How to Speed Up Windows 10 (2020)

January 1, 2020 4:38 pm

Edited By Piyush Kashyap, Reviewed By Gulshan Windows 10 is one of the most efficient operating systems from Microsoft but, with time it might become sluggish. If you are noticing performance lags, buffering, slow loading pages and freezing screens, it can be quite frustrating. But, you must understand that it is a computer and no matter how fast its operating system is, it will slow down after some time. The biggest culprit for such performance lags is bloatware. If you’ve been loading your PC with plenty of files, programs and applications, it is likely to leave behind a trail of unused extensions which are clogging up the system. But, this isn’t the end of the road. Luckily, there are plenty of things you can do to speed up Windows 10 again. It is basically going to be a decluttering job. All you have to do is remove unwanted or unused files and folders from the desktop and free up your storage space. It is likely to take care of most problems. Let’s find out some simple tips and tricks. How to speed up windows 10 performance of PC/Laptop Solution 1: Disable startup programs PCs often taken longer to start up simply because of the countless applications you’ve installed. Many of them start up automatically when you turn on Windows, even if you do not need them. There are things that may be running on your system continuously and this can hamper performances to a large extent. So the easiest way to fasten up Windows 10 would be to disable startup programs. Go to the right side of the taskbar and click on the upward facing arrow. It will show a list of programs that load automatically whenever Windows is switched on. Right click on the unnecessary items and turn it off from the Settings menu. For example, Google Drive can be switched on only when necessary instead of always keeping it on. You can also use Task Manager to shut down few programs. Right click on the taskbar and go to Task Manager. Here you’ll find all the programs that startup with Windows and you can easily see the impact of each program on your PC’s performance. If a program has high startup impact, it is better to right click and disable them. Solution 2: Update your PC Updates are regularly available for Windows 10 and they are designed to fix performance issues to a certain extent. While some make minor changes, others are responsible for significant changes that can increase efficiency. To find updates, open Windows menu and type ‘Update’ in the search bar. Click on ‘Check for Updates’ to make the necessary changes. The computer may restart several times to install the latest updates. Solution 3: Clean up disk space Disk cleanup is a handy tool that helps to find unwanted files and programs in your PC. Click on the Start Menu and type Disk Cleanup. It will ask for permission to delete all unwanted files at once. Remove everything that is unnecessary and you’ll be surprised with the amount of junk stored in your computer. Regular disk defragmentation can be scheduled to clean up your PC from time to time. Go to Optimize Drives tool and schedule disk defragmentation to speed up your PC. >> Reasons & Solutions for Slow Windows 10 << Solution 4: Increase RAM If you are trying to how to make windows 10 faster, it is always advisable to increase the RAM. Windows 10 runs smoothly with a 4GB RAM but, if you have high performance applications like video games running on your computer, it must be upgraded. You can install more RAM to speed up your PC and in order to find out the type of memory it uses, open Task Manager and click on Performance. It will show the number of memory slots being used and the type of RAM installed in your computer. Installing new RAM chips isn’t a hard task and if you have knowledge about computer hardware, you can do it at home. Otherwise, contact any PC repair store and they can easily do it. Solution 5: Get rid of unused software Keeping a large number of redundant software in your PC will slow it up. Often, PCs are loaded with extremely heavy third party software. It can take up a lot of space and increase the workload of your PC. It is best to get rid of such ‘Bloatware’. Besides, users often install unnecessary software for specific purposes and forget to delete them later. These programs have no usage and eats up a lot of space on your hard drive. Go to the Control Panel>Programs>Programs and Features>Uninstall a Program. You can right click on any unwanted program to uninstall it. Click ‘Yes’ to continue and remove the installed programs. Solution 6: Stop syncing on OneDrive Windows 10 has a built-in cloud based storage called OneDrive. It keeps all the files in your PC synced with the cloud storage, creating a backup that can be used in case of a hard drive crash. However, this process can sometimes slow down your PC. To find out whether it is slowing down performance, right click on the OneDrive icon in the taskbar. A popup screen will appear. Click ‘Pause’ and set a timing which could be anywhere between 2 hours to 24 hours, depending upon how long you want it to be paused. If you notice any significant performance boost within that period, it will be a clear indication that OneDrive is slowing down your computer. You can use the OneDrive troubleshooter to solve this issue and keep using it as your backup program. Solution 7: Use troubleshooter to find problem If your Windows 10 PC is slowing down considerably, try to find out the cause. It has a built-in performance troubleshooter which can be used to detect and fix a problem that is affecting your PC’s performance. Go to the Settings > Update and Recovery > Troubleshooter. Here you can easily check problems with the Bluetooth, Wireless Connection, Hardware, Keyboard, Audio and others. Each one of them can be individually fixed for better performance. You can also carry out a routine maintenance of your Windows 10 by right clicking on the Start button and visiting the Control Panel. Select Security and Maintenance and then click Troubleshoot Common Computer problems. Under System and Security, click on Run Maintenance tasks. This will take care of the problems to a large extent. Solution 8: Remove animations and special effects Modern PCs are packed with software that enhances its appearance. As a result, we often load our computers with animations and special effects. To speed up your PC, do away with all such visually soothing software. To turn off animations in Windows 10, go to PC (right click)>Properties > Advanced System Settings > Settings (Under Performance). When the Performance options open, select the button that says ‘Adjust for best performance’. You can also individually disable programs that are slowing down your PC. How to Speed Up Windows 10 w/ 10 TIPS! Solution 9: Disable transparency effects Windows 10 makes use of transparency effects for many features such as the task menu. Although, it looks simple, it is actually quite complicated for the machine. Hence, it affects performance. You can easily disable transparency effects by opening Windows menu and typing ‘Make Start Taskbar and Action Center transparent’. It will show the ‘Color’ settings, where you’ll be given the option to turn off transparency. The default app mode can also be changed here between ‘Light’ and ‘Dark’ to make the desktop more soothing to your eye. Solution 10: Use SSD to speed up Windows 10 Using SSD or Solid State Drives take the performance of Windows 10 up quite a few notches. These drives use Flash Memory, similar to the ones used in USB sticks and allow much faster access when compared to traditional hard drives. Although, the cost of SSD can be slightly higher per GB, you will notice significant improvements in file access times, boot time and overall system response. Solution 11: Make changes to power settings Making changes to the power settings can give you an instant performance boost. If you are using Windows 10’s power saver plan, it will curtail the PC’s performance to a certain extent, to save energy. You can easily change it to High Performance or Balanced to speed up your PC. Go to the Control Panel and select Hardware and Sound. Choose the Power Options there and you’ll come across two terms, Balanced and Power Saver. If you click the down arrow, you can reach ‘Show Additional Plans’ tab. To change the power settings, click on the desired option and you are ready to experience boosted performance almost immediately. Solution 12: Stop search indexing Windows 10 is automatically equipped to index your hard disk in the background to make searching on your PC faster and efficient. But, it can sometimes slow down performance. By turning off search indexing, you will considerably improve the performance of the PC. To stop search indexing, go to the Start menu and type services.msc in the search box. Scroll down the Services app to click on Indexing Service or Windows Search on the list. When you double-click an option, an adjoining screen pops up. You can click ‘Stop’ there and reboot your PC. It is likely to bring about an overall performance boost. Solution 13: Install faster software Wherever possible, install a faster and better software. For example, if you have been using Internet Explorer for browsing, check Google Chrome instead. Lightweight applications are often more efficient than heavier ones and if you need to free up disk space, it may be a good idea to opt for smaller programs that take up lesser space and boost performance. Adobe Photoshop Elements, for example, takes up 4GB space on your hard disk and if you do not use it regularly, you might make use of Paint.NET which is only 40MB or GIMP which is 150MB. These little changes can significantly change the way your Windows 10 works. Solution 14: Prefer sleep instead of shut down If you are looking to start up your Windows 10 PC quickly, it may be a good idea to hibernate it. Once you put your PC to sleep, the current state is saved and the moment you turn it on, the hard drive starts loading. If you prefer to start working on the system immediately, it is a very good thing to do. When your PC gets some sleep, only the RAM remains active and the rest of the system shuts down just as it would when you actually power off your computer. However, it causes some battery drain, but in very small amounts. Solution 15: Enable fast startup to speed up Windows 10 Fast startup can be considered to be a combination of shutdown and hibernation. It significantly reduces the booting time of Windows 10 and makes your PC faster. Go to the Power options and click on ‘Change settings that are currently unavailable”. It will unlock the shutdown configuration and you’ll be presented with the option to enable or disable fast startup. Solution 16: Reinstall Windows 10 If you are facing serious performance issues, you can reinstall Windows 10. It removes all unwanted software, malware and adware which hampers efficiency. It will also clear out any junk files lying around your computer. The best part of Windows 10 is that it does not require a disc for reinstalling, it has a Refresh option which helps to reset the PC. Go to the Start menu and click on Settings. Choose Update & Security> Recovery > Reset this PC. It will refresh your PC and remove all the junk. Solution 17: Restart Windows A very simple yet effective technique to troubleshoot and speed up your PC is to shut it down and then restart. It is a great way to clear out excesses lying around due to heavy RAM usage. Other programs which may be running in the background and slowing your system can be killed with this operation. It also works when you do not see any apparent reason for the sluggish performance. Go ahead and try some of these tricks to speed up Windows 10 easily at home.

Edited By Piyush Kashyap, Reviewed By Gulshan

Windows 10 is one of the most efficient operating systems from Microsoft but, with time it might become sluggish.

If you are noticing performance lags, buffering, slow loading pages and freezing screens, it can be quite frustrating.

But, you must understand that it is a computer and no matter how fast its operating system is, it will slow down after some time.

The biggest culprit for such performance lags is bloatware.

If you’ve been loading your PC with plenty of files, programs and applications, it is likely to leave behind a trail of unused extensions which are clogging up the system.

But, this isn’t the end of the road. Luckily, there are plenty of things you can do to speed up Windows 10 again. It is basically going to be a decluttering job. All you have to do is remove unwanted or unused files and folders from the desktop and free up your storage space.

It is likely to take care of most problems. Let’s find out some simple tips and tricks.

How to speed up windows 10 performance of PC/Laptop

Solution 1: Disable startup programs

PCs often taken longer to start up simply because of the countless applications you’ve installed.

Many of them start up automatically when you turn on Windows, even if you do not need them. There are things that may be running on your system continuously and this can hamper performances to a large extent. So the easiest way to fasten up Windows 10 would be to disable startup programs.

Go to the right side of the taskbar and click on the upward facing arrow. It will show a list of programs that load automatically whenever Windows is switched on. Right click on the unnecessary items and turn it off from the Settings menu.

For example, Google Drive can be switched on only when necessary instead of always keeping it on.

You can also use Task Manager to shut down few programs. Right click on the taskbar and go to Task Manager. Here you’ll find all the programs that startup with Windows and you can easily see the impact of each program on your PC’s performance.

If a program has high startup impact, it is better to right click and disable them.

Solution 2: Update your PC

Updates are regularly available for Windows 10 and they are designed to fix performance issues to a certain extent. While some make minor changes, others are responsible for significant changes that can increase efficiency.

To find updates, open Windows menu and type ‘Update’ in the search bar. Click on ‘Check for Updates’ to make the necessary changes. The computer may restart several times to install the latest updates.

Solution 3: Clean up disk space

Disk cleanup is a handy tool that helps to find unwanted files and programs in your PC. Click on the Start Menu and type Disk Cleanup. It will ask for permission to delete all unwanted files at once.

Remove everything that is unnecessary and you’ll be surprised with the amount of junk stored in your computer. Regular disk defragmentation can be scheduled to clean up your PC from time to time. Go to Optimize Drives tool and schedule disk defragmentation to speed up your PC.

>> Reasons & Solutions for Slow Windows 10 <<

Solution 4: Increase RAM

If you are trying to how to make windows 10 faster, it is always advisable to increase the RAM. Windows 10 runs smoothly with a 4GB RAM but, if you have high performance applications like video games running on your computer, it must be upgraded.

You can install more RAM to speed up your PC and in order to find out the type of memory it uses, open Task Manager and click on Performance. It will show the number of memory slots being used and the type of RAM installed in your computer.

Installing new RAM chips isn’t a hard task and if you have knowledge about computer hardware, you can do it at home. Otherwise, contact any PC repair store and they can easily do it.

Solution 5: Get rid of unused software

Keeping a large number of redundant software in your PC will slow it up. Often, PCs are loaded with extremely heavy third party software. It can take up a lot of space and increase the workload of your PC. It is best to get rid of such ‘Bloatware’.

Besides, users often install unnecessary software for specific purposes and forget to delete them later. These programs have no usage and eats up a lot of space on your hard drive. Go to the Control Panel>Programs>Programs and Features>Uninstall a Program.

You can right click on any unwanted program to uninstall it. Click ‘Yes’ to continue and remove the installed programs.

Solution 6: Stop syncing on OneDrive

Windows 10 has a built-in cloud based storage called OneDrive. It keeps all the files in your PC synced with the cloud storage, creating a backup that can be used in case of a hard drive crash. However, this process can sometimes slow down your PC.

To find out whether it is slowing down performance, right click on the OneDrive icon in the taskbar. A popup screen will appear. Click ‘Pause’ and set a timing which could be anywhere between 2 hours to 24 hours, depending upon how long you want it to be paused.

If you notice any significant performance boost within that period, it will be a clear indication that OneDrive is slowing down your computer. You can use the OneDrive troubleshooter to solve this issue and keep using it as your backup program.

Solution 7: Use troubleshooter to find problem

If your Windows 10 PC is slowing down considerably, try to find out the cause. It has a built-in performance troubleshooter which can be used to detect and fix a problem that is affecting your PC’s performance. Go to the Settings > Update and Recovery > Troubleshooter.

Here you can easily check problems with the Bluetooth, Wireless Connection, Hardware, Keyboard, Audio and others. Each one of them can be individually fixed for better performance.

You can also carry out a routine maintenance of your Windows 10 by right clicking on the Start button and visiting the Control Panel. Select Security and Maintenance and then click Troubleshoot Common Computer problems. Under System and Security, click on Run Maintenance tasks.

This will take care of the problems to a large extent.

Solution 8: Remove animations and special effects

Modern PCs are packed with software that enhances its appearance. As a result, we often load our computers with animations and special effects. To speed up your PC, do away with all such visually soothing software.

To turn off animations in Windows 10, go to PC (right click)>Properties > Advanced System Settings > Settings (Under Performance). When the Performance options open, select the button that says ‘Adjust for best performance’.

You can also individually disable programs that are slowing down your PC.

How to Speed Up Windows 10 w/ 10 TIPS!

Solution 9: Disable transparency effects

Windows 10 makes use of transparency effects for many features such as the task menu. Although, it looks simple, it is actually quite complicated for the machine. Hence, it affects performance.

You can easily disable transparency effects by opening Windows menu and typing ‘Make Start Taskbar and Action Center transparent’. It will show the ‘Color’ settings, where you’ll be given the option to turn off transparency.

The default app mode can also be changed here between ‘Light’ and ‘Dark’ to make the desktop more soothing to your eye.

Solution 10: Use SSD to speed up Windows 10

Using SSD or Solid State Drives take the performance of Windows 10 up quite a few notches. These drives use Flash Memory, similar to the ones used in USB sticks and allow much faster access when compared to traditional hard drives.

Although, the cost of SSD can be slightly higher per GB, you will notice significant improvements in file access times, boot time and overall system response.

Solution 11: Make changes to power settings

Making changes to the power settings can give you an instant performance boost. If you are using Windows 10’s power saver plan, it will curtail the PC’s performance to a certain extent, to save energy. You can easily change it to High Performance or Balanced to speed up your PC.

Go to the Control Panel and select Hardware and Sound. Choose the Power Options there and you’ll come across two terms, Balanced and Power Saver. If you click the down arrow, you can reach ‘Show Additional Plans’ tab.

To change the power settings, click on the desired option and you are ready to experience boosted performance almost immediately.

Solution 12: Stop search indexing

Windows 10 is automatically equipped to index your hard disk in the background to make searching on your PC faster and efficient. But, it can sometimes slow down performance. By turning off search indexing, you will considerably improve the performance of the PC.

To stop search indexing, go to the Start menu and type services.msc in the search box. Scroll down the Services app to click on Indexing Service or Windows Search on the list. When you double-click an option, an adjoining screen pops up. You can click ‘Stop’ there and reboot your PC.

It is likely to bring about an overall performance boost.

Solution 13: Install faster software

Wherever possible, install a faster and better software.

For example, if you have been using Internet Explorer for browsing, check Google Chrome instead. Lightweight applications are often more efficient than heavier ones and if you need to free up disk space, it may be a good idea to opt for smaller programs that take up lesser space and boost performance.

Adobe Photoshop Elements, for example, takes up 4GB space on your hard disk and if you do not use it regularly, you might make use of Paint.NET which is only 40MB or GIMP which is 150MB. These little changes can significantly change the way your Windows 10 works.

Solution 14: Prefer sleep instead of shut down

If you are looking to start up your Windows 10 PC quickly, it may be a good idea to hibernate it. Once you put your PC to sleep, the current state is saved and the moment you turn it on, the hard drive starts loading. If you prefer to start working on the system immediately, it is a very good thing to do.

When your PC gets some sleep, only the RAM remains active and the rest of the system shuts down just as it would when you actually power off your computer. However, it causes some battery drain, but in very small amounts.

Solution 15: Enable fast startup to speed up Windows 10

Fast startup can be considered to be a combination of shutdown and hibernation. It significantly reduces the booting time of Windows 10 and makes your PC faster. Go to the Power options and click on ‘Change settings that are currently unavailable”.

It will unlock the shutdown configuration and you’ll be presented with the option to enable or disable fast startup.

Solution 16: Reinstall Windows 10

If you are facing serious performance issues, you can reinstall Windows 10. It removes all unwanted software, malware and adware which hampers efficiency. It will also clear out any junk files lying around your computer.

The best part of Windows 10 is that it does not require a disc for reinstalling, it has a Refresh option which helps to reset the PC. Go to the Start menu and click on Settings. Choose Update & Security> Recovery > Reset this PC. It will refresh your PC and remove all the junk.

Solution 17: Restart Windows

A very simple yet effective technique to troubleshoot and speed up your PC is to shut it down and then restart. It is a great way to clear out excesses lying around due to heavy RAM usage.

Other programs which may be running in the background and slowing your system can be killed with this operation. It also works when you do not see any apparent reason for the sluggish performance. Go ahead and try some of these tricks to speed up Windows 10 easily at home.

Piyush

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About the Author

Piyush Kashyap is a Ph.D student at Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Sangrur. He is a budding editor/ writer and has been working as a part-time reviewer for online content. He loves to read tech-based articles and has a knack for reviewing such articles He likes to stay updated about the latest trends in technology. He has also been working as a reviewer for many scientific journals. He also writes articles based on science. Know More About Piyush

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