How to Make Your PC Run Faster
Picture yourself working on a critical project, when all of a sudden
everything slows down to a crawl. Unfortunately, this is a familiar
experience for many Windows users. However, there are several things you
can do to speed up your computer. This article will show you how to
make essential tweaks that can lead to a significant performance
increase.
1. Make sure your computer isn't infected with viruses.
Computer viruses are extremely dangerous, causing a lot of damage to
your computer. Some malware species can encrypt or delete your files
without warning, for example. Viruses will also slow down your computer,
reducing its speed drastically. So, use a third-party antivirus, such
as Panda's Cloud Cleaner, to check for potential issues.
2. Reduce the number of applications that run at startup.
Windows has a lot of applications and services that run automatically
when you start your computer. While some of them are needed, other
software packages are used by software developers to collect diagnostics
data, etc. and will slow down your computer.
Fortunately, Microsoft has made it easy to get rid of unwanted startup
applications. Fire up Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc,
select the "Startup" tab at the top of the window, choose the apps or
services that need to be disabled (one at a time) and then validate your
choice by clicking the button at the bottom of the screen.
3. Get rid of visual effects.
Windows' developers have implemented some nice visual effects, but
they can slow down your computer - a lot! To fix things, head over to
"Performance Options" -> "Visual Effects", and then choose the
"Adjust for best performance" option.
4. Change Windows' Power Options.
Many computers - especially laptops - run using a balanced power mode,
which is designed to give us enough power for everyday PC use, while
saving some energy. Switch to "High Performance" mode by going to
Control Panel -> Power Options, and then click "Show additional
plans".
Once you are there, you can also "Change plan settings" individually,
selecting the CPU speed, choosing the performance of your graphics card,
multimedia settings, and more.
5. Add more RAM to your PC.
Random-Access Memory is one of the most important elements in a PC,
being responsible for storing data and instructions that your computer
needs to access quickly. However, when your RAM becomes full, the
computer will start to store information on the hard drive, which is
much slower than RAM.
This means that computers which have plenty of RAM can run more programs at once without slowing down. Crucial System Scanner
is a free utility that will help you determine the amount and type of
RAM that’s installed on your computer. It's a very valuable tool for
people who want to upgrade their computers' memory and don't have access
to the documentation.
6. Replace the hard drive with an SSD.
Regular hard drives store computer data on spinning platters, which
can fail to read the data due to aging, mechanical shocks, and more.
Solid-State Drives use non-volatile memory chips that are included in
solid-state devices. This makes them much more durable and reliable in
comparison with standard hard drives.
It is true that SSDs are much more expensive than hard drives.
However, this is by far the most effective way to speed up an existing
computer. There are many types of Solid-State Drives on the market
today, each one having different levels of capacity and performance. So,
do your research before deciding which one to buy.