Have you been having issues with your PC moving at a snail’s pace lately? Don’t panic; it happens to everyone. Before you decide to invest in a new PC or take your computer into a repair shop, there are a few things that you can do first to help your computer get back up to speed.
Here are 10 tips to help you get that slow-moving PC moving quickly again. If you have a Mac, you’ll want to check out our 8 tips to speed up your Mac’s performance.
The first steps
Tip No. 1 – Restart your PC
Before doing anything, give your PC a quick restart. When you restart your PC, Windows will close all your applications, which may resolve some slow-down issues.
- In the bottom-left corner of your screen, you’ll find the Windows icon. Click on it to open the Start Menu.
- Within the Start Menu, you’ll see a power button icon. Click on it to reveal a submenu.
- From the submenu, select the “Restart” option. Windows will now initiate the restart process.
- Your PC will close all open applications and perform a full restart. This process may take a few minutes.
- Once your PC has restarted, log in using your credentials.
Tip No. 2 – Enable automatic updates
Make sure you are keeping your Windows OS up to date. Microsoft continuously rolls out improvements for bugs that may slow your PC down. Here’s what you need to do:
- Using the Windows Search Bar in the bottom left of your screen (center on Windows 11), search Windows Update.
- Then, select Windows Update Settings.
- Under more options, turn on Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available.
Tip No. 3 – Check your startup applications that can slow things down
Check which programs open automatically at start-up.
- First off, on your PC, navigate to the bottom left and click the Windows icon.
- Then find the gear icon, mouse over the gear icon, and click on Settings.
- A new window will pop up with your PC’s settings. Look for apps and click on that.
- At the bottom of the apps list, you should see something that says Startup. Find and click on that.
- Now, you’ll see a list of all the Startup apps that launch when your PC boots up.
- At the top of the list, click on “sort by” to select how you want the list sorted.
- Then, scroll down the list and find whatever programs you’d like to disable for startup.
- Get rid of things you don’t use that may have found their way here ages ago.
- When you’ve found one you’d like to turn off, click the little switch next to it. The fewer items left for startup, the less drag there will be on your processing power.
FIRST 10 THINGS TO DO IF YOU GOT A NEW PC
Tip No. 4 – Use Microsoft’s Disk Defragment tool to clean things up
Cleaning your disk with the Windows “Disk Cleanup” tool is an easy way to delete old temporary files and old system data stored on your hard drive, which can slow down your PC’s performance.
- Go to File Explorer.
- Right Click Local Disk C:
- Click Properties.
- Click Details.
- Move to the Tools tab.
- Run “Optimize and defragment drive.”
