10 Fast Ways to Speed Up Your Computer

Having a slow computer is never fun. It feels like no matter how much or little you use your computer just having it sit on your desk slows it down. It sucks, but it’s normal. It’s the same thing as your car, you need to clean and maintain it over time in order for it to perform at the best that it can – even if it sits in the garage and barely gets used. 

Fortunately, there are ways to restore some performance and get that computer performing back like when it was brand new with some simple fixes. I use these tricks all the time at my day job, but the best part about them is that it doesn’t take an IT guru to do them – if you follow the steps, anybody can do them. 

Take some time to follow my recommendations and you just might end up saving yourself a few dollars instead of getting it serviced at those expensive PC repair shops. 

Let’s get right into it – here are 10 simple tricks you can perform at home to speed up and clean your PC. 

What Causes Computers to Slow Down?

Computers are very intricate machines that require a ton of love and attention to keep running, especially after years of constant use. 

Some factors that can slow your computer down might include:

• Programs running in the background
• Physically dusty or dirty parts
• Viruses or malware 
• Full hard drive
• Old computer parts or hardware

After years of use, computer parts can start to burn out and wear down, causing your computer to slow right down. Totally normal, and totally annoying. Before you take it in to get expensive servicing or throw it off the nearest bridge to buy a new one, there are a few things you can do to speed up your machine. 

Let’s run through the top 10 of my tricks to speed up your computer. 

1. Restart your PC

As an IT professional, this is always my go-to solution when someone drops their laptop off for servicing. It may sound annoying to you, but I ALWAYS ask the question, “have you tried restarting?” I know it probably irritates people to hear it over and over again, but let me tell you, it fixes more problems with computers than I’d care to admit. 

When you restart your PC, you are stopping all running programs, processes, tasks and any other lingering background noise that could be draining the life of your computer. It is typically a great idea to give it a quick restart before moving on to the more complex tasks. 

2. End Heavily Used Background Programs 

When you have programs running in the background, whether you know it or not, you’re putting unnecessary strain that stops the computer from running at its fullest potential. The CPU, RAM, hard drive, and everything else all have to work in unison to make the programs you love to operate, work. But when you have pesky programs that don’t actually close when you tell them to or are stuck open without you knowing, you will then have a major drain on your system. 

You should check the Task Manager and force these pesky programs closed to free up some speed. 

Follow these steps to open up the Task Manager and speed up your computer

1. Use the search bar or click the Windows logo at the bottom left of your computer
2. Search for “Task Manager” 
3. Find the programs that are eating up resources and hit “End task”

Quick tip: you can open up the Task Manager fast by also pressing CTRL + SHIFT + ESC on your keyboard at the same time. 

This is what the Task Manager looks like:

Take a look at the different apps or programs running, sometimes you’ll see what’s causing the most strain on your system. You can also see and sort by CPU, Memory, Disk, GPU, power usage and more just take a look at the percentages and you can find the culprit easily. If you aren’t using it just select it and click the “End task” button at the bottom right. 

Doing this will noticeably reduce the drain of resources on your computer and will speed your computer’s performance up. It’s always good practice to take a look here if you’re noticing performance issues on your computer. 

3. Uninstall Unused Programs

Over time your computer can be bogged down by having a bunch of installed programs. Even brand-new computers nowadays come preinstalled with apps and programs (typically called bloatware) that take up precious resources even if it’s fresh out of the box. (Which is why the first thing I do when I buy a new computer is go through and uninstall all the unwanted programs it comes with. Sometimes I’ll even just reinstall Windows right away since it’s potentially quicker and it’ll get rid of everything unwanted)

Follow these steps to find all your programs and uninstall the ones you don’t need anymore. 

1. Use the search bar or click the Windows logo at the bottom left of your computer
2. Search for “Apps & Features” 
3. Find the programs that you don’t need anymore and click “Uninstall”

Tip: you can also sort by name, size or install date by selecting the drop-down and changing the filter

Here’s what it should look like for you

Now, sometimes Windows won’t let you uninstall apps from this screen, or won’t have all of them listed. Sometimes, you’ll need to find the “Programs and Features” page to have a better chance to find and uninstall stubborn programs. To do this you can open up your Control Panel and search for it that way, or you can make the “Apps & features” window full screen and there will be a link to it at the top right. See below: 

Once you click that, another window will open, this is your “Programs and Features” menu.

From here you might have better luck uninstalling programs, just select what you don’t use anymore, and hit uninstall. 

4. Stop Startup Programs and Processes

Sometimes, programs and processes will start up every time you run your PC, some processes are necessary in order for your computer to run, but sometimes, you don’t need some of them running all the time, or at all. 

Follow these steps to stop programs and processes from starting up when you boot your computer. 

1. Use the search bar or click the Windows logo at the bottom left of your computer
2. Search for “Task Manager” 
3. Find the tab that says “Startup”

Quick tip: you can open up the Task Manager fast by also pressing CTRL + SHIFT + ESC on your keyboard at the same time. 

You’ll see a window like this: 

Find the programs you know you don’t need on startup, and hit “Disable”. Your computer will not boot these programs up when you restart your computer now. This will improve not only startup times but also will prevent these programs from running in the background when you don’t even know it,  improving the overall speed of your computer.

5. Change Power Options

Oftentimes, you will have the ability to change how your computer uses power. Depending on the brand of your PC, you might have the options for power saver, balanced, or high performance. If you want your computer to be a high-performer, you’ll need to change the option to high performance, just note that this will potentially use more electricity and can cost you more money. But, you will get a noticeable performance boost and improve the speed of your computer. 

Follow these steps to change your power settings

1. Click the Windows logo or search for “Settings” 
2. Click on “System”
3. Find “Power & sleep” on the left-hand side
4. Click on “Additional power settings”

Your screen should look similar to this: 

Now you can select “High performance” 

6. Change Windows Appearance

By default, Windows may opt to give you a more visually appealing experience when you use your PC, such as animations, smoothing edges, or use shadows on programs for appearance. Most of these are unnecessary and will reduce performance. 

You can disable all these visuals by following these steps

1. Click the Windows logo or the search box and search for “Adjust appearance”
2. Open up the “Adjust the appearance and performance of windows” 
3. Select “Adjust for best performance” 

This is what the window should look like for you when you open it up

7. Update Windows 

Not only is updating your Windows a great idea for security, but it’s also paramount for performance as well. Typically, Windows will send you a notification when an update is available, but if you’re like most people you probably just ignore it. 

If you think you might have an update and want to check, follow these steps

1. Click the Windows logo or search bar and search for “Windows Updates”
2. A window will open up and will check for updates
3. If you have updates you will be prompted to “Install now” click that and let Windows do its thing

This is what it will look like if you have updates pending

8. Run a Windows Disk Cleanup

Windows has a tool that will clean up unwanted junk from your PC, this includes temporary internet files, program files, recycle bin and more. All you have to do is select the files you want to get rid of and click “OK”. 

To access this free tool just follow these steps

1. Click the Windows logo or the search bar and search for “Disk cleanup” 
2. If you have multiple hard drives it might prompt you to select which one you want to clean up
3. Select the files you’d like to get rid of and click “OK”

This is what the Disk Cleanup menu looks like

Pro tip: you can also install my recommended program CCleaner that will automatically scan your computer and clean it up for you. You can download this free program here.

9. Check for Malware or Viruses

Sometimes no matter how careful you are, you’ll accidentally click the wrong link in an email, or download a virus or malware unintentionally. These malicious programs can harm your computer and slow it down. The good news is, there are tons of free tools out there that can help you track down and eliminate any malicious programs, viruses, malware, spyware and more. 

Here are some of my recommendations 

1. Avast 
2. Malwarebytes
3. AVG
4. Trend Micro

All you have to do is install and run these programs and they will scan your computer and remove anything they deem malicious. They are all very user-friendly and will help speed up your computer in no time. 

10. Upgrade Your Hardware

If you’ve tried all the tricks I’ve written above and still have no luck, it might be time for you to upgrade some of your computer’s parts. Now before you get intimidated and give up, just give it a try, I promise you it’s very easy for most systems out there to upgrade parts. Most of the time it’s as simple as plug and play. 

The two most recommended parts to upgrade would be to add an SSD (hard drive) or add more RAM. 

Both are extremely simple and can be done by virtually anyone. Installing either of these parts or both will guarantee to give you the performance boost that you are looking for and for a relatively cheap cost. You will not be spending as much money as completely buying a new system and it will take you at most 30 minutes to complete. 

Hope you enjoyed this post on 10 Fast Ways to Speed Up Your Computer!