Having a slow computer certainly really tests our patience. No wonder some people are very upset when doing school/office tasks with a very slow computer.
Many of them prefer to do their work in an internet cafe instead of using a super slow computer.
Actually, to overcome a computer/laptop that tends to get slower and slower, you only need to do regular maintenance and also do a few things which I will explain one by one in this article.
How to Speed Up Windows Laptop / PC Performance
Okay, right away, to overcome the performance of your computer/laptop which is getting slower and slower, do the following things to help speed up the performance of your computer/laptop.
1. Increase the capacity of RAM and Harddisk
The multitasking process that is too heavy causes the performance of a computer / laptop to be slow. Adding a larger RAM capacity is the best choice to speed up the performance of a computer.
Also pay attention to the capacity of your hard drive. If it's almost full (say 10GB remaining), don't be surprised if your computer/laptop just slows down. I suggest you increase the hard drive capacity and if you have more funds, there's nothing wrong with buying an SSD to improve the performance of your computer/laptop.
2. Delete temporary files (junk) in the Recycle Bin
Temporary files (junk) can slow down the performance of a computer / laptop, so it would be better if you delete them. Check the file first, if it's really not needed, please delete it by right-clicking the Recycle Bin icon and then selecting Empty Recycle Bin.
An alternative software that you can use is CCleaner, the software can also delete temporary files contained in the browser.
3. Uninstall unnecessary programs
Why install unused programs. It's a shame to install programs that just waste your hard disk space.
To uninstall a program, you can do it via Start >> Control Panel >> Uninstall a program and then uninstall programs that are not used/important.
4. Minimize programs running on Startup
The more programs that run at startup become one of the factors that causes the performance of a computer to decrease. I suggest you to disable any programs that are really not important and don't need to run at startup by pressing the Win+R key >> type msconfig >> select the Startup tab then uncheck the program you want to disable.
To make it easier, you can also use CCleaner to disable programs that run at startup.
5. Don't forget to install Antivirus
Make sure you have installed an antivirus. As we know that the average virus including malware and spyware causes the performance of a computer to be slow and can also damage our data / files. In addition, you must install the right antivirus, not an antivirus that actually slows down the performance of your computer / laptop.
6. Custom Virtual Memory
Although its role is not as big as RAM, this virtual memory can help improve the performance of your computer. To set how much virtual memory you use, go to Control Panel >> System and Security >> System or you can press Windows key + Pause/Break. Then select Advanced system settings.
Move to the Advanced tab, then select Settings on the Performance menu.
Move again to the Advanced tab, then select Change on the Virtual memory menu.
Uncheck Automatically manage paging file size for all drives. Then select Custom size and specify how much virtual memory you want. For maximum size, you can enter 2X Initial size. After that select Set, then select OK.
Note: The maximum size doesn't have to be 2X the initial size, it's just an estimate.
7. Minimize the use of visual effects
The more visual effects you use, the better your desktop will look. And what you need to underline, the slower your computer's performance when there are lots of visual effects running.
For that you have to minimize the use of visual effects on your desktop in the following way:
Go to Control Panel >> System and Security >> System, then select Advanced system settings in the upper left corner of the System window.
Move to the Advanced tab, then select Settings on the Performance menu.
On the Visual Effects tab, please select custom and uncheck unnecessary visual effects. You can see the visual effects settings that I used in the following image. If there are visual effects that normally appear, but do not appear, please revert to default.
Notes:
- Select Let Windows choose what's best for my computer, if you want Windows itself to determine what visual effects are best for your computer.
- Select Adjust for best appearance, if you want your desktop to look the best. But the impact will be annoying, namely the computer becomes slower.
- Select Adjust for best performance, if you want your computer to perform at its best. But be prepared, your eyes will be 'tormented', because your desktop will look really ugly. But this option is perfect for gaming.
8. Use Disk Cleanup
Reporting from the Microsoft page, this tool is useful for deleting temporary files on each of your drives. So you can choose which drive you want to clean from temporary files. To use this tool, please right-click the drive you want to clean >> select Properties and then select Disk Cleanup.
9. Use a Disk Defragmenter
Fragmentation in data makes your drive work harder, of course it makes computer performance drop. Therefore, it is recommended that you use Disk Defragmenter to reorder fragmented data.
You can use this tool by right-clicking the drive you want to defragment >> selecting Properties >> then selecting Defragment now on the Tools tab.
10. Delete unnecessary gadgets on the desktop
Gadgets installed on the desktop are one of the things that affect the performance of a computer. I suggest you remove gadgets that are really not important, but if your computer has a high specification, maybe installing a gadget like this doesn't have any effect on computer performance.
Conclusion
There are still several things that affect the performance of a computer/laptop. But I think the 10 things I have described above are more than enough. Maybe that's all I want to share today. Hopefully the tutorial on how to speed up the performance of a laptop / computer above is useful for you. Thanks for reading.