31 Tips To Increase Computer Speed
Nothing slows business down more than a sluggish computer. Of course, Apple fans will be pleased to note that there are not many tools for them here because, well, their machines are often invincible.
When your once new computer starts to become the "new clunker" in your life, it's time to revise what junk and viral matter are slowing down the cogs in your machine. Over time, computers do slow down if care is not taken to address the problems that mount up. Each is easily taken care of, provided you know how and why.
I use many of these ideas to keep my
machines running lean and mean in the fast lane. If your PC is wasting what
little precious time you have, these tips and websites will help you to make it
faster.
Try The Performance Troubleshooter
The first thing that you can try is the Performance troubleshooter, which can automatically find and fix problems. The Performance troubleshooter checks issues that might slow down your computer's performance, such as how many users are currently logged on to the computer and whether multiple programs are running at the same time.
Procedures
- Open the Performance troubleshooter by clicking the Start button
- Click Control Panel.
- In the search box, type troubleshooter
- Then click Troubleshooting.
- Under System and Security
- Click Check for performance issues.
Keep The System Clean.
Filling up almost the entire hard drive with what amounts to junk will cause your computer to crawl. Over time, this compromises the function of the computer. While you can increase the RAM and maybe upgrade the CPU and GPU for the best performance, cleaning out the system is a good starting option, as junk has no place on your computer.
Delete Programs You Never Use
It's a good idea to uninstall all the programs you don't plan to use. Many PC manufacturers pack new computers with programs you didn't order and might not want.
These often include trial editions and limited-edition versions of programs that software companies hope you'll try, find useful, and then pay to upgrade to full versions or newer versions. If you decide you don't want them, keeping the software on your computer might slow it down by using precious memory, disk space, and processing power.
This should include both manufacturer-installed software and software you installed yourself but don't want any more—especially utility programs designed to help manage and tune your computer's hardware and software. Utility programs such as virus scanners, disk cleaners, and backup tools often run automatically at startup, quietly chugging along in the background where you can't see them. Many people have no idea they're even running.
Maybe you thought you might use the software someday, but never did. Uninstall it and see if your PC runs faster.
A lot of programs install side
processes that run every time you start your PC, and some of them are not
things you need running on your system all the time. Compared with Windows 7,
in which you had to run the MSCONFIG utility, Windows 10 (and Windows 8.x before
it) gives you a new, easier way to limit what runs at startup—from the updated
Task Manager.
The easiest way to invoke the Task Manager is by pressing Ctrl-Shift-Esc. Switch to the Startup tab, and you'll see all the programs that load at Windows startup. The dialog box even has a column that shows you the Startup impact for each. The Status column shows whether the program is enabled to run at startup or not. You can right-click on any entry to change this status. It's usually fairly easy to see things you don't want to run. For example, if you never use iTunes, you probably don't need iTunesHelper to be running all the time.
Get Rid Of Malware
New machines shouldn't have malware on them. But one of the most common causes of the slow down complaint is actually the presence of malware. Malware can sneak onto a computer in a zillion different ways and quite often it sits in the background slowing your machine as it sends out spam emails, searches for other computers to infect, works on cracking cryptography, or performs any number of the other nefarious tasks that hackers like to use their botnet slaves for.
There's a good chance that the malware brought even more friends with it. That’s often how you see computers with thousands of viruses on them not long after the initial infection.
The infection may be bad enough to justify a
wipe and reload. My first step in investigating a slow system is usually a
virus scan.
Delete Temporary Files.
Physically cleaning out the temporary file organizer is a fundamental maintenance step. Check to see whether the Windows XP Disk Cleanup utility is doing its job or not.
Deleting temporary documents is a simple task that can help free up drive space and keeps your PC free of document mess.
Clean Up Your Disk
From the Start menu, type Disk Cleanup.
This opens the trusty Disk Cleanup utility that's been part of Windows for
several generations of the OS. Disk Cleanup finds unwanted junk and files such
as temporary files, offline Web pages, and installer files on your PC and
offers to delete them all at once.
You may even find that your Recycle Bin is bulging at the seams: Mine had 1.47GB I didn't know was there! This will generally only have a noticeable effect on speed if your drive is getting close to full, however. If you don't have disk defragmentation scheduled regularly, set that up in the Optimize Drives tool, which you can find by typing its name in the Cortana search box next to the Start button. Another great tool for PC cleanup is Iolo System Mechanic 14, our Editors' Choice for PC tune-up utilities.
Upgrade To A Better Video Card
For typical business productivity tasks, a video card probably isn't an upgrade that will have a lot of value. But for gamers and other similar uses, a video card is a slam-dunk upgrade.
If your current card and motherboard support SLI or CrossFireX, adding a second card and bridging them will be a good option as well. In some scenarios, better video cards can be a huge benefit even without heavy onscreen video work, because certain applications can leverage the GPUs for calculations
Defragment Your Hard Disk
Fragmentation makes your hard disk do extra work that can slow down your computer. Disk Defragmenter rearranges fragmented data so your hard disk can work more efficiently. Disk Defragmenter runs on a schedule, but you can also defragment your hard disk manually.
Delete Browser History.
Your browsing history records the website addresses that you visit, temporary Internet files, cookies, and information that you have entered in certain websites such as your name and address.
Cookies are tiny data files that store
information about your custom website settings. Cleaning them out often can
help free up space and improve speed.
Add More RAM
Windows 10 isn't as much of a hog as
earlier versions of the OS, but more memory is always a way to speed up PC
operations. For a lot of today's Windows devices, such as the Surface
convertible tablets, however, adding RAM isn't an option.
Gaming and business laptops often still allow RAM upgrades, but that's becoming rarer by the year. The new, slimmer ultrabooks and convertibles are usually fixed. The bigger RAM makers' (Crucial, Kingston, Corsair) websites all offer product finders that show you which type of RAM your PC takes, and prices are pretty reasonable.
I found 8GB high-performance DDR3 RAM for under $40 on Newegg.com.
Get A Faster Drive
Many times, the real performance issue is the speed of disks. Look at numbers like the RPMs, cache size, seek speed, and transfer rate to justify buying a faster drive.
Often, a good drive will seem slow because the computer's power settings are allowing it to spin down. You may want to consider changing these settings to make sure that the disk is more likely to be ready to work when you need it to. While the SSD vs. hard disk debate is still continuing, SSDs usually seem to feel faster to users.
Boot times are usually cut for sure. But something about an SSD makes a system feel more responsive or "snappy" to use, and for day-to-day work, that's a great feeling.
Run Fewer Programs At The Same Time
Sometimes changing your computing behavior can have a big impact on your PC's performance. If you're the type of computer user who likes to keep eight programs and a dozen browser windows open at once—all while sending instant messages to your friends—don't be surprised if your PC bogs down. Keeping a lot of e‑mail messages open can also use up memory.
If you find your PC slowing down, ask yourself if you really need to keep all your programs and windows open at once. Find a better way to remind yourself to reply to e‑mail messages rather than keeping all of them open.
Make sure you're only running one antivirus program. Running more than one antivirus program can also slow down your computer. Fortunately, if you're running more than one antivirus program, Action Center notifies you and can help you fix the problem.
This past year, I installed a
solid-state (SSD) startup drive on my home desktop PC, and the result was a
remarkable speedup. And not just for Windows startup, but for loading and using
demanding applications such as Adobe Photoshop Light room.
If you use a laptop, this may also be an option. For system speedup, it makes sense to replace your internal startup hard drive, but an external SSD with a USB 3.0 connection can also give you a speed boost in applications that use a lot of storage. For more info, you can check out PCMag's article, The Best SSDs and How to Buy an SSD, or look through our recent storage reviews.
Turn Off Visual Effects
If Windows is running slowly, you can speed it up by disabling some of its visual effects. It comes down to appearance versus performance. Would you rather have Windows run faster or look prettier? If your PC is fast enough, you don't have to make this tradeoff, but if your computer is just barely powerful enough for Windows 7, it can be useful to scale back on the visual bells and whistles.
You can choose which visual effects to turn off, one by one, or you can let Windows choose for you. There are 20 visual effects you can control, such as the transparent glass look, the way menus open or close, and whether shadows are displayed.
To adjust all visual effects for best
performance:
Procedure 1
- Open Performance Information and Tools by clicking the Start button
- And then clicking Control Panel.
- In the search box, type Performance Information and Tools
- And then, in the list of results, click Performance Information and Tools.
Procedure 2
- Click Adjust visual effects
- If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
- Click the Visual Effects tab
- lick Adjust for best performance
- Click OK.
Note: For a less drastic option, select
Let Windows choose what’s best for my computer.
Do Regular Maintenance.
For example, CCleaner can delete temporary or potentially unwanted files left by certain programs. The program also includes a registry cleaner to locate and correct problems in the Windows registry.
Periodically conduct scans for viruses,
spywares and the registry errors.
Check For Viruses And Spyware
You can run the built-in Windows Defender or a third-party app to do this, but you're best served by PCMag security guru Neil Rubenking's top pick among malware-cleanup programs, Malware bytes Anti-Malware—it's free! But don't forget to use ongoing anti-malware protection, too.
Some of the AV products have a lighter footprint on system performance than others, and the lightest of all, according to Rubenking, is WebrootSecureAnywhere AntiVirus at $18.99 at Webroot.
Use A RAID
Using a RAID can dramatically lower the read and write speeds of your disks, depending on the RAID level you choose. You will want to do some research to see what RAID level fits your needs the best. Personally, I am a fan of RAID 1, 6, and 10 because I feel that they offer appropriate levels of data protection along with a good measure of speed improvements.
Restart regularly
This tip is simple. Restart your PC at least once a week, especially if you use it a lot. Restarting a PC is a good way to clear out its memory and ensure that any errant processes and services that started running get shut down.
Restarting closes all the software running on your PC—not only the programs you see running on the taskbar, but also dozens of services that might have been started by various programs and never stopped. Restarting can fix mysterious performance problems when the exact cause is hard to pinpoint.
If you keep so many programs, e‑mail messages, and websites open that you think restarting is a hassle, that's probably a sign you should restart your PC. The more things you have open and the longer you keep them running, the greater the chances your PC will bog down and eventually run low on memory.
Beware Of Advertiser Hype.
If your system is affected by a fatal error always use the services of a trusted computer repair service provider. Do not rely on advertisers claiming to correct PC errors with a magic wand. It is always better to spot the errors from the beginning. It is possible through self maintenance which also saves time and cost.
Change Power Settings To Maximum
Performance
Of course, this isn't a good choice if
you want to save electricity, but it could boost your computing. Head to
Control Panel / System and Security / Power Options. From here, click on the
dropdown arrow on the right side and choose High Performance.
Try A Different Browser
Different browsers perform differently, and most people spend a lot of time in their Web browser. Benchmarks really muddy the browser speed conversation. Some browsers perform well on some but do poorly on others, even when they are supposed to test the same thing.
The problem with the benchmarks is that what they usually test is not real work performance! While JavaScript is an important part of the modern Web, few Web applications beat on the JavaScript engine hard enough to produce a noticeable impact on performance.
That said, it's been my experience that
the Chrome browser is the fastest for actual work. If you want to have
your Web browser feel more responsive and lively, consider a switch to Chrome.
Update Your Driver.
A driver is software that allows your computer to communicate with hardware devices. Without drivers, the devices you connect to your computer would not work properly.
You can automatically update. Windows can
automatically check if there are drivers available for new devices that you
connect to your computer.
Use The Performance
Troubleshooter
In Cortana's search box next to the
Start button, type troubleshooting and under System and Security, you'll
see the choice Check for performance
issues. Run the troubleshooter and it may find the root cause of your
slowdown.
For good measure, run through the other
troubleshooters including System Maintenance , Search and Indexing, Hardware
and Sounds, and Programs.
Cool Your Machine.
If your computer suddenly starts
operating very slowly, check to see if the case feels overly hot. Especially in
hot climates, make sure that the computer has adequate airflow around it.
Overheating causes myriad difficulties and the computer bays in most work desks
do not provide sufficient airflow.
Overheating can result in genuine problems. It can harm key inner parts, including the processor, battery, and hard drive. Running at high temperatures for a lengthy amount of time can cause drive failure. Hard drive failure rates increase somewhere around 20% and 30% for each 10 degrees above recommended working temperatures.
Change Appearance In Performance
Options Dialog
You can easily get to this by typing adjust appearance in Cortana.
In the dialog, you can use the radio button at
the top labeled Adjust for best performance or select which eye-candy
features you can live without from the long list of check boxes below these
choices.
If you do choose the overall
best-performance button, you'll lose all of the visual effects.
For example, you won't see the contents of a window you're dragging move, but rather just a rectangle representing the window's edges. Keeping the effects that you enjoy checked in the dialog is probably a better way to go.
For example, you won't see the contents of a window you're dragging move, but rather just a rectangle representing the window's edges. Keeping the effects that you enjoy checked in the dialog is probably a better way to go.
Check Network Connectivity
System slowness actually is caused by networking issues. Our computers do so much on the Internet that slowness there can affect just about everything you do on a regular basis. While there isn't enough space to write an exhausting troubleshooting list here, some of the things you should try are:
- Replacing the network cables, switches, routers, WiFi access points, etc.
- Calling the ISP and checking the distance from the CO (for DSL) or the local segment's current load (for cable); the ISP may need to rewire or rework its connectivity. Satellite customers will want to double-check their dish installation and ensure that it is tightly locked down and pointed in the right direction.
- Malware scanning on all PCs to see if malware is burdening the network
- Inspecting the wiring of the phone lines (for DSL) or coax (cable customers) to look for loose connections, corrosion, or flaky wires
- For cable customers, finding out how many splitters are between the line from the pole and their modem. If it is more than one (and preferably only a two-way splitter), they should rewire so that they have only a single two-way splitter between the pole and the modem to ensure the cleanest signal possible.
Add A Faster DNS Lookup Server
Most ISPs love to brag about how much bandwidth they are giving you. But they don't mind letting the rest of their infrastructure slowly get overwhelmed or deteriorate. Among the biggest offenders are the DNS servers our ISPs use.
If you want to know why things seem to take forever to start loading, slow DNS servers are often the cause. Consider adding a fast DNS server as your primary DNS server in your TCP/IP settings.
Note: Google’s Public DNS server is a
great option.
Use Microsoft Fix It
Microsoft Fix It is a free tool from Microsoft that will help users of Windows 7 or earlier to clean up and perform many simple maintenance problems.
Reduce Items That Run On Startup
If your computer takes a long time to start up, the first thing you want to do is see everything it starts when you hit the power button.
To do this, click on the Windows
button, click “run,” and then type “msconfig” into the box.
Click on the “Startup” tab. Some things you want to leave alone. For example, your Antivirus. Others, such as Adobe Acrobat or Google Toolbar Notifier, you don’t need to startup with your computer.
Clean Your Browser
Regardless of your browser, you should clean it out regularly. To clean Chrome, click the three bars icon in the upper right corner, then click “Tools,” then “Clean Browsing Data,” and then check the history boxes, cookies and cached items.
Or, download CCleaner which does a great job on the five top browsers, registries and Windows, overall.
So There You Are With All You Need To
Speed Up Your Pc .
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