There was a time when 4GB ram was more than enough for a computer. But that era is gone. Now, even smartphones are having 4 to 12GB of ram! And in the case of computers, 8GB is the minimum requirement, right? But, even with 8GB of ram, due to the large size of software and games, we often face latency. So, how to troubleshoot that without consulting any professional and without spending even a single penny? Read this straight-to-the-point article to boost up your computer speed by at least 50%, up to 100%! Isn’t that cool!
Follow these steps to know how to speed up your computer. These basic things can save you a ton of time and give you mental peace!
We will start from the basics and step by step we will see some advanced settings. So, without further due, let me start.
How to speed up your computer
Here is a list of different steps that we will go through,
- Clean Recycle Bin
- Disable Applications on Windows startup
- Clean Temporary Files
- Remove temporary files from Storage
- Clear Prefetch
- Disk Cleanup
- Defragment Drive
- Disable Windows Update
- Antivirus
- Reduce Visual Effects
- Performance Monitor
- System Configuration
Clean Recycle bin
Ok, I know that you all are aware of recycle bin, but as I said, this article is for everyone. So, it’s my duty to cover everything. Those who know about recycle bin can just switch to the next part.
So, now those who don’t have an idea about recycle bin, if you can’t find recycle bin logo on your desktop, just type “recycle bin” in the search box and you will see the result below.
Just open recycle bin and delete everything from there.
You can either press “CTRL+A” and then delete everything or right-click on the blank space and empty the recycle bin as shown below.
Disable Applications on windows startup
When we start a computer, there are some applications that auto-start on windows startup about which we generally don’t have any idea. These applications may end up slowing the initial response time as well as overall performance. It’s better to disable that auto-start of those applications which we don’t require to open on startup. Here is how you can do that.
Follow the below-mentioned steps to disable the auto-start of unnecessary applications on windows startup.
Right-click on the taskbar and open task manager.
Now, click on “Startup” as shown below.
Find unnecessary (I mean, those which are not necessary to open immediately as soon as windows boots up.) applications, right-click on such application and then click on disable. (Refer to the below image.)
Clear Temporary Files
While surfing the internet and also in some other cases, temporary files are being saved in the system. These files aren’t required once you are done with your task. But these files don’t get deleted by themselves. So, we need to do it manually. And yes, there are two folders with the name “Temp” that we need to clear files from. Lets’ see both, one by one.
1. Windows > Temp
Press “Windows + R”, and you will see one window pops up on the screen. type “temp” in the box as shown below and press enter.
Now, you will see one window with some files (or many, if you are doing it for the first time!) as shown in the below picture. If this window asks for admin permission, just allow it.
Now, select all files by pressing “CTRL + A” and delete those files. (I suggest you perform permanent deletion by pressing “SHIFT + DELETE”)
2. Local > Temp
Here everything is the same as above but the only change is the search term. This time, type “%temp%” in the search box (as shown in the below image), and one window will pop up with another Temp folder. Delete everything available in that folder.
One thing to note here. If you get any popup saying, “The action can’t be completed because the file is open in…”, just skip those files as shown below. Don’t force them to deletion.
Remove Temporary Files from Storage
Type “Storage settings” in the search box and you will see the storage setting option as below.
On opening this setting, you will see a screen as below. Click on Temporary Files.
Select everything as shown below (except “Downloads” and “Delivery Optimization Files”) and click on “Remove Files” in the top left corner.
Clear Prefetch Files
Press “Windows + R”, type “prefetch” and press enter. One folder will get opened.
If it asks for admin permission (as shown below), just allow it.
Select everything available in the folder and permanently delete those files. (Shift + Delete).
Disk Cleanup
Type “disk cleanup” in the search box as shown below and open it.
You will see one window with Drive C in selection by default. Just press OK and wait for a bit.
Now, you will see one window as shown below, select everything and click OK. Don’t worry, only unnecessary files will be deleted. (Windows is becoming smart, isn’t it?!).
Defragment Drive
NOTE: Perform Defragment ONLY ON HDD, Don't perform it on SSD.
After performing the Disk cleanup, one step further. Type “Defragment” and you’ll see one result with the title “Defragment and optimize Drives” as shown below.
Open it and click on C drive (System disk) and click on “Analyze”. Once analyzed, click on “Optimize”. After completion. Exit the window, that’s it!
As you can see below image, if the “Analyze” button is not clickable, just click on optimize, and there you go!
Here, in my case, I’m using SSD as my system drive. So, I didn’t perform this task by myself. Again, Only perform this task if you are using HDD as your system drive.
Disable Windows Update
Here we come to the most hated feature of Windows 10. Almost everyone is fade up of this feature, right? This feature not only fades you up, but it also fades up the system (Though, the system can’t scream like us!).
So, in the general case, it’s good to disable windows updates for the performance of the system and peace of mind!
Here is how you can do it.
Press “Windows + R”, type “services.msc” and press enter. You will see one window as shown below.
Find “Windows Update” from the list, right-click on it and click on properties.
You will see one window as shown below.
Select “Manual” in startup type and click on “stop” in the “service status” section as marked in the above image and then press “Apply” and “Ok”. That’s it! You are free to live in peace!
I strongly suggest you manually check for updates after every 15 days to a month at max as Windows update includes essential security patches which are very necessary for the Operating System.
Antivirus
This is the most underrated but most important thing to do on some regular time intervals as viruses not only affect the performance of the system but may also steal important data or damage your OS!
If you have any paid antivirus, that’s great. Just scan your system for threat detection. If you don’t have any antivirus on your system, no worries. You can use Windows’ preinstalled “Windows Defender” to do the same.
Reduce Visual Effects
This is not an advanced thing to do in any way, but the reason why I keep it last is that it’ll affect the user experience. Your system may look old-fashioned and some animations and designs will be gone. So, I suggest you follow this step ONLY IF your system is still slow after following all the above steps.
Type “Environment” and click on the result with the title “Edit the System Environment Variables”.
Now click on “Settings” in the performance section.
Click on “Adjust for best performance” and then click on “Ok” to save the changes.
Don’t get shocked and don’t blame me if your OS just became ugly! I warned you!
Here we come to the most advanced part of “how to speed up your computer”. From here, you need to perform both the steps given below to ensure better performance.
Performance Monitor
Type “Performance monitor” in the search box and you will see the result below. Open it.
Go to Data collectors and click on user-defined.
On blank window (on right side) right-click and select “New -> Data Collector Set”.
Type “CPU” in the name field, click on “Create manually (Advanced)” and then click on next.
Click on “performance counter” and click next.
Now, click on “Add” and then wait for the window to load properly.
Now, select “Processor” (only if not selected by default) and click on the highest number you got on the below box and then click on “Add”.
Just above the processor tab, you will see a “process” tab. Expand it and find thread count. Select it and click on “Add” and then click on “Ok” to close the window.
Now, click “Next”, “Next” and “Finish” and close the window.
Next, perform the below step.
System Configuration
Type “System configuration” in the search box and open the result you get.
Then click on “Boot” and in there, click on “Advanced Options”
Now, check on “Number of Processors” and select a maximum number you got from the dropdown and click on ok.
Then, click on “Apply” and “Ok”.
Now, restart your system so that system can adopt the changes that you just made.
System Reset
Note: I strongly suggest you take back up of important files and keep it somewhere safe before performing this task.
Even after all these steps, you don’t find any improvement in the performance, the last thing you can do is system reset.
I hope this guide on “how to speed up your computer” was helpful to you and you won’t stress anymore due to the weak performance of your system. If you found this helpful, please don’t forget to share it with your friends and family members. This will help them to boost their system’s performance and also, it will motivate me to write more and more useful articles for you!
Also, if your computer got some life after implementing these steps, play with google doodles and google games! Find out how you can do that here,
Google Tricks-Fun with Google Doodles, games & more!
That’s all! Stay safe, stay happy.