A slow computer is 2017 is a curse, because we now have smartphones faster than the computer were in 2010.
So the computers to today have to be more powerful that that tiny thing in the pocket (I’m talking about smartphones)
if you’ve bought a machine lately, and it was super smoother, booted quite fast when it was new. And now it is no the case at all, this post might help you.
But if your PC has been from the 2010s, then I’m afraid to say that your smartphone, indeed, is faster than your PC.
There are two aspects of figuring out why a PC is slow, one is Hardware and the other is Software.
In this post, we talk about the Software tweaks or optimisations you can do by doing a number of things which you can read below.
Reboot
Reboot is your best friend, Rebooting your PC might solve the problem. It has, in 90% of the cases, people use it as a Smartphone, keeping it turned on for days, and only turning on the standby (sleep) mode when to are not using it.
Sadly, computers still are not as smart as the smartphones, or maybe it’s because of the usage and the amount of control the PC applications have, they tend to slow down your computer over time.
Rebooting it every once in a while can really help retain the smoothness.
I’ll suggest you turn it off every night (or after you are done for the day working)
Limit Background Programs
One of the main reasons for a computer to slow down is the number of programs running at any given time.
If you think you have opened just two programs, and they are the only programs that are taking up computer resources, you are wrong, there are many programs running in the background just because they start right when you start your PC.
Most of these programs run in the background so that you get a smoother experience or the applications you open can launch quickly. But you may not need them to automatically start. And you can turn it off.
The easiest option is via CCleaner, I’ve written about it in the past. It’s an excellent application. It has an option of letting you enable/disable automatic startup of applications at startup.
You can download CCleaner, install and decided which programs you want to start automatically when your PC starts.
CCleaner can help you sort more issues like
- Cleaning Temporary files, Browser Caches etc,
- Fixing Registry Files Errors,
- Uninstalling unwanted programs from Computer
Find that Notorious Process & Kill It
Sometimes there is just one process that is making the entire system slow down.
You can find it out by pressing CTRL+Delete+ALT
The task manager will pop up where you can see which process is taking most of the memory, if it’s just one process, kill it.
Stay Safe from Viruses & Malware
If you have a habit of downloading pirated content from random websites, STOP it before it’s too late.
If your computer is running slow because of that, you are lucky you haven’t been attacked by a Ransomware.
These Viruses and Malware usually get into your Computer via Cracked Software or Infected Flash Drive.
Keeping your Computer Updated, running an Anti-Virus and staying aware of such software can help you stay safe.
Limit Google Chrome’s memory usage
Despite taking all the measures mentioned in this article, your computer is slow every time you are trying to work on something.
Then it could be because of Google Chrome, it’s a huge memory hogger, each Chrome tab takes computer resources of their own, the more tabs you have open, the more resources it will take and the slower your computer will run.
You can try using another Browser. Opera is promising, with their new innovative features (Read articles about Opera Browser).
But if you can’t live without Chrome, because of its extensions and Google Services, try these Chrome Extensions to limit memory Usage of your PC, I’ve been using them myself and they are quite helpful.
Maintain Suitable Room Temperature
While this demands of a dedicated post around taking the heating issues, it plays an important role in the performance of a PC.
My PC starts making loud noises in the summers because the room temperature goes 40 Degree Celcius, I have to keep running the Air Conditioner throughout the time my PC is turned on so that it can run smoothly.
So the room temperature also plays an important role in the performance of a PC.
A good PC cabinet can help in taking the heat issues, and clean your PC from inside out in every few months or so can greatly help.
Few Hardware Fixes for fix a Slow Computer
Last year I installed an SSD on my 5-year-old PC which previously had 1TB of HD.
While I still keep the 1TB HD connected, I reinstalled the Windows 10 on SSD by making it a single partition of C drive.
My PCs boot time improved from 45 seconds to less than 10 seconds.
SSDs are quite amazingly fast, giving a transfer rate of over 500MB/sec, which is 5x the speed of normal HDs.
This one change drastically improved the performance of my PC.
You can get a 120GB SSD for as low as $60. Though if you are upgrading your Laptop, you should get a higher option like a 250Gb or a 500GB, which will cost a little more, but the investment is totally worth it.
