If you’ve noticed your PC slowing down after just a few months of use, don’t blame Windows. There are several factors that can cause a sluggish performance. In this article, I have compiled some of the best ways to optimize and speed up your Windows PC
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Best Ways to Speed up Windows 11 PC
There are several potential causes that can slow your computer, such as having too many active programs, unwanted programs hogging processing power, insufficient RAM, unnecessary background processes, outdated software, and much more.
Here are some ways using which you can speed up your slow Windows PC and improve overall system stability.
Disable Startup Programs
There are many programs that get automatically started when Windows boots. This can slow down your system’s performance after startup. So by disabling some unwanted programs you can speed up Windows.
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc on your keyboard to open task manager.
- Switch to the Startup Tab. Now you can see a list of programs that get started when Windows start.
- Now we need to disable programs that have low Startup Impact.
- Click the program which has low startup impact and click on disable.
- Now you can disable all the programs which have low startup impact.
Note: It’s not essential to disable only low start-up impact programs. You can disable any program except your system drivers.
Delete Junk Files
Did you forget about that movie your friend lent you years ago? It’s still taking up valuable space on your computer. I know the feeling. Take a moment to search for unused or unwanted files and delete them permanently. You can also use software like CCleaner to delete junk files and free up space.
Delete Temp Files
Temporary files, also known as temp or tmp files, are created by third-party software on your computer to hold data while a permanent file is being created. They can store and move data, manage settings, help recover lost data, and manage multiple users. Temporary files are usually stored in the Windows Temp folder in your Windows installation drive.
Most of the time, these files are not being deleted for years and can result in gigabytes of junk data. Here’s how to delete temp files from your computer.
- Press Windows + R key to open the run window.
- Now type %TEMP% and press enter. This will open the folder where all temp files are saved.
- Press Ctrl + A and delete all the files. If some files are used by other programs then skip those files.
- Now restart your computer and you could see some improvement in your computer’s performance.
Update: Users can enable the Storage Sense feature in the Settings app to clean the Temp folder automatically every 30 days.
Disable Shadow, Animation Effects
Windows 10 and 11 comes with a lot of fancy stuff like shadows and animations, which can make your desktop look modern and minimalist. Most of the animations are useless and they can make your PC run slower. So here’s how to disable them.
- Right-click computer/this PC and select properties.
- On the left-hand side click on Advanced system settings.
- Under the Performance, tab click on Settings.
- Now uncheck the following features and click Ok.
- If you want to totally boost your computer’s performance then select Adjust the best performance and click OK.
- It might not look very appealing but it will definitely speed up windows 10 PC.
Enable Fast Startup of Windows
Windows 10 comes up with a feature called Fast Startup. This feature helps your PC to start up faster after shutdown. Here’s how to do it.
- Right-click on the start button and select control panel.
- In control panel click System and Security.
- Now click on Power options.
- On the left-hand side click on “Choose what the power button do”.
- Now scroll at the bottom and under shutdown settings check Turn on fast startup.
- If it’s already checked then you can skip this method.
Uninstall Unwanted Programs
We usually install lots of programs on our computers. This can significantly slow down your Windows PC as these programs run in the background and consume memory (RAM) and CPU. So open the control panel and find the list of installed programs on your computer.
Uninstall the programs which are no longer needed. Also, stop using heavy antivirus suits as they run in the background and consume a lot of memory. After the introduction of Windows Defender, Windows no longer need a third-party antivirus.
Scan for Viruses or Malwares
If your PC suddenly became slow then it might be infected with viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. These malicious programs might run in the background and slow down your computer. Most of these infected files are hard to detect, so you have to perform a boot time scan to detect these infected files.
Follow these steps to perform a boot time scan using Windows Defender:
- Launch Windows Defender and select “Virus & threat protection.”
- Click “Scan options”, select “Microsoft Defender Offline scan” and click “Scan now.”
- Your PC will restart and launch into the Windows Defender Offline mode.
- Wait for the scan to complete. This process may take 15 minutes or longer, depending on the number of files on your PC.
- Once the scan is complete, your PC will restart and you will be back in Windows.
This scan can be useful in situations where the malware is actively blocking a full scan or preventing Windows from starting.
Scan Your Hard Drive for Errors
If you are still using a mechanical hard drive on your computer, then it’s time to upgrade to an SSD. Mechanical hard drives can develop bad sectors over time due to physical damage, and corrosion. Bad sectors are a corrupted part of the hard drive that has lost the ability to save data. They are no longer readable or writable, and data stored in that sector may be lost. So it’s recommended to scan your hard drive for errors. Here’s how to do it.
- Right-click on C drive and select properties.
- Now switch to the Tools tab and under Error-checking click check.
- Click on Scan drive and it will start scanning the drive.
- If the drive is in use then it will automatically schedule a disk scan on the next startup.
If you found some bad sectors and windows is unable to fix them then check out our guide to fix bad sectors on your hard drive.
Defragment Your Hard Drive (For older versions of Windows)
This is an essential maintenance task that is performed to rearrange fragmented data so that your hard drive works more efficiently. To defragment your hard drive we use an inbuilt tool called Disk Defragmenter. Follow the below guide to defragment your hard disk manually.
- Go to start, search for Disk Defragmenter and open it.
- Now you will get a list of all drives connected to your computer.
- Select C drive and further click on analyze. This will start analyzing your hard drive.
- Once it’s completed, if the current status of the drive is more than 10% then click on optimize. Otherwise, there is no need to defragment the drive.
Scan Your Registry
The registry stores a huge amount of information which can become fragmented over time, leading to slower performance. Bad registry entries can slow down a PC, as they can cause system crashes and blue screens. Registry cleaners may help to reduce errors and speed up the computer, but it is important to be careful when tampering with the registry as incorrect changes can have serious consequences.
You don’t need to buy any PC cleaning tool as most of them are scam. You can use a free tool called CCleaner to scan your registry. Here’s how to do it.
- So first of all download and install CCleaner on your computer. Download CCleaner
- Once it’s installed on your PC open it.
- Now click on Registry tab and further select Scan for Issues.
- Once the scanning is completed click on Fix selected issues and it will delete all the invalid registry entries.
In conclusion, optimizing your Windows PC is an important task that can help improve performance, speed, and overall system stability. By implementing the above tips such as disabling start-up programs, deleting unnecessary programs, and upgrading to the latest version of Windows, you can help ensure that your Windows 11 PC runs at its best.
