file types you want to clean and click Ok .

Step 8 Run a Disk Defragment.

  • Type Defragment and click Defragment and Optimize Drives .
  • Click Optimize .

Step 9 Disable visual effects.

  • Type Control Panel and click Control Panel
  • Click System & Security
  • Click System ,
  • Click Advanced System Settings .
  • Select the bullet which says "Adjust for best performance".

Step 10 Consider switching to a Solid State Drive.

  • To see if you need more RAM, initialize the Windows Task Manager by pressing " Ctrl + Alt + Del " and click Task Manager . Under the Performance tab, find the area devoted to Physical Memory (MB). If the number next to "Available" is less than 25% of the Total MB, you may need to add RAM. [11] X Research source
  • Adding more memory may not necessarily make your computer run faster. If your computer is slow to switch between windows or tasks, or if you often have many browser tabs open at once, additional RAM may help.
  • You can take your computer to an expert to add RAM, like the Geek Squad at Best Buy, or you may decide to add more RAM yourself . Just be sure to do your research before attempting to do it on your own.

Step 12 Clear temporary files on your computer.

  • Go to the Apple menu (the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your screen),
  • Click About This Mac .
  • Click the Storage tab. This will show you how much free space you have on your hard disk and will also break down your current usage, showing you how much space is used by your movie, music, photo, and app files. [13] X Research source

Step 2 Use your Activity Monitor to find out which applications are using the most CPU.

  • Open the Finder.
  • Click Applications .
  • Click Utilities.
  • Launch the Activity Monitor by clicking it from the list of apps.
  • Click the CPU tab.
  • Click the % CPU column and see which programs are at the top. If it is using anything over 50%, running that program may be slowing everything down.

Step 3 Uninstall unnecessary programs.

  • If you discover that one particular application is slowing down your Central Processing Unit (CPU), you can speed things up by deleting that application and using a faster alternative, or closing all other programs every time you use that application.
  • Safari is often at the top of the list for CPU. Consider switching to a different browser, like Firefox or Chrome. [16] X Research source
  • When in doubt, don't remove anything you don’t recognize: it may be critical to the function of your computer or another application.

Step 4 Delete, compress or remove large and unnecessary files.

  • To compress a file right-click it and click Compress in the pop-up menu.
  • Open the Downloads folder. Make sure you are viewing files as a list and then click on the Size header so that your largest files are on top. Get rid of anything you don't need. [17] X Research source
  • Movies are generally the largest files--they can be between 1-2GB. Consider removing anything you are not watching or plan to watch soon. [18] X Research source
  • Remember to empty your trash bin. If you delete photos in iPhoto or Aperture, you must empty the trash bin that exists in that program, or else the files will not be deleted. To empty the Trash bin, right-click it in the Dock and click Empty Trash . [19] X Research source

Step 5 Prevent unnecessary programs from starting when the Mac boots.

  • Click Apple icon in the menu bar.
  • Click System Preferences .
  • Click Accounts or Users & Groups .
  • Click your account.
  • Click Login Items .
  • Select any items you don’t need.
  • Click the minus ( - ) sign to remove them.

Step 6 Repair disk permissions.

  • Go to Applications in the Finder.
  • Click Utilities .
  • Open the Disk Utility app.
  • Select your startup disk.
  • Click First Aid at the top of the screen.
  • Click Run .

Step 7 Remove unused languages.

  • No matter which language you use, never delete the English language files. Doing so may cause OS X to malfunction. [22] X Research source

Step 8 Add more RAM to your computer.

  • Click the Magnifying glass icon in the upper-right corner and
  • Enter "Activity Monitor" in the search bar.
  • Open the Activity Monitor App.
  • Check the "Memory Pressure" chart at the bottom.
  • To see what kind of RAM your Mac uses, go to the Apple menu, then click About This Mac, then More Info. Under Memory in the Hardware tab, you can find the memory, size and type of RAM your computer uses.

Community Q&A

Community Answer

Video . By using this service, some information may be shared with YouTube.

  • A clean install of the operating system will make your PC run much faster, but will erase all your files. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
  • It is best to create a System Restore point before you uninstall any programs or make any changes, so you can revert your computer back to a safe point if anything goes wrong. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
  • As a general rule, it is best not to fiddle with anything you are not sure about. Try reading through several guides on the web to understand what you are doing before you attempt anything. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

make my laptop work faster

  • Never delete system32 files on Windows . These are critical to running the operating system correctly and you will be unable to use your computer unless you reinstall the operating system. Or worse, your PC would malfunction. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

Accept That Your Computer Is Slow

  • ↑ http://www.cnet.com/uk/how-to/five-tips-to-speed-up-your-mac/
  • ↑ http://www.cnet.com/news/top-external-storage-devices-backing-up-is-a-personal-matter/
  • ↑ http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-restart-your-mac.html
  • ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ded8DNlY1zA
  • ↑ http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/whats-new-in-managing-power-settings
  • ↑ http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/optimize-windows-better-performance#optimize-windows-better-performance=windows-7
  • ↑ Chiara Corsaro. Computer Specialist. Expert Interview. 18 October 2019.
  • ↑ http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/improve-performance-defragmenting-hard-disk#1TC=windows-7
  • ↑ http://www.pcworld.com/article/2691193/do-the-research-before-you-upgrade-your-ram.html
  • ↑ http://macs.about.com/od/faq1/f/How-Much-Free-Drive-Space-Do-I-Need.htm
  • ↑ http://www.cnet.com/news/options-for-checking-free-hard-drive-space-in-os-x/
  • ↑ http://www.macworld.com/article/2026650/mac-troubleshooting-what-to-do-when-your-computer-is-too-slow.html#tk.nl_mwhelp
  • ↑ http://www.macworld.com/article/2599241/how-to-free-up-space-on-a-packed-hard-drive.html
  • ↑ http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/ways-to-speed-up-mac
  • ↑ http://www.macworld.com/article/1052220/repairpermissions.html
  • ↑ https://ingmarstein.github.io/Monolingual/faq.html
  • ↑ http://www.macworld.com/article/1049263/speedram.html

About This Article

Chiara Corsaro

1. Back up your computer. 2. Restart your computer. 3. Delete unneeded files. 4. Remove unused programs. 5. Prevent programs from starting automatically. 6. Switch your power plan to High Performance (Windows). 7. Run anti-virus and anti-malware scans. 8. Disable visual effects and animations. 9. Remove unused languages (macOS). 10. Add additional RAM. Did this summary help you? Yes No

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14 Ways to Make Windows 10 Faster and Improve Performance

It's not hard to make Windows 10 faster. Here are several methods to improve the speed and performance of Windows 10.

Making Windows 10 or 11 perform faster is easy. You just need a few simple tips and tricks. This article covers several methods to make Windows 10 and 11 faster and improve its performance.

The Main Focus Areas to Make Windows Run Faster

There are three umbrella categories for optimizing Windows' performance:

  • Operating system tweaks
  • Software enhancements
  • App replacement or removal

While hardware upgrades also work, like buying more RAM or investing in an SSD (see the differences between SD vs HDD for more info), those cost money, so we're going to skip them. Let's start with the most effective, and free, ways to speed up Windows 10 and 11.

Windows 10 and 11 Operating System Speed Tweaks

Here's how to get your PC running faster, regardless of if you're using Windows 10 or 11.

1. Turn On Game Mode

windows 10 game mode settings

Windows 10's Creator's Update added a feature called Game Mode . You can improve the performance of any app using Windows' Game Mode . Unfortunately, there's no way to perpetually run in Game Mode. But you can activate it by pressing Windows Key + G . If it doesn't work, you must first enable Game Mode.

To enable Game Mode (in Windows 10: Creator's Update or Windows 11) open Settings > Gaming and choose Game Mode . Tap the toggle switch below Game Mode.

While it's only supposed to be used for games, you can activate it whenever you need to get a little burst of speed. It's particularly useful if you have a lot of background apps that are dragging down a resource-intensive program.

Unfortunately, Game Mode only improves gaming performance by a few percentage points.

Even so, some of you will experience a greater performance boost than others. A reduced number of background apps may improve your performance where no other tricks would help. In theory, Game Mode can function within any application that uses graphics acceleration. If you want to try it out in Adobe Premiere, give it a try.

2. Turn Off Visual Effects

windows 10 performance options turning off visual effects

Windows offers an easy way to shut off all visual enhancements.

  • Navigate to System > Advanced system settings .
  • Choose Advanced from the tabs above.
  • Under Performance , choose Settings .
  • Left-click on the radio button for Adjust for best performance to shut off all visual effects.

Disabling visual effects disabled on a few systems seems to make a big impact, particularly on older computers. On the downside, things won't look as nice. We advise leaving Smooth edges of screen fonts enabled as it helps when reading text.

3. Speed Up Your Processor

windows 10 power plan high performance

Windows has three default settings for how your processor scales up performance to match workloads. The three defaults are Balanced , High performance , and Power saver . Sometimes manufacturers also include custom plans here, which we advise using if they're available.

For laptop users, you are better off using the Balanced or Power saver plans, but High performance can make Windows faster by trading battery endurance for performance. Because it consumes the most amount of power it's also more appropriate for desktops.

You can alter your settings by navigating to Power Options in the Control Panel.

windows-11-power-options-balanced

4. Turn Off Auto-Starting Programs

When you install a program, it sometimes tries to run silently in the background. That's fine for just a handful of programs, but the impact on performance adds up. With enough auto-starting programs running, the entire system gets bogged down.

Getting rid of non-essential startup software is absolutely essential for performance. Fortunately, Windows makes it easy to remove most auto-starters.

To remove auto-starting apps, take the following actions:

  • Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to enter the Windows Task Manager.
  • Select the Startup tab from the top of the screen.
  • From the Startup tab, you can eliminate most auto-starting applications.

The majority of apps out there don't need to run in the background unless they come preinstalled with your computer (and even these are oftentimes bloatware). Unfortunately, some programs hide in other locations, but you can find and eliminate stealth auto-starters as well.

5. Check Your Internet Connection

One of the biggest causes of slow internet speeds isn't your provider. It's your Wi-Fi connection. Thanks to issues like channel congestion and overlapping Wi-Fi signals, it can be difficult getting a stable signal if you live in an apartment complex as different wireless signals overlap over one another, leading to degraded wireless performance.

Fortunately, most routers offer two features that can improve your connection's speed and stability. You can either use a wired connection or change your router's channel. A channel is a segment of a wireless band. Most routers have at least two or three bands and each band is split into distinct channels. The trick is to find a channel that few people are using, which reduces interference.

Configuring a wired connection is simple: just buy an Ethernet cable and plug it in. Configuring a wireless router, on the other hand, is more complicated. Proper wireless setup requires a longer tutorial. We've covered the details on how to fix an unstable Wi-Fi connection on Windows . However, a quick summary is as follows:

  • Use Microsoft's Wi-Fi analyzer tool to determine which channels work best for your computer.
  • Second, go into your router's settings to change the channel to an unimpeded channel.

In many situations, no unimpeded channel will exist, in which case you might want to consider Wi-Fi 6E , which is almost immune to wireless congestion while offering lightning-fast data transfer speeds.

6. Manage Windows Update for Performance

Windows Update hogs resources when it runs in the background. You can configure it to run only at specific times. For example, when the device isn't in operation. That means no more restarts while you're in the middle of an important task.

Change Active Hours

windows 10 active hours

To configure Windows Update to run only at specific hours:

  • Type Windows Update settings into the Windows Search Bar and run the configuration utility.
  • Under the heading Update settings , choose Change active hours .
  • You can change the active hours on this menu by clicking on Change Active Hours . We advise changing it to a time period when the computer is on but unused.

This setting only limits the times during which Windows will install updates automatically. Windows Update will still download updates during those hours.

Set Your Internet Connection to Metered

If you have a limited bandwidth Wi-Fi connection, Windows Update can significantly impact your internet performance by downloading updates in the background.

You can prevent this by setting your connection to metered. This is just but one of many ways to disable Windows Update , though some security patches may still download.

  • Open Windows Settings using Windows Key + I .
  • Go to Network & Internet > Wi-Fi .
  • Select the network you're currently connected to and under Metered connection > Set as metered connection turn the switch On .

metered connection windows 10

This only works with Wi-Fi networks, though a hack to apply this setting to Ethernet connections does exist.

7. Turn Off Windows 10 or 11's Search Indexing Feature

windows 10 turning off indexing

When you search for a file, Windows doesn't scan every directory on your computer if you have indexing enabled. Indexing creates a text manifest of the files stored on your computer. It dramatically improves file-search speed.

On newer computers, it's best not to turn indexing off. There's little benefit unless an indexing bug causes the service to consume too many resources. However, in that event, I'd advise updating Windows before turning off indexing. Because even on a modern computer, turning off Windows's indexing feature will significantly slow down searches of your storage drive for very little performance gain.

On the other hand, if you own a very old computer, turning off Search Indexing will help your system's performance.

To turn off Windows 10 and 11's Search Index tool:

  • Type Index into the Windows Search Tool and left-click Indexing Options .
  • Left-click Modify at the bottom of the menu and uncheck the boxes for all of the options listed here.

8. Speed Up Windows with Storage Analyzers and Disk-Cleaning Tools

windows 10 windirstat

Both Solid State Drives (SSDs) and Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) slow down when overloaded with data. Both drive technologies like to sit around 50% capacity for optimal performance but anything around 25% free capacity is fine.

One of the best apps for cleaning up an overloaded disk is WinDirStat. WinDirStat is both completely free, open-source, and available in both installed and portable versions.

Download: WinDirStat for Windows (Free)

Windows 10 Software Enhancements

If you're using Windows 10 specifically, give these tricks a try.

9. RAM Drive

windows 10 dataram ram disk

Out of all the apps out there that claim to improve performance, no program does it better than a RAM drive . A RAM drive program creates a virtual drive using physical RAM, which is obscenely fast. Users then move parts of essential software to the RAM disk, which results in large gains in speed.

However, we advise RAM drive usage only for those who want to improve the performance of a single application. The most important examples of software that benefit from RAM disks are Photoshop, browsers, and video editing software.

Let's explore how to combine a RAM disk with the Chrome Browser. First, we recommend that you have at least 1GB of RAM free. Ideally, users should have at least 8GB of RAM for a 64-bit system and at least 4GB of RAM on a 32-bit system . But you can get away with less.

A lot of RAM-drive software exists, including first-party software from AMD . A popular favorite is not free: SoftPerfect RAM Disk .

However, if you just want to get your feet wet, give DataRAM's RamDisk a try. The free version is limited to 1GB in size. But if you own an AMD-based system, you get a 4GB maximum instead.

How to Configure a RAM drive

Setting up a RAM disk just requires downloading and installing the software. After running the software, you need to configure it with the following options:

Choose the maximum RAM disk size, which is around 1GB. You can use any size, but a smaller capacity limits its utility.

Check the box for Set Disk Label . That way, you can identify the disk in the next step. Then choose Start RAMDisk .

Configure your browser to read and write cache files to and from the RAM disk.

Right-click on your browser shortcut and choose Properties from the context menu. Windows 10 makes it easier than ever to access a browser shortcut. You can do it directly from the Taskbar.

windows 10 dataram ram disk properties menu

From Properties , choose the Shortcut tab. Then within the Target: text input field, append the following code to the end of the text, where "R" is your own RAM disk drive letter:

The complete line of code should look something like this:

Your own code may differ, depending on Chrome's configuration.

Finally, choose OK and restart your browser. From now on, Chrome will read and write cache files to the RAM disk.

windows 10 ramdisk redirect target directory

Not everyone thinks RAM drives work as advertised. To be fair, the critics make good points. One of the biggest shortcomings is that RAM drives can make your computer shut down slower. And because the software runs in the background, older computers might feel more sluggish. Furthermore, sudden power loses can corrupt data held in your RAM drive. So while it may make certain kinds of programs run faster, it can cause other issues.

Download: DataRAM RamDisk | Windows (Free)

10. Malware Scanner

We've written to death on the subject of malware scanners for good reason: many performance problems are caused by malicious programs running wild in the background. Some of the best free malware scanners out there include Malwarebytes, SuperAntiSpyware, and ClamWin.

We have written before about the best free anti-malware clients , which is a good starting point for anyone with a slow computer.

11. Registry Cleaner

windows 10 ccleaner

The Windows registry has all the settings for Windows and other programs. Installing software changes the registry. However, sometimes when a program is uninstalled, it fails to remove those changes.

Over time, thousands upon thousands of registry modifications slow system performance. A registry cleaner removes those changes and other leftovers from uninstalled programs.

However, registry cleaners sometimes cause more problems than they solve. While you might see a tiny amount of performance improvement, for the most part, you're likely to see glitchy OS behavior after running a registry cleaner.

The best program out there to clean your registry is CCleaner . However, Piriform, the maker of CCleaner, suffered a security breach that allowed hackers to slip malicious code into two versions of CCleaner. Current CCleaner products do not contain malware, but it's worth noting that they've had security issues in the past.

12. Speed Up Windows By Removing Bad Apps

A lot of users install horrible software, thinking that they need it. Most of the time, it's a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP) that slows your computer down.

Some of the worst offenders include PDF readers, music and video players, browsers, and BitTorrent software. Fortunately, lots of great alternatives exist. The process is simple. First, uninstall the software and, second, install a better program. We've compiled a list of the best free open-source alternatives to paid apps .

Here are a few alternatives you can consider.

  • Sumatra PDF Reader
  • VLC Video Player
  • Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox
  • QBittorrent

PDF Reader Replacement: Sumatra PDF

sumatra pdf reader

Many internet users believe that Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader is the only program capable of reading PDF files. That's a myth. Because Adobe Acrobat security vulnerabilities can spread malware, you might want an alternative.

Sumatra PDF Reader is a securer alternative to Adobe. While it lacks a browser-plugin, I recommend Sumatra to everyone as a default PDF reader. Not only is it open-source, but it also reads comic books (CBZ or CBR files), blocks potentially malignant scripts, and runs on older systems.

All modern browsers can read PDF files. You may not even need a dedicated PDF reader.

Download: Sumatra PDF Reader for Windows (Free)

Music and Video Players: VLC Player

vlc player windows 10

VLC Player is one of the three best media players ever made.

You could make the argument that better music players are out there. But for video, few can top VLC. On top of that, it is open-source, supports keyboard shortcuts, plays almost any video file, and costs nothing.

Download: VLC Player for Windows | Mac | Linux | Android | iOS (Free)

Browser Replacement: Chrome Browser

chrome browser

Chrome is perhaps the fastest alternative to Microsoft's Edge or Internet Explorer browsers. It comes in both the standard 32-bit and 64-bit variations . Google even makes an open-source version of Chrome, called Chromium .

Overall, Chrome offers everything that Edge doesn't: extensibility, security, and speed. If you use the internet often, Chrome ranks among the first apps you should install. However, Firefox offers the same degree of extensibility and it's 100% open source.

Also, check out the Windows-optimized browser based on Firefox called Pale Moon . Pale Moon works with many Firefox extensions and comes with 64-bit versions.

Download: Google Chrome Browser (Free)

Download: Mozilla Firefox Browser (Free)

BitTorrent Replacement: qBittorrent

qbittorrent windows 10 app

For those of you using a horrible, malware-like BitTorrent client, there is hope. Check out the open-source qBittorrent . Unlike the cross-platform BitTorrent client Deluge, it receives regular updates. On top of that, qBittorrent is more fully-featured and includes all the extras of its competitors, without the crazy malware infections.

Download: QBittorrent for Windows | Linux | Mac (Free)

13. Remove Bloatware from Windows 10 or 11

The latest version of Windows comes with a ridiculous number of preinstalled apps. Not all of these programs are useful. Remove them with this excellent guide on how to debloat Windows 10 and 11.

In most cases, removing the software does nothing. Most of the apps are placeholders that install themselves upon activation. If you're not concerned about Microsoft's bloatware, though, you might want to consider an in-place repair.

In-place repair is most useful for when you want to return your computer to a like-new condition, without reinstalling all of your applications. The in-place repair merely refreshes Windows's core operating system files.

To perform an in-place repair, perform the following actions:

  • Download the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool or the Windows 11 Installation Assistant and run it.
  • Choose Upgrade this PC now and then click Next .

windows 10 upgrade assistant

The computer then downloads a copy of Windows 10 or 11, which can take several hours. After it finishes, the Media Creation Tool reinstalls Windows on top of itself. If your system has been crippled by malware, or through some other kind of damage to the core operating system files, an in-place repair can patch Windows , restoring it to a fresher state.

For more information on the process, here's a video:

14. Remove Windows 10 or 11's Default Apps

windows 10 app remover debloater

Unfortunately, an in-place upgrade replaces or restores all of Windows's baked-in bloatware (if you remove them). Fortunately, a few apps make debloating Windows easier than ever. Our favorite is the Windows 10 Default App Remover .

Windows 10 Default App Remover can uninstall the default Windows 10 or 11 applications. On top of that, its publisher has provided the source code for the application.

To de-crap your computer, simply install the software and run it. You then just click on the app you want to remove. For example, if Solitaire gets on your nerves, just left-click on it in the user interface, and you'll receive a prompt asking whether you intend on removing the app. Confirming removes the application. The amazing thing is that 10AppsManager allows users to reinstall removed software from the same interface. It's amazing.

The app received clean reports from Norton Safeweb and VirusTotal so it is likely not a source of malware.

Download: Windows 10 Default App Remover for Windows (Free)

15. Browser Extensions for Faster Page Loads

My favorite speed hack is improving your browser's performance through extensions.

User-Agent Switcher Browser Extension

user-agent-switcher can improve website load times

A mobile user agent lets a server know whether your computer is a fast desktop or a slow mobile device. If a server knows you're using a desktop or laptop, it typically loads more advertising code and visual effects. In other words, you get the slower version of a webpage.

By using a mobile user agent, you can tell the website to give you a faster-loading version of its page. This trick doesn't work on all websites but it generally improves performance. Unfortunately, it can sometimes cause strange behavior on some websites.

Download : User-Agent Switcher for Chrome or Edge Browsers (Free)

What's the Best Windows Speed Hack?

There are a lot of tweaks to speed up Windows 10 and 11. For those who want the fastest fix, try the in-place repair. If you don't mind losing some of your installed programs, a factory reset is another great option. But that's because, for most people, third-party software causes the greatest amount of slowdown. And removing or optimizing that software generally resolves most performance issues.

Best tips to increase your computer performance on Windows 11

If your computer is getting sluggish, use these tips on Windows 11 to restore performance.

Task Manager and Settings app

  • Shut down and restart
  • Unused apps
  • Hard drive space
  • Default GPU
  • Visual effects
  • Search indexing
  • Page file settings
  • Installation files
  • Gaming performance
  • Hardware upgrades

On Windows 11 or any version of the operating system, it's a matter of time before you notice a decline in speed and responsiveness. Usually, this happens due to misconfiguration, compatibility issues, bugs, malware, hardware problems, and so on.

When your computer starts showing signs of performance issues, there are several tweaks that you can implement to make the device faster before considering a replacement. (If you have had the same computer for more than four years, then yes, there's a good chance that an upgrade is on the table.)

In this how-to guide , I'll outline different tips that you can use to increase the system performance as much as possible on Windows 11.

How to increase performance on Windows 11

On Windows 11, you can perform several tweaks to help improve the overall performance, and here's how.

1. Shut down and restart computer

The easiest way to increase the performance is by performing a basic shutdown and restart. (I know it might be obvious for many people, but it's usually not.)

The restarting process closes background processes and applications. Also, it clears the data in memory, which usually fixes performance issues, especially if the computer has been running for a long time.

To shut down and restart the computer to resolve common performance issues, use these steps:

  • Open  Start .
  • Click the  Power  button.
  • Select the  Shut down  option. 
  • Quick tip:  The "Sleep" or "Hibernate" options do not reset the system or clear the data in memory.
  • Press the power button to turn on the computer.

Once you complete the steps, you should notice some performance improvements on your computer. 

If you haven't seen any improvements, continue with the recommendations.

2. Turn off apps at startup

On Windows 11, some apps can register themselves to start automatically with the "Startup" feature, and the system can remember certain apps and restart them automatically after signing in to make it easier to pick up where you left off. 

Although these are convenient features, they can significantly slow down the system and startup process. However, you can always control these features to speed up the device. 

Disable startup apps

Certain apps can register with the system to launch automatically during startup. Although this behavior can speed up getting to the app, the more apps you have in the queue, the longer the device will take to start and the more resources it will waste.

If you're trying to increase the system performance, disable as many apps as possible from the startup queue. 

To manage apps at the startup, use these steps:

  • Open  Settings .
  • Click on  Apps .
  • Click the  Startup  page on the right side.
  • Click the  Sort by  menu and select the  Startup impact  option.
  • Turn off the toggle switch for any unnecessary app.
  • Restart the computer.

After you complete the steps, the apps you turned off will no longer start automatically in the next reboot.

Disable restartable apps

Windows 11 can save and restart specific applications when you reboot the computer and sign in. However, if you want to improve the speed of your computer, you'll be better off disabling this feature.

To turn off restartable apps on Windows 11, use these steps:

  • Click on  Accounts .
  • Click the  Sign-in options  page on the right side.
  • Turn off the  "Automatically save my restartable apps and restart them when I sign back in"  toggle switch.

Once you complete the steps, Windows 11 will no longer save and restart compatible applications when you sign in to your account.

3. Remove unused apps

If the computer includes many applications you don't use, they will only be wasting valuable space and system resources. Uninstalling those apps can help to increase performance.

To uninstall apps on Windows 11, use these steps:

  • Click the  Installed apps  page on the right side.
  • Click the open the app menu from the right and choose the  Uninstall  option.
  • Click the  Uninstall  button again.
  • Continue with the on-screen directions (if applicable).

After you complete the steps, you may need to repeat the steps to remove other apps.

At all costs, avoid installing outdated or poorly designed applications and those loaded with unnecessary features, as they can impact your computer's performance. (It's important to note that well-known companies can also make low-quality applications.)

To maintain your device's health and efficiency, prioritize installing reputable apps. Also, consider opting for apps available on the Microsoft Store, as they undergo thorough reviews for both security and performance. If the specific app is not in the store, only download it from a trusted source.  

When in doubt, conduct online research to gather more information about the app. Explore software vendor forums to check for user experiences and potential issues. 

4. Free up hard drive space

Filling up the system hard drive is never a good idea as it can affect performance. 

If your computer is running slow when launching apps and managing files, the reason could be that the drive is running out of space. Typically, you will notice a performance degradation as the drive fills up around 70 percent of the available capacity.

On Windows 11, you have many different ways to free up space. However, the easiest way is to use the Storage settings to delete temporary and unnecessary files.

To free up space on Windows 11, use these steps: 

  • Click on System.
  • Click the  Storage  page on the right side.
  • Click the Temporary files setting.
  • Check the files you want to delete to reclaim space and improve system performance. 
  • Quick tip:  When selecting the temporary files, remember that checking the  "Downloads"  option will delete everything inside the "Downloads" folder. If you want to keep these files, do not check this option. 
  • Click the  Remove files  button.

Once you complete the steps, the overall performance should be measurable.

If you need more space,  use this guide  to find more ways to optimize the storage on your computer.

5. Install system, driver, and app patches

Windows 11 constantly receives updates to patch security vulnerabilities, resolve problems, and add new features. As such, it's important to update the system to ensure it has the latest fixes and improvements for optimal performance.

Install latest updates

To update Windows 11 to receive the latest patches and performance improvements, use these steps:

  • Click on  Windows Update .
  • Click the  "Check for updates"  button.
  • (Optional) Check the "Get latest updates as soon as they're available toggle" switch.
  • Quick note: This option will download preview versions of upcoming updates that may include fixes to restore the system performance.
  • Click the  Restart now  button.

After you complete the steps, system updates should be downloaded and installed on the computer.

Upgrade to latest version

To upgrade to the newest version of Windows 11, use these steps:

  • Click the  Check for updates  button.
  • Click the  "Download & install"  button.

Once you complete the steps, the system will upgrade to the most recent version of Windows 11 that can potentially resolve previous performance issues.

Update drivers to latest version

To update device drivers on Windows 11, use these steps:

  • Click the  Advanced options  button.
  • Click the  Optional updates  setting.
  • Select the available drivers to update.
  • Click the  Download & install  button.

If the specific device driver causing issues has no update, you should check with your manufacturer support website to download and install the latest update. 

Update drivers manually

You should utilize the instructions provided on the manufacturer support website to accomplish this task. If instructions are not available, you can refer to the steps below.

  • Search for  Device Manager  and click the top result to open the app.
  • Expand the branch for the device driver causing problems. For example,  Display adapters .
  • Right-click the device and select the  Update driver  option.
  • Click the  "Browse my computer for driver software"  option.
  • Click the  Browse  button under the "Search for drivers in this location" section.
  • Select the folder with the device driver installation files.
  • Click the  OK  button.
  • Click the  Next  button.
  • Click the  Close  button.

Once you complete the steps, the device driver should be installed on the computer.

Update apps

To update Microsoft Store apps manually on Windows 10, use these steps:

  • Open  Microsoft Store .
  • Click the  Library  button from the bottom-left corner.
  • Click the  Get updates  button.

After you complete the steps, the Microsoft Store will check, download, and install the latest updates for your applications.

Check the developer support website for updates if you have non-Microsoft Store apps. You may also be able to use the update option in the application itself.

6. Rollback to previous version

Although updating your setup can indeed help to improve performance, sometimes, this process can also cause problems. Usually, this happens when a new version or an update for the operating system ships with unknown issues.

If an update or a new version was recently released, and you're experiencing performance problems, rolling back to the previous version can help speed up the performance.

Uninstall update 

To uninstall a problematic update, use these steps:

  • Click the  Update history  setting.
  • Click the  Uninstall updates  setting under the "Related settings" option.
  • Click the  Uninstall  button for the most recent update.

Once you complete the steps, the system will revert to the previous version before the problematic update, mitigating the performance issue on the device.

Uninstall upgrade 

To roll back to a previous version of Windows, use these steps:

  • Click on  System .
  • Click the  Recovery  page on the right side.
  • Click the  Go back  button under the "Recovery options" section.
  • Confirm the reason you're rolling back.
  • Click the  Next  button.
  • Click the  No, thanks  button.
  • Click the  Next  button again.
  • Click the  Go back  button.

The option to roll back is only available for the first ten days after the original upgrade. Only use this option if it's known that a bug is causing performance issues on Windows 11.

7. Change power plan to high performance

Windows 11 offers a variety of plans (Balanced, Best Power efficiency, and Best performance) to fine-tune the power consumption. If you want to enhance your system's performance, you can opt for the "Best performance" setting. This option increases the power consumption but improves the overall performance.

To change the power plan of Windows 11 to improve performance, use these steps:

  • Search for  Control Panel  and click the top result to open the app.
  • Click on  Hardware and Sound .
  • Click on  Power Options .
  • Select the  "High performance"  option.

On laptops, you can also change the mode to increase performance by tapping or clicking the  battery  icon in the Taskbar's notification area and selecting the  "Best performance"  option using the slider.

8. Choose the default GPU for applications

If you have a computer with multiple graphics cards, you can assign a specific card to a particular application for the highest performance possible.

To assign a high-performance GPU to an application on Windows 11, use these steps:

  • Click the  Display  page on the right side.
  • Click the  Graphics setting under the "Related settings" section.
  • Use the  "Add an app"  setting to choose the application for which you want to change its graphics settings.
  • Click the  Options  button.
  • Select the  "High performance"  option.
  • Click the  Save  button.

After you complete the steps, you should note an increase in performance on the application. 

It's important to note that sometimes, the application includes the option to choose the graphics card for best performance. Use the app's settings if this is the case.

9. Disable visual effects

Windows 11 has various visual features like animations, shadows, and advanced techniques like blur and see-through effects, all part of the Fluent Design style.

While these features improve the user experience, they need extra system resources, especially for older machines, making them slower. However, you can turn off these effects to save resources and make the experience feel a little faster.

To turn off the animation effects, use these steps:

  • Click on  Accessibility .
  • Click the  Visual effects  page on the right side.
  • Turn off the  Animation effects  toggle switch.
  • Turn off the  Transparency effects  toggle switch.

You can  use these instructions  to turn off all the visual effects on Windows 11 to improve performance and battery life as much as possible.

10. Turn off search indexing

Search is a critical feature since it allows you to find your files, settings, and apps. However, it's one of those components that can consume a significant amount of system resources and impact some devices like low-end computers and gaming setups. 

If you want to speed up the system as much as possible, it's possible to change the index settings to optimize the feature for performance.

To configure the indexer to improve system performance on Windows 10, use these steps:

  • Click on  Privacy & security .
  • Click on  Searching Windows .
  • Turn on the  "Respect power settings when indexing"  toggle switch.
  • Choose the  Classic  option in the "Find my files" setting to minimize battery and processor usage.
  • Click the  "Add an excluded folder"  button under the "Exclude folders from enhanced search" section.
  • Select the folder to exclude.
  • Click the  Select folder  button.
  • (Optional) Click on  "Advanced indexing option."
  • Click the  Modify  button.
  • Click the  "Show all locations"  button.
  • Clear the  Outlook  option and other locations as necessary.
  • Click the  OK  button.
  • Click the  Close  button.

Once you complete the steps, indexing should stop conflicting with the system's performance. If you're excluding the Outlook location, Windows 11 won't surface results from your emails when performing a search from the Taskbar.

11. Reconfigure page file settings

On Windows 11, virtual memory refers to the "page file" on the hard drive that works as a temporary memory to handle the overflow when the system runs out of physical memory.

If you know what you are doing, you can improve the system performance by increasing the page file size.

To change the page file settings to speed up Windows 11, use these steps:

  • Click the  About  page on the right side.
  • Click the  "Advanced system settings"  option under the "Device specifications" section.
  • Click the  Advanced  tab.
  • Click the  Settings  button under the "Performance" section.
  • Click the  Change  button under the "Virtual memory" section.
  • Clear the  "Automatically manage paging files size for all drives"  option.
  • Select the  Custom size  option.
  • Specify the minimum and maximum size for the paging file in megabytes.
  • Quick tip:  Usually, you should use a number one and a half times the total available memory for the "Initial size" and three times the available memory for the "Maximum size" when possible.
  • Click the  Set  button.
  • Click the  OK  button again.
  • Restart your computer.

After you complete the steps, the changes will apply, and the system should show signs of improvement while using apps.

In the case that the changes are causing stability issues, undo the configuration with the same steps, but on  step 9 , select the  "System managed size"  option and check the  "Automatically manage paging files size for all drives"  option.

12. Repair installation files

If the computer has system files that are corrupted, you will notice performance issues and other problems. In this case, you can use the Deployment Image Service and Management Tool (DISM) and System File Checker (SFC) command-line tools to fix the setup without resourcing to reinstallation.

Fix installation files with DISM

To use DISM to repair the image system files, use these steps:

  • Search for  Command Prompt , right-click the top result, and click the  Run as Administrator  option.
  • Type the following command to repair the image files and press  Enter :  DISM /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

After you complete the steps, the tool will repair the files in the image, and you can then use the SFC tool to fix problems with the current installation of Windows.

Fix installation files with SFC

To use SFC to repair corrupted system files on Windows 11, use these steps:

  • Type the following command to repair the installation and press  Enter :  sfc /scannow

Once you complete the steps, the computer should start running normally without performance issues.

In  this set of instructions , you will find more details on how to use these command-line tools.

13. Scan and remove viruses

If the computer isn't acting up or runs slower than usual, this could be a signal that malware has gained access to the system. 

Usually, viruses, spyware, and other malware types can take up substantial system resources, making the device unusable.

Although the Microsoft Defender Antivirus runs automatically, it's not guaranteed that the device will always be free of malware. You should periodically perform a full virus scan, especially when you suspect the computer could be infected.

Defender Antivirus full scan

To run a full virus scan, use these steps:

  • Search for  Windows Security  and click the top result to open the app.
  • Click on  Virus & threat protection .
  • Click the Protection updates option in the "Virus & threat protection updates" setting.
  • Click the  "Check for updates"  button.
  • Click on  "Virus & threat protection"  from the left pane.
  • Click the  Scan options  option under the "Current threats" section.
  • Select the  Full scan  option.
  • Click the  Scan now  button.

After you complete the steps, Microsoft Defender Antivirus should detect and remove any malware impacting performance.

Defender Antivirus offline scan

You can use the Defender offline feature if the antivirus cannot remove the malware because the system is running. When you run the offline scan, the computer will reboot into the Windows Recovery Environment to perform a scan when the system isn't loaded into memory. After the scan is complete, the antivirus will remove the malware and restart the computer automatically.

To perform a Microsoft Defender Antivirus offline scan, use these steps:

  • Select the  "Microsoft Defender Offline scan"  option.

Once you complete the steps, the antivirus will scan the system and try to remove the malware causing the performance degradation.

If you use other anti-malware solutions like Malwarebytes ,  Bitdefender ,  Trend Micro , or  Norton , check their support documentation to remove viruses and other malicious programs.

14. Gaming-specific performance configurations

If you want to optimize the performance for gaming, in addition to the recommendations outlined in this guide, you can also perform some additional configurations. 

Turn on Game Mode

To enable Game Mode on Windows 11, use these steps:

  • Click on  Gaming .
  • Turn on  Game Mode  toggle switch.

After you complete the steps, the system will optimize the computer for gaming by turning off non-essential processes to free up more resources. This mode should also improve framerates during gameplay and stop services like Windows Update from disrupting the experience.

Turn off memory integrity and virtualization

According to Microsoft, gaming performance can be affected by two security features, including Memory Integrity and Virtual Machine Platform. 

If you want to improve your computer's gaming performance, consider turning off these features. Here's how:

  • Search for  Windows Security  and click the top result to open the app.
  • Click on  Device Security .
  • Click the  "Core isolation details"  option under the "Core isolation" section.
  • Turn off the  "Memory integrity"  toggle switch (and do not restart the computer yet.)
  • Click the  Optional features  tab.
  • Click the  "More Windows features"  setting under the "Related settings" section.
  • Clear the  "Virtual Machine Platform"  option.

Once you complete the steps, games should run more smoothly.

It's important to note that Microsoft recommends turning on the feature again after playing games to keep your device secure. You can always revert the changes using the same steps outlined above, but on  step 5 , turn on the  "Memory Integrity"  option, and on  step 10 , check the  "Virtual Machine Platform"  option.

15. Reset computer to factory defaults

If the device is still sluggish, and you encounter other problems after trying the different recommendations, you can try performing a factory reset without losing your files to improve performance and resolve other issues.

To reset Windows 11 without losing your files, use these steps:

  • Click the  Reset PC  button for the "Reset this PC" feature under the "Recovery options" section.
  • Click the  "Keep my files"  option.
  • Click the  Cloud download  option.
  • Review the apps to reinstall after the reset to factory settings.
  • Click the  Reset  button.

Once you complete the steps, the device will reset to the factory settings, preserving your files and restoring the performance levels.

16. Upgrade hard drive and memory (optional)

If you're not seeing performance improvements after going through the recommendations, it might be time to upgrade the system drive and memory. You should also consider investing in a new computer if you have the system for three or four years.

Since most devices running Windows 11 already feature a Solid-State Drive (SSD), I won't talk about how upgrading from a traditional hard disk drive (HDD) will make a difference. However, you could upgrade to a larger and higher-performance SSD or an NVMe drive if the system supports it, as this media type offers significant performance improvements over traditional SSDs.

If the computer doesn't have enough memory, it will run slower than it should, especially if you work with memory-demanding applications.

You can always determine if the computer is running out of memory by launching and using the applications you usually use, and then open  "Task Manager"  (Ctrl + Shift + Esc), and from the  "Performance"  tab, check the memory usage. 

For example, check the total amount of memory in the top-right corner, and in the bottom-left corner, under  "In use (Compressed),"  you can find the total amount of memory currently in use.

If the total amount of  "in use"  memory is constantly high (around 80 percent), it's time to upgrade.

Some extra tips

Some lesser tips that you can use to speed up the system performance include connecting your laptop to a power outlet when performing demanding tasks, especially gaming. Otherwise, the hardware is likely to start throttling as soon as the battery starts to drop. 

Also, by default, Windows 11 switches to power saving mode when the device is running on battery, which limits the performance of the device.

I'm not including the defragment feature, since most devices running Windows 11 already use Solid State Drives.

More resources

For more helpful articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10 and Windows 11, visit the following resources: 

  • Windows 11 on Windows Central — All you need to know
  • Windows 10 on Windows Central — All you need to know

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All the latest news, reviews, and guides for Windows and Xbox diehards.

Mauro Huculak

Mauro Huculak is technical writer for WindowsCentral.com. His primary focus is to write comprehensive how-tos to help users get the most out of Windows 10 and its many related technologies. He has an IT background with professional certifications from Microsoft, Cisco, and CompTIA, and he's a recognized member of the Microsoft MVP community.

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make my laptop work faster

The best free tools to optimize Windows, clear out the junk and accelerate your PC

Boost the performance of Windows without parting with a penny

Ashampoo WinOptimizer running on a laptop

Having Windows slow down over time is so common, it has become an accepted and normalized part of PC ownership -- but it doesn't need to be this way! There is a lot you can do to help breathe new life into your computer and make it perform as smoothly as it used to.

Windows includes numerous tools and utilities that can help optimize your system, and there are also plenty of techniques for manually cleaning up and speeding up you computer -- but this all takes time and effort. If you like the idea of making your life a little easier (and who doesn't like the sound of that?) you can turn to a third-party app.

But there are so many optimizers and clean-up tools out there that it can be impossible to know where to start. Which ones are any good? Which do what they say? Are free tools as good as those that cost money? To answer the third question first, yes, free utilities can be just as good as paid-for alternatives.

 And to answer the first two questions, we have produced this roundup of the best free tools that you can used to tidy up and accelerate Windows.

1. IObit Advanced SystemCare

Reasons to buy.

IObit Advanced SystemCare takes a two-pronged approach, targeting both general PC clutter and security threats.

The free version of the software covers the fundamentals, with quick system scanning, one-click protection from hacking, performance monitoring and the ability to capture the faces of potential intruders automatically with FaceID.

These are all excellent tools – well designed and simple to use – but to reap the full benefits, you'll need to invest in the software's premium edition. IObit Advanced SystemCare Pro is one of the most affordable cleanup tools around. A one-year license costs US$23.99/£17.71AU/$30.64, and brings with it a raft of extra features including startup optimization, automatic updates and performance monitoring.

For only a little more, Advanced SystemCare Ultimate throws in a full security suite to protect your PC from malware and viruses. It includes protection from ransomware that detects unauthorized file changes in real time and blocks them before your data can be encrypted – even if it's a new type of threat that's never been encountered before.

Some of IObit Advanced SystemCare's tools will have a negligible effect on system performance unless you're really scraping by, but its deep scans will throw up lots of potential improvements that can make a tangible difference to system performance. We particularly appreciate the clear labelling of scan results so users can make an informed decision about what to keep and discard.

  • IObit Advanced SystemCare review
  • Download or buy IObit Advanced SystemCare

2. Ashampoo WinOptimizer

Reasons to avoid.

Ashampoo WinOptimizer (so called because it cleans your PC 'like a shampoo') is one of the most accessible tools for speeding up your PC, and is a great choice if you've never used a system optimization tool before.

Click 'Start search' and it scans your drives for potential issues and splits the results into three categories: clean up (junk files), optimize (internet settings) and protect (history and logs). You can fix these all with a single click, or click the 'Details' button for more information.

This is where Ashampoo WinOptimizer really shines. Rather than just presenting you with an impenetrable list of file names, it walks you through each issue individually, offering a brief description, an explanation of how it might be affecting your PC's performance, and a recommended course of action. It's refreshing to see an interface that's been so carefully designed with accessibility in mind.

There's also the usual bundle of defragging, uninstalling and startup management tools (grouped under the 'Modules' tab), but the main scanner is where this software really shines.

At the time of writing the premium Ashampoo WinOptimizer 15 is discounted to US$9.99/£8.74/AU$17.49 for a one-year license for one PC. This includes an additional game booster, faster scans, Windows 10 privacy controls, and a wizard for tuning SSDs.

  • Download or buy Ashampoo WinOptimizer

3. Iolo System Mechanic

Whether you opt for the free or premium edition, Iolo System Mechanic is one of the best tools around for speeding up your PC and clearing up unwanted files. 

System Mechanic offers two types of scan: Quick and Deep. The first option identifies the most common issues (including temporary files, browser history and registry entries). The Deep scan delves further and has the potential to turn up more results, but takes several minutes. Your results may differ, but in our experience both turned up a similar number of issues.

Clicking the 'Details' link provides plenty of information about the identified problems and why you might want to remove them, though it's not quite as straightforward as Ashampoo Winoptimizer.

Iolo System Mechanic Professional is the most expensive of the PC speed-up tools here, at US$69.95/£69.95/AU$89.32 for a one-year license, though that covers all the PCs in your home rather than just one. It's also much more than just a system optimizer; it includes dual-engine malware protection, data recovery, secure file deletion and many more extras.

If you're considering buying an anti-malware tool to supplement your antivirus , it's well worth adding Iolo System Mechanic to your shortlist.

Note that you'll be asked to submit an email address during registration, but Iolo doesn't share it with third parties.

  • Iolo System Mechanic review
  • Download or buy Iolo System Mechanic

4. Piriform CCleaner

Piriform CCleaner is incredibly thorough, scanning every scrap of your hard drive or SSD for unnecessary files that could be slowing it down. However, unlike some system speed-up tools, it's never overwhelming. Search results are organized into sensible categories (such as temporary files attached to web browsers, and ones related to Windows), and any files that you might want to keep are unchecked by default.

CCleaner doesn't offer a description of all file types before offering to purge them, but if you select any of the files under the 'Advanced' heading it'll tell you why you should think twice before removing them. It would be nice if all the annotations were in such plain English, but we appreciate the effort.

CCleaner's registry scanner is superb; most system speed-up tools just give you a one-click option, but CCleaner lets you pick which types of entry to search for. This is ideal if you're having trouble with something specific (if you're unable to re-install a program because of an entry left over after you uninstalled it, for example).

You also get the usual defrag, drive wipe and system restore tools, though these are all easily accessible through Windows 10's Control Panel.

When you install CCleaner Free, you'll also be offered a download of Avast Free Antivirus. It's one of the best free antivirus apps around and well worth a look if you're in the market for a new security suite, but otherwise make sure you uncheck the box before proceeding.

A CCleaner Pro license costs US$24.95/£19.95/AU$29.95, and gives you convenient real-time monitoring, scheduled cleaning, automatic updates and premium support. The free cleaner is excellent, but the Pro version will save time and hassle in the long run.

  • Piriform CCleaner review
  • Buy or download Piriform CCleaner

5. Glary Utilities

Both the free and premium versions of Glary Utilities promise to make your PC up to eight times faster. Its main attraction is its one-click cleanup, but there's also a bundle of extras including a disk space analyzer, process manager, and a context menu manager (an unusual but welcome addition).

Glary Utilities also provides a handy estimate of your PC's boot time, and the free edition includes automatic updates – a time-saving feature you'll normally have to pay for.

Its one-click maintenance option checks for all the usual system detritus, including broken and missing registry entries and temporary files. Some of its descriptions are a little odd. For example, its history cleanup tool is listed as Tracks Eraser – a strange term you won't encounter elsewhere. If Glary Utilities finds issues related to them, you can click 'show details' to find out what they are, otherwise they'll remain a mystery.

On the subject of scan results, we'd like to see more information about what each problem identified actually is instead of just a list of file names and locations, so users can make an informed choice about what to keep.

A one-year Glary Utilities Pro license usually costs US$39.95/£38.84/AU$67.13, but keep an eye out for special deals – especially around holiday periods.

One word of warning: when you install the free version of Glary Utilities, you're given an option to add a desktop icon for Maiagames – a developer of free puzzle and adventure games. The tickbox is unchecked by default, but it's worth paying attention if you want to avoid any extras.

  • Download or buy Glary Utilities

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Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson

Sofia is a tech journalist who's been writing about software, hardware and the web for nearly 25 years – but still looks as youthful as ever! After years writing for magazines, her life moved online and remains fueled by technology, music and nature.

Having written for websites and magazines since 2000, producing a wide range of reviews, guides, tutorials, brochures, newsletters and more, she continues to write for diverse audiences, from computing newbies to advanced users and business clients. Always willing to try something new, she loves sharing new discoveries with others.

Sofia lives and breathes Windows, Android, iOS, macOS and just about anything with a power button, but her particular areas of interest include security, tweaking and privacy. Her other loves include walking, music, her two Malamutes and, of course, her wife and daughter.

You can find her on Twitter and Mastodon .

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  • 13 ways to speed up Windows 11

Windows 11 is generally faster than Windows 10, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be better. Try these tips to speed up and stabilize your Windows 11 PC.

Preston Gralla

Contributing Editor, Computerworld |

speedometer fast drive

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Windows 11 does a lot under the hood to speed up a PC’s performance. The same PC will generally run faster on Windows 11 than Windows 10. But no matter how zippy your Windows 11 may be, it can run faster. And keep in mind that PCs tend to slow down over time, and you want to make sure that doesn’t happen to yours.

It’s simple to make your Windows PC run faster. Just follow these tips.

Top ways to speed up Windows 11

• disable programs that run on startup, • use efficiency mode, • use automatic windows maintenance, • kill adware and bloatware, • turn off search indexing, • clean out your hard disk, • disable shadows, animations, and visual effects, • disable transparency, • change your power settings, • turn off windows tips and tricks, • disable game mode, • update device drivers, • restart windows.

Read on for details.

Note: This story covers Windows 11 version 22H2. If you have an earlier release of Windows 11, some things may be slightly different. If you have Windows 10, see our Windows 10 speed tips .

1. Disable programs that run on startup

Your Windows 11 PC could be a laggard if programs you rarely or never use are running in the background. Your PC will run faster if you stop them from running.

To do it, first launch the Task Manager in one of these ways: Press Ctrl-Shift-Esc , right-click the lower-right corner of your screen and select Task Manager , or type task manager into the Windows 11 search box and press Enter . There's a lot you can use Task Manager for, but here we’re focusing only on killing unnecessary programs that run at startup.

Click the Startup apps icon on the left side of the screen. (It’s the fourth icon from the top.) It displays a list of the programs and services that launch when you start Windows. The list includes each program's name as well as its publisher, whether it's enabled to run on startup, and its “Startup impact,” which is how much it slows down Windows 11 when the system starts up. Note, though, that the screen doesn’t show how much each program will impact your performance after startup, during normal PC operations.

You can use the Task Manager to get information about programs that launch at startup and disable any you don't need. (Click image to enlarge it.)

To stop a program or service from launching at startup, right-click it and select Disable . This doesn't disable the program entirely; it only prevents it from launching at startup — you can run the application after launch. Also, if you later decide you want it to launch at startup, you can return to this area of the Task Manager, right-click the application and select Enable .

Many of the programs and services that run on startup may be familiar to you, like Microsoft OneDrive or Spotify. But you may not recognize many of them. (Anyone who immediately knows what “bzbui.exe” is, please raise your hand. No fair Googling it first.)

The Task Manager can find information about unfamiliar programs. Right-click an item and select Properties for more information about it, including its location on your hard disk, whether it has a digital signature, and other information such as the version number, the file size, and the last time it was modified.

You can also right-click the item and select Open file location . That opens File Explorer and takes it to the folder where the file is located, which may give you another clue about the program’s purpose.

Finally, and most helpfully, you can select Search online after you right-click. Bing will then launch with links to sites with information about the program or service. With Task Manager’s help, I easily discovered that bzbui.exe is Backblaze backup software, something I want to run automatically during startup.

If you’re worried about one of the listed applications, you can go to a site run by Reason Software called “ Should I Block It? ” and search for the file name. You’ll usually find very solid information about the program or service.

Now that you’ve selected all the programs that you want to disable at startup, the next time you restart your computer, the system won’t launch those unnecessary programs automatically, and your PC may run faster.

2. Use Efficiency Mode

Task Manager has another trick up its sleeve for juicing Windows 11 performance. Efficiency Mode, introduced in Windows 11 22H2, can speed up your PC and improve laptop battery life. It lowers the process priority of background applications, among other efficiency tricks.

The term is a bit of a misnomer, because you can’t put your entire PC into Efficiency Mode. Instead, you use Task Manager to put individual apps and processes into it. There’s one caveat: You’ll only be able to use it on some apps and processes.

First launch Task Manager using one of the methods covered in the previous tip. If you’re already in Task Manager, click the Processes icon (three squares in a grid) on the left side of the screen to get to the Processes screen. A list of currently running apps and processes appears.

Click the app or process you want to put into Efficiency Mode, click the Efficiency mode icon at the top right of the screen, then confirm that you want to turn on Efficiency Mode for the app. Note that if the Efficiency mode icon is grayed out when you click an app or process, you won’t be able to use it. Also, some apps, including Microsoft Edge, automatically work in Efficiency Mode by default, and the mode can’t be turned off.

Turning on Efficiency Mode for an app. (Click image to enlarge it.)

3. Use automatic Windows maintenance

In the background, Windows 11 constantly performs maintenance on your PC, doing things like security scanning and performing system diagnostics to make sure everything is up to snuff. It automatically fixes problems it finds, which helps your PC run at peak performance. The automatic maintenance runs every day at 2:00 a.m. if your device is plugged into a power source and is asleep.

However, that feature may have been accidentally turned off, or it may not have run recently if you shut down your PC at night (rather than putting it in Sleep mode) or you haven’t had your laptop plugged in for a while. You should make sure it’s turned on and runs every day. You can also run it manually if you’d like.

Click the search icon on the taskbar, type control in the search box, and select Control Panel from the results to run the Control Panel app. In the app, select  System and Security > Security and Maintenance . In the Maintenance section, under Automatic Maintenance, click Start maintenance if you want it to run now. To make sure that it runs every day, click Change maintenance settings , and on the screen that appears, select the time you’d like maintenance to run and check the box next to Allow scheduled maintenance to wake up my computer at the scheduled time . Then click OK .

Here’s how to set a time each day for Windows 11 to run its maintenance tasks. (Click image to enlarge it.)

4. Kill adware and bloatware

It may be that what’s slowing your PC down isn’t Windows 11, but bloatware or adware that takes up CPU and system resources. Adware and bloatware are particularly insidious because they may have been installed by your computer’s manufacturer. They typically run automatically at startup without you even knowing it. You’ll be amazed at how much better your PC will run if you get rid of it.

Start by running a system scan to find adware and malware. If you've already installed a security suite such as Norton Security or McAfee LiveSafe, you can use that. Windows 11’s built-in anti-malware app, Windows Defender, also does a great job. Just type  windows defender  in the search box, press Enter , and click Scan Now . Windows Defender will look for malware and remove any it finds.

You should get a second opinion, though, so consider a free tool like  Malwarebytes Anti-Malware . The free version scans for malware and adware and removes what it finds; the paid version offers always-on protection to stop infections in the first place.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware scans for and removes malware. (Click image to enlarge it.)

Now that you’ve done all that, check for bloatware and uninstall it. A good free anti-bloatware tool is Bulk Crap Uninstaller . You can also go to the website Should I Remove It? — it offers recommendations on what software is useful, and what you can uninstall. There’s a section of the website devoted to advice on how to remove bloatware on PCs from specific manufacturers . I highly recommend going there, because it lists all the bloatware different manufacturers install on their PCs.

Finally, when you buy a new PC online, check whether there’s an option to leave off trial software and software you don’t need to run your PC. That will stop bloatware from getting on your system in the first place.

5. Turn off search indexing

Windows 11 search performs indexing in your hard disk in the background, allowing you to search your PC more quickly than if no indexing were being done. That’s good for fast searches, but not so good for slower PCs, because indexing can cause a performance hit. You can give a slower machine a speed boost by turning off indexing. Even if you have an SSD disk, turning off indexing can improve your speed, because the constant writing to disk that indexing does can eventually slow down SSDs.

To turn it off, click the search icon on the taskbar, type services.msc in the Windows 11 search box, and press Enter . The Services app appears. Scroll down to either Indexing Service or Windows Search in the list of services. Double-click it, and on the screen that appears, click Stop . Then reboot your machine. Your searches may be slightly slower, but you also may not notice the difference. You should, though, get an overall speed boost.

Here’s how to turn off Windows 11 indexing. (Click image to enlarge it.)

Alternatively, you can turn off indexing only for files in certain locations. In this way, you can still index files and folders you often search for but turn off indexing for the rest of your hard disk. So you’d still get fast searches for files you use often, while increasing your PC’s performance.

To do it, type index in the Windows 11 search box and click the Indexing Options result that appears. The Indexing Options page of the Control Panel appears. Click the Modify button, and you’ll see a list of locations that are being indexed, such as Microsoft Outlook, your personal files, and so on. Uncheck the box next to any location, and it will no longer be indexed.

How to make your HP laptop run faster than ever

Don't be limited by Windows 10's default power settings.

make my laptop work faster

Updated December 31, 2020

Recommendations are independently chosen by Reviewed's editors. Purchases made through the links below may earn us and our publishing partners a commission.

When most people use a laptop, they tend to think of it like a car: you buy a sports car if you need it to go fast, a minivan if you need lots of storage, and when you press the gas pedal you expect the car to drive forward. If you want to go faster, you add more horsepower.

Laptops don’t work like that. Many times laptop manufacturers purposely set laptops to run slightly slower in order to preserve battery life and keep the laptop from overheating. As the laptop has to do more intensive tasks, the processor gives off heat, and if that process gets out of control, the laptop will shut down to protect itself.

HP Command Performance Mode

Changing the mode to "Performance" in HP Command Center opens up the throttle, letting your new laptop perform its best.

How to get around Windows Battery Settings

All Windows laptops have this option as part of the “battery settings” in the taskbar, the slider that lets you choose between the best battery life, balanced, or best performance. In short, it controls the max power output of the laptop’s processors, since running them at a higher speed will use more watt-hours and eat through the battery faster. However, even on “best performance,” your computer may not let you run the processors at their peak speeds in order to keep them from overheating.

How to use HP Command Center to get even more performance

On HP laptops, there’s another trick to know about, however: the HP Command Center program. HP Command Center is present on nearly every HP laptop we’ve tested recently. Though its design and options change slightly from machine to machine, in every case we’ve seen it provides you the option to pick a battery or thermal profile called “Performance” that will actually let you go above and beyond what the “best performance” option can do.

Our testing proves this out. In the Geekbench 5 benchmark, which tests both the laptop’s single core performance and multi-core performance (basically its ability to do one thing quickly or many things simultaneously), you get way better results.

With the HP Command Center enabled into “Performance” mode, those results shoot up to 1508 single-core and 5162 multi-core, a massive improvement that makes it one of the fastest laptops we’ve tested all year.

Geekbench 5 results

By default, the HP Command center limits your laptops performance in order to save battery life.

There are some downsides to pushing your PC

There are some downsides to this tool, of course. The most obvious is it will run the battery down faster—on some laptops the performance mode actually disengages when it’s not plugged in—and we’ve also seen the laptop itself get a bit warmer, causing the fans to run more aggressively.

However, HP Command Center will never overclock the processors without explicitly enabling it in the overclock menu. While overclocking a processor can net notable performance gains, this pushes the components past the limits they were designed for and can potentially shorten their lifespan. We generally don’t recommend overclocking laptops because they don’t have the space to offer an effective cooling solution to compensate for the extra heat generated by the processors.

“Performance mode” in HP Command Center only boosts the performance to its max rated speed, which will guarantee that your laptop stays safe even though it’s going beyond what Windows 10 has deemed safe for maximum performance. You can still expect to see higher temperatures and louder fans than you might be used to, but you’ll be able to blaze through any computational tasks you throw at the laptop.

You don’t have to settle into a single performance mode

Then, when you’re done playing that extra-demanding game or running that ultra-long Python file, you can always push the setting back down to “balanced” or “quiet” when you don’t need it to run so quickly. Switching between “performance” and “balanced” modes lets you decide when you want to take care of heavy work, and it lets you keep the battery life you’re used to seeing from more casual workloads.

Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.

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PC feeling sluggish? Speed it back up with these free apps

Patrick Norton

One of my favorites is Smart Defrag 4 . Here’s the deal: When you use a hard drive, the data gets broken into pieces and stored anywhere the drive has open space. This is called fragmenting. Picture stashing encyclopedias anywhere in the library where there’s enough space on the shelf to fit it. When you went to look for a volume, you would have to jump all over the place to find the pieces. The same thing happens on your hard drive. It’d be nice if the encyclopedia — or your data­ — was all neatly filed in sequential order in one place. The hard disk head ­– or your librarian — just zips over there and grabs the whole set.

That process is called defragmenting. There’s a defragging tool built into windows, but it’s slooow. IObit’s Smart Defrag 4 is much faster. Just be careful when you install it that you uncheck any boxes trying to install other apps at the same time. That’s a good habit anytime you’re installing a new app!

You don’t want to defrag a solid state drive (SSD), so avoid apps that tell you they’re defragging your SSD to speed it up. What you do want is the “trim” command turned on in Windows. That should already be happening if you’re running Windows 7 or newer.

One last thought about hard drives: If you’ve filled your SSD over 75 percent capacity, you’re probably slowing it down. If Windows panics and tells you you’re running out of HD space, copy what you can onto another drive, then run an app like Piriform CCleaner. Don’t use it for registry edits — I’m not a big fan of registry cleaning — but it’s a great tool to find files you can delete from your drive to make space!

Got your drive sorted? Update your drivers. Drivers are the programs, or bits of code, that enable Windows to use, Wi-Fi, the CPU’s chipset, and all the other hardware that makes up your PC. New graphics drivers can make and amazing difference on your favorite 3D games. You can check your PC manufacturer’s website, or figure out all the hardware in your system and root through the website for each manufacturer: Intel, Nvidia, Broadcom, etc. But you can save yourself a ton of time with a tool like Slimware Utilities SlimDrivers , or IObit’s Driver Booster Free . They’ll automatically scan your system, figure out which hardware you have, and help you download and install drivers for it. By the way, if you’re a gamer with a serious 3D GPU, you need to update those drivers regularly to get the most out of your games!

Did your Windows box slow down all of a sudden? Maybe your teenager downloaded some new apps, or went browsing places they shouldn’t have? You might notice weird pop-up ads, toolbars, or apps you don’t remember installing. Maybe you type in a Web address, and get taken somewhere else? These are all signs you might have malware or a virus on your machine. They’ll often chew up clock cycles and memory that your apps need to run fast.

At the very least, you should have Windows Defender on your PC. It’s pre­installed with Windows 10, and Windows 8 should have nagged you to install it if you don’t have any other antivirus installed. Avast , Malwarebytes and Bitdefender are all good antivirus and anti-malware options. Whichever you choose, open it from the Start menu and hit the update button. This will add the latest spyware and virus definitions. Now click on the scan button. Hopefully you don’t have any nasty stuff in there, but if you do, follow the directions to remove it. Rooting out nasty piles of spyware and malware can make an unusable machine fly! And keeping your antivirus up to date will help keep that from happening again.

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Patrick Norton

HP's Presidents' Day sale is already upon us, a few days ahead of the holiday to give you more time to shop the amazing offers. You can enjoy discounts of up to 65% on the laptop deals, desktop computer deals, printer deals, and other bargains that are available in the ongoing sale, but you're going to have to be quick. Some of these devices have limited stocks, so if you don't proceed with your purchase right away, you may miss out on the savings. Feel free to browse through all of the deals, but to help you out, we've highlighted our top picks below.

What to buy in HP's Presidents' Day sale

Despite their relatively steep price tags, 5K monitors have gained substantial popularity among various creative professionals, including photographers, videographers, filmmakers, and graphic designers. These displays not only deliver exceptionally sharp and detailed imagery, but also come with high-end, factory-calibrated panels to ensure precise color reproduction.

A true 5K resolution is defined as 5120 x 2880 pixels, with the emphasis often placed on the horizontal pixel count by many manufacturers. It's important to note that only a few monitors offer this exact resolution. Therefore, we have compiled a list of the top monitors that provide a 5K2K resolution (5120 x 2160 pixels) as well. Here are the best 5K monitors currently available for purchase in 2024

You may not need it as often, but having a decent upload speed is just as important as having a lightning-fast download speed. And in situations like uploading files or being on a video call, it can be particularly annoying to experience slower than normal upload speeds. If you're struggling with slow upload speeds, you're reading the right guide.

Here, we'll go over a variety of options you have for speeding up your upload speeds, so you can choose the solution that's right for your situation. Let's take a look at some of the best ways to fix slow upload speeds for your home internet.

TechRadar

7 tips to make your new Mac run faster

G etting a new computer is an exciting time no matter whether that's a Windows PC from one of the many OEMs out there or a Mac from Apple. But even the most expensive, flashiest computer can suffer from something that all computer users are familiar with — slowdown.

Even those who buy the best Macs that Apple has to offer know that, sometimes, they can need a little helping hand to return them to their peak performance. If you're someone who pushes their Mac to its absolute limit — no mean feat thanks to Apple silicon like the M2 and M3 families of chips — you'll know that getting every last ounce of performance out of that machine can be vital.

Thankfully, there are a few relatively simple things that you can do to make sure that Mac is working as well, and as quickly, as it possibly can. We're going to run through some of the steps you can take whether you're using an older Intel-based Mac or the very latest M3 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro.

Restart regularly

At the risk of upsetting the Windows users among us, restarting a Mac isn't something that you need to do anywhere near as often as you might a Windows-based PC. The reasons are boring and beyond the scope of this piece, but this short version is that you can thank macOS's Linux-based roots.

That doesn't mean that your Mac can run for months and months without a restart, however. Well, it can , but depending on what it's doing you might want to consider giving it a restart every week or so. Those using heavy-duty apps can often regain some performance by restarting their Mac to clear unwanted and unneeded apps and services out of RAM, freeing it up for more useful tasks.

Just make sure to save all of your work first!

Close/uninstall unused apps

If you're someone who likes to try out new apps that means installing them on your Mac. But that can also mean that you wind up with gigabytes of cruft that you no longer need. Delete them to clear space — we'll get to why later — and make sure to close any apps that you have running but don't immediately need to use.

Each app that you have running at any given time uses resources, specifically RAM. With modern Macs often shipping with just 8GB of RAM as standard, you need to do everything you can to make the best of it. That means closing apps you aren't using to free it up for those that you are.

Delete files to free up space

The chances are good that your Mac has limited SSD space, and that can impact performance. Like other operating systems, macOS needs free storage space to allow it to perform at its best, giving it the breathing room it needs to save temporary files. This is especially important on Macs with a limited amount of RAM.

Uninstalling unused apps is a good way to reclaim space, as is deleting old files that you no longer need. Videos and photos can take up a ton of space, so consider moving those to an external drive if storage space is at a premium.

Update everything

Sometimes the speed of a Mac doesn't depend on the hardware or how much storage is available. Sometimes apps just have bugs, and that's why it's important to make sure that you're using the latest version of your software at all times.

We'd suggest always running the latest version of macOS that is currently available for your Mac, and updating the apps that you use the most frequently is a good idea as well — especially if one of them is misbehaving or performing particularly poorly.

Check for high RAM or CPU usage

Piggybacking off the bad app theory, checking Activity Monitor is a good habit to get into. It comes preinstalled on every Mac and is easy to find using Spotlight, and it shows every app that's currently running on your computer.

The key is to look for anything that's using an excessive amount of RAM or using the CPU too much with both things likely to impact the overall performance of any Mac. Close any apps that are eating into your Mac's resources to see if things improve. You can always relaunch them if you need them again.

Stop apps from launching at startup

Sometimes apps like to launch automatically when your Mac starts up, which is fine for the most part. But sometimes you stop using an app and don't need it running all the time — and these apps often take up valuable system resources.

Head into the System Settings app and remove any apps that you don't need running at all times. You'll find the list under General > Login items .

Alternatively, some apps have the option to disable auto-starting from within their own options or settings, so check there as well.

Reach out to Apple

All of these ideas should help keep your Mac running as well as possible, but if you find that things don't quite perform as expected you can always reach out to Apple. With various support channels available including hundreds of Apple Stores, getting professional help can be quick, easy, and free.

Apple doesn't sell a slow Mac in this day and age, and they're all more than capable of handling any task the majority of people can throw at them. Ask for Apple's help if these tips don't get things running as smoothly as you'd like.

Apple MacBook Air (M2, 2022)

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