A very common issue that most of us face once our laptops get a little older is the very frustrating slowness of the system. There a host of reasons why this happens, and usually the seriousness of this problem increases over time and even though regaining the initial levels of performance might be seemingly out of reach, you can do certain things to speed up your system for a better than terrible experience.
Some of the ways by which you can fight these reasons and achieve a faster experience are as follows –
Table of Contents
Disk Cleanup
Windows comes with software to delete unnecessary junk and cached files that can potentially slow your system over time, called disk cleanup. This is a very handy tool that gives you a host of system files that you can delete to free up space on your laptops, and this can go a long way in speeding up your system.
Uninstall Programs not in use
More often than not, we install software when the need arises but do not uninstall it when we stop using it. This not only eats up space on the drive, but also might use up resources like RAM by running some processes in the background. A very good practice is to uninstall software once we are done utilizing it, thereby getting rid of this issue.
NOTE: Uninstalling specific programs can sometimes be quite difficult for a regular user. If you need help in uninstalling stuff, we recommend you to checkout UninstallHelper.com for a guided step-by-step uninstallation of your program.
Manage Drive space
A very common reason of why systems become slow over time is the saturation of hard disk space. A fairly easy way to avoid this is by deleting files, managing disk space efficiently, and making sure that you always keep 10-12% of disk space free.
Additionally, it is more important to leave more space free on the drive which contains the operating system to have your system run faster.
Battery Modes
Most laptops these days come with several battery modes including power-saving and performance. Keeping the power saving mode turned on would result in your performance taking a hit because, in this mode, the operating system optimizes your device for the maximum battery output. Switch through the modes and set it to a balanced level for the optimized battery-performance output.
Regular Updates
One of the very useful ways of improving and optimizing your overall user experience is by regularly updating your system. Windows automatically sends you notifications when updates are available for your system, and it is a good practice to perform these updates. This not only is important for quashing bugs and making your system snappier, it also facilitates better security as newer versions of the operating system often come with improved security features.
Minimise Programs running on Startup
Programs running on startup might actually slow down your computer, and to prevent this from happening head over to the Startup tab in Task Manager and disable all the unimportant ones like UTorrent.
Identify and kill resource intensive programs/ processes
A very useful tip, especially when your system begins to suddenly run slow, is to head over to Task Manager and identify which program/process is hogging up resources. Once you have identified the problem, try to quit from the program and if that does not work, use the ‘End Task’ option.
Defragmenting/Optimising the Hard Drive
Overextended usage, the data on the hard drives gets fragmented, that is, the fragments of our file are spread across the hard drive and the system has to search for them which makes file access slow. To prevent this, defragmentation is a very useful tool that puts back all these spreads out pieces back together, essentially making data access faster and this speeds up your system.
Anti- Virus and Malware
Another very prominent reason for computers slowing down is the presence of malicious software and files, broadly called malware or virus. Installing and regularly updating the anti-virus software is very necessary to ensure and proper running of your system.
However, some of these software are also known to actually slow down the computer, and therefore, it is very essential that you choose which anti-virus anti-malware you use wisely. This problem is somewhat addressed in Windows 10, wherein the default Windows Security is a fairly capable software and you do not need to install any third-party software for protection against these threats.
Restart between long hours
Often it so happens that a program execution gets stuck, or updates get downloaded and are waiting to be installed. Leaving your computer running results in background processes and applications to hog its memory. As a result in most occasions, a simple restart refreshes the computer memory and helps resolve these issues making your system run smoothly.
Upgrade your Ram
If none of the aforementioned tips and tricks work, it is probably time to either buy a new laptop or upgrade your hardware like extend the RAM capacity to provide your computer with more memory to run its applications and ensure a faster and smoother experience.
Upgrade to a SSD
One of the main reasons behind a slowdown, is your storage speed, hence upgrading to a SSD from your old mechanical hard drive , can for sure improve your experience, and fluidity of the laptop.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Any of the reasons mentioned earlier might be responsible for your laptop slowing down.
No, the tool analyses the files that are not essential to the system running and then gives up options to choose which files to delete and which to not.
We should defragment just the HDDs as the Solid State Drives work differently and defragmentation might actually cause adverse effects.
Except in windows 10 which comes with windows security, it is recommended to purchase and install a third-party anti-virus software to protect against viruses and malware attacks.
Although these tips and tricks usually will result in performance improvements however, none of them is a definite and works-for-all solution for the issue.
If none of the ways to make your laptop faster work, the only solution out of this is to buy a new device and maintain it properly keeping the earlier tips in mind.
Also Read: Best Pulse Oximeters to Buy in India (2020)