How to Speed up Windows 10

After using Windows 10 on multiple devices, one thing that I can say for sure is it gets slow as time passes. You don’t see the snappiness you loved while setting up your Windows 10 computer for the first time.

But the hardware and software are the same, so what’s wrong here? It may come as a shock but you also have to maintain your PC to get the optimum performance.

So in this tutorial, I will walk you through 8 ways you can speed up your Windows 10 computer.

8 Ways to Speed Up Windows 10

In this section, I will walk you through 8 legitimate ways you can speed up a Windows 10 computer. I’d recommend going through all the methods to achieve the optimum performance your hardware can offer.

1. Disable Startup Programs

On Windows, some programs start automatically when your system boots. But it is not a flaw! Some programs genuinely need to start with Windows (like antivirus software), but many don’t.

Each startup program uses memory and CPU cycles, which can accumulate to significantly slow down your system, especially on computers with limited resources.

How to disable startup programs to speed up Windows 10:

To disable startup programs, follow 3 simple steps:

1. Open task manager
2. Click on Startup to list startup programs
3. Select unnecessary programs and click on Disable button

2. Uninstall Unnecessary Apps and Bloatware

When you purchase a Windows computer, it comes pre-installed with 10s of apps which does nothing but sit there and eat your system resource (without your knowledge).

PC manufacturers often include pre-installed software as part of deals with software companies to reduce the cost of your machine.

Uninstalling apps you don’t need frees up storage space and eliminates unnecessary background processes, resulting in better performance.

How to uninstall bloatware to speed up Windows 10:

To uninstall unnecessary apps, follow the given steps:

1. Go to Settings > Apps > Apps & features
2. Select the app that you want to uninstall and hit the Uninstall button
3. Confirm the uninstallation process by clicking again on the Uninstall button

3. Run Disk Cleanup to Delete Temporary Files and Other Junk

Your operating system creates temporary files to improve the efficiency of operations across the operating system but these files often remain even after they’re no longer needed.

In addition to temporary files, disk cleanup can remove downloaded program files, the Recycle Bin contents, and previous Windows installations after updates.

How to perform disk cleanup to speed up Windows 10:

To use disk cleanup, use the following steps:

1. Open Disk Clean-up from the start menu
2. Choose the drive. For the most users, selecting the C drive will do it
3. Choose what files to delete and hit the Ok button

4. Disable unnecessary visual effects and animations

While animations and effects provide a more polished look, they come at the cost of system resources that can slow down PCs, especially older ones. Disabling unnecessary visual elements frees up CPU, RAM, and GPU power for better responsiveness and performance.

Yep, small changes, have a big impact!

How to disable visual effects to speed up Windows 10:

To disable visual effects to speed up Windows 10, follow the given steps:

1. Press Win + R to open the run prompt
2. Type sysdm.cpl and hit enter to launch System Properties
3. Click on Performace and hit the Settings button under Performace tab:
   
4. Finally, choose the Adjust for best performance option and hit Ok:
   

That’s it!

5. Defragment Hard Drive

Note: Don’t use this method if you’re using SSD.

If you are using HDD, then defragmenting drive can speed up your computer by a large margin.

Your Windows computer stores files in a scattered way on HDD and as time goes on, thousands of files are scattered across the hard drive. Sure, it won’t generate any error messages but it will take significant time to load files compared to defragmented drive.

How to defragment drive to speed up Windows 10:

To defragment HDD, use the following steps:

1. Search for defrag in start menu
2. Select the C drive and other drives if multiple portions are there and hit the Optimise button:

It will take multiple hours depending on your HDD speed. Meanwhile, you can use your computer as usual.

6. Add more RAM

This might come as a shock but day by day, the software keeps on updating taking more hardware resources which means the software you installed 2 years ago that used to consume 500Mb of RAM, now, it is probably taking 700Mb or more.

Things to note while upgrading your RAM:

• If you’re adding more RAM in addition to the existing one, make sure to use the same generation and frequency of the RAM stick as the other one for best results.
• Check the slot and dimensions of the existing RAM stick while purchasing the new one.
• If you are upgrading RAM on all the free slots, make sure to purchase RAM within the supported generation, frequency and size.

Trust me, upgrading RAM can boost performance by a large margin.

7. Upgrade to SSD

If you haven’t upgraded to SSD, then you are not utilising 100% of your system specs. Generally, RAM and processor are capable enough to handle daily tasks but if you are using a hard drive (HDD), your system might struggle to read/write data due to the speed limitation of HDD.

There are two types of SSDs: SATA and NVMe drives. I’d highly recommend going with the NVMe as they are the fastest drives for consumers.

Sure, if your computer does not have a slot for NVMe, then you can replace the HDD, with SATA SSD and it will give you a significant boost too!

8. Keep your system up-to-date

This might come as a shock but Microsoft is continuously trying to get you the smoothest experience possible. There might be some bugs present in your system resulting a poor performance and updating the system can get this fixed.

By default, if your computer has a decent internet connection, Windows will take care of downloading and installing updates in the backend.

If not, you can manually update your computer to ensure you have the most recent offering from Microsoft.