How to Make your Computer Faster Windows 10
How do you make your computer run faster in Windows 10? If your PC is running slower than normal, and you want to know how to speed up Windows 10 PC? then continue reading this article to get tips and tricks to make your computer faster.
How To Make Your Computer Faster Windows 10 – Task Manager on your PC & Browser
Task Manager on your PC – How to Make Your Computer Faster Windows 10
You can use task manager on your PC to see what’s consuming most of your PC’s system resources. The task manager allows you to see what processes are consuming most resources and it allows you to end processes that you don’t need at this present moment to free up system resources for those processes you do actually need, now.
To access Task Manager on your PC.
- You go down to the Taskbar.
- Right-click on the Taskbar.
- Click the Option that says Task Manager.
This opens up the Fewer Details or More Details Task Manager depending on how its configured.
Close Apps that you’re not using – Fewer Details Task manager
The Fewer Details task manager shows all the Apps that you currently have open. If you have any App that is open but you’re not using it and you want to close it. You simply select that App, right-click and then you can end the task. Ending the task frees system resources for use by other Apps.
Close Apps that are using a lot of resources – More Details Task Manager
Processes Tab
If you want to see additional details like how many system resources any one of the open Apps is using, go down to the bottom left-hand corner and click on More Details.
This opens up the detailed view of the task manager. You can see all the Apps that are currently open and you can see all of your different background processes that are running.
If you take an item, you can see how much CPU it’s using, how much memory it’s using and you can see across all these other metrics especially if you’re investigating why your computer is running slower.
You can look at the top categories ie CPU, Memory, Disk, Network and Power Usage and if any of them are at or near 100%, that’s likely to be your culprit for slowing your PC down.
If you want to identify what’s contributing to that usage, you can click on the column header like CPU or Memory, and this will sort it from the most usage all the way down to the least usage.
If you want to close any of these Apps you can right click on it and then you click on end task within the task manager.
Performance Tab
The next tab after Processes is Performance, and this will show you a visual of all of your system resources over time.
App History
You could also click into App history, and you can see by app how much CPU, time and network it’s been consuming over a longer time period.
Start-up Tab
The Start-Up tab allows you to Enable or Disable Apps that start up when your computer starts up. Again right-click to get to select either enable or disable.
Task Manager on your Browser – How To Make Your Computer Faster Windows 10
You can use Task Manager in your Browser. Most people spend a lot of time in their browsers and browsers can really slow down your computer, especially if you have a lot of tabs open.
Luckily browsers these days also include a task manager. The browser task manager works like the PC task manager.
Google Chrome Browser Task Manager
To get Google Chrome Browser Task Manager do the following:
- Right-Click the browser header as shown in the Picture (1)
- Select Task Manager option (2)
This opens up the browser task manager and it looks pretty similar to what you get in Windows task manager. To end a task, simply select to highlight it and click End process button. You can end processes that’re gobbling too many resources.
You can see all of your different tabs and any add-ins (extensions) that you might have. You can see the associated memory usage, the CPU usage and also the network usage.
Now let’s say you have a tab that’s, really bogging down your computer. You can simply select that tab and then you can go down and end that process.
Microsoft Edge Browser Task Manager
to access Microsoft Edge Browser Task Manager you right click on the header as shown in picture above and then go down to the option that says browser task manager. This opens up the browser task manager and it looks pretty similar to what you get in Windows task manager.
Microsoft Edge Browser Task Manager works very similar to Google Chrome browser Task Manager described above.
How to Speed Up Windows 10 PC – Free up Storage Space
You can free up storage space very easily with Windows 10. If you’re using a lot of your hard drive space that can also begin to slow down your computer.
You need to go to Storage Settings to manage your PC storage space. Follow these steps:
- Go down to the Taskbar Search Field, and here type in: storage settings and next Click on the best match. This opens up storage settings.
- Once storage settings opens, you can manually review how much hard drive space you’re using and how you can manually clear some of that up right there.
- You can see your hard drive and it’ll show you how much space you’re currently consuming, now. If you’re consuming a very high percentage, you’ll likely see some performance degradation.
If you’re wondering how and where all the used space actually is, take a look at the image below, you can see a breakdown of what’s contributing to the usage. Here, in this image, you can see how the 206GB used space is split between the categories.
- Other Folders – 140GB
- Apps and Features – 22.8GB
- Documents – 5.65GB
- Temporary Files – 3.31GB
- Categories under More Categories take up the rest – 33GB
If you want to know the files and folders that are actually taking up all that space in a category, double click on category to select and open it. This will reveal how that category is constituted.
You can then go through these categories manually and free up some of that space.
As an alternative, maybe you want the computer to manage the space for you.
If you shift your focus up to the top Windows 10 has something called Storage Sense, and this can help you free up some space. You can turn it on here.
And next Click on Configure Storage Sense. Within Storage Sense, you can decide how often you want to have it run. You can have it run on a regular cadence, or only when you’re low on disk space and you can also tell it what you want it to do.
You could have it go through and automatically remove temporary files. You can have it empty your recycling bin and also delete your downloads folder, especially after some time as it can really grow in size.
Having a bigger hard disc drive does allow you a lot of options. Even if you have OneDrive some users prefer to have a copy of whatever is on their OneDrive to be also on their local drive.
How to Speed Up Windows 10 PC Or Laptop – Add or Remove programs
Un-install Apps that you’re no longer using or maybe even Apps that you never even used at all. When you leave these Apps on your computer, they’re taking up space and they could even be running in the background.
To remove Apps, go down to the taskbar and within the search field, type in: add or remove programs. Next, click on the best match.
This opens up Apps and Features, and if you look down, you’ll see all of the different Apps that you that are installed on your computer. Over on the right-hand side you can see how much space the App consumes, and you can also see when you installed the App.
Since your aim is to free more disk space, I will give you a little pro tip. By default, Apps and Features are sorted by name, but can sort by size so that you can immediately see the best Apps to un-install to free more hard drive space.
To remove the app, you simply Click on it and then you can go to uninstall now.
Word of caution, before you start going through and uninstalling many different Apps. You might have some Apps appear on this list that maybe you’re not familiar with.
Examples of files might be libraries that are referenced behind the scenes without awareness. If you uninstall such files some Apps might stop working as intended.
To be safe just uninstall Apps that you are aware of – and you know that you absolutely no longer need.
How To Speed Up Windows 10 PC Startup – Startup Apps
You can disable Startup Apps. You probably remember when you first bought your PC, it booted up a lot quicker than it does today, as you install more and more Apps on your computer. Unfortunately, it gets slower and slower. Much of this is due to Apps that start up when you boot your computer.
To see what all of these Apps are, go down to the taskbar and within the search field, type in: Startup Apps.
Next, Click on the best match option. This opens up a screen where you can see all of the different Apps that start with your computer.
Over on the left-hand side you can see the name of the App. You can also see whether it’s currently turned on or off.
And over on the right-hand side, you can also see the impact that it has on the start-up time.
Now before you go through this list intending to turn all of the startup apps off, keep in mind that some of them are good to have start-up with your computer.
For example, If you use Microsoft OneDrive to backup all of your files, so I want OneDrive to start up with your computer.
However, there might be some that maybe you don’t really use, and it has a big impact on the start-up time.
For example, if you don’t really use the Opera Browser Assistant but yet it’s starting up with your computer. You can click on the toggle to turn it off. Check the list and see which other Apps you can safely turn off.
You can sort the Startup Apps by Name, Status or Start-up Time Impact. Once you’re all done with your changes, simply close the window and next time your computer starts up your new settings will be introduced.
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How To Speed up Windows 10 – Rely on the Windows Security – Anti-Virus Software.
You can just rely on the Windows Security Anti-Virus Software. Windows Security Anti-Virus Software is already integrated with Windows 10, so there’s, no need to run Karspersky, MacAfee or Norton. Those are only going to consume additional resources, but it won’t, really provide you much additional protection.
To access Windows Security, go down to the taskbar and within the search field, type in: Windows Security and then click on the best match. This opens up Windows Security and it provides virus and threat protection. You get a firewall.
Windows 10 Defender Virus and threat protection basically does everything that some other anti-virus software would do. You could scan your PC. You could also check for updates, so there’s really no need to install additional software, because this does a great job.
Speed up Windows 10 Laptop with Windows Updates
You want to make sure that your Windows 10 PC is up to date.
Microsoft is constantly working on performance enhancements and there are always new drivers coming out, and these can impact your performance. To check for updates Go down to the taskbar and within the search field type in: updates.
At the very top let’s click on the best match option to check for updates. This opens up Windows update and at the very top you can see whether you are currently up to date. Down below you can also click on check for updates to see if there are any additional updates to install.
If you see any updates or new drivers to install on your PC, I’d recommend going ahead and installing those.
How to Speed Up Windows 10 PC – disable Background Apps
You can disable Background Apps. If you remember earlier, when we looked at the task manager, there were a ton of different background processes. Some of them are related to background Apps. To access Background Apps, go down to the taskbar and within the search field, type in: Background Apps and click on the best match.
This opens up all of the different Background Apps on your computer and to see a ton of different Apps and they’re currently all turned on.
Now there is some benefit to allowing them to run in the background.
For example, they’ll be updated. They’ll get the most recent information. So, when you launch the App, it will be up to date. But maybe on this list there’s an App that you really just don’t use and you don’t want it consuming those System Resources here you can click on the toggle to turn it off.
How to Speed Up Windows 10 – Power and Sleep settings
You can turn on high performance mode or ultimate mode on your computer. Now, by default, your computer is set to balance performance. It balances energy consumption with performance. However, if you just want the best possible performance, you can very easily enable that, just like we’ve been doing all along.
Let’s go down to the search field and type in: power and sleep settings. Next, let’s click on the best match.
Within power and sleep settings over on the right-hand side let’s click on additional power settings.
This opens up additional power settings and here you can choose between balanced or high performance. Some machines will also have ultimate performance once again for the best possible performance choose the best option.
Now, of course, the one downside is that it’s going to use more energy. So, especially, if you’re on a laptop with a battery, it’s going to drain your battery just a little bit faster.
How to Speed Up Windows 10 – Adjust the Appearance and Performance of Windows.
You can also adjust the visual effects on Windows 10 to prioritize performance over the visuals.
To adjust this, go down to the search field and then type in: adjust the appearance and performance of Windows.
Here let’s click on the best match. This opens up performance options, and here you can see all of the different visuals that Windows uses.
Now maybe you’ll decide that well I don’t really need a fader. Slide the menu into view, so you can uncheck that box and that will help you eke out a little bit more performance.
Now if you want to take it to the extreme, you can also adjust for best performance and that unchecks all of the boxes.
The one thing to be cautious of though, some of these visuals really do make it look like a better experience.
For example, you probably want smooth edges of screen fonts. I’d recommend instead going with custom, going through the different options and identifying which ones you want and which ones you’re willing to give up. Once you’re all done, click on apply.
Another visual that you can change is the transparency in Windows within the search field down here type in: show transparency in Windows and then click on the best match.
This opens up Windows settings, and here, if I take the window and I move it. You notice that there’s a slight bit of transparency here behind this menu. I can turn that off and that’ll help me save a little bit more system resources.
It doesn’t look quite as nice, but once again, the performance is a little bit better.
How to Speed Up Windows 10 – hardware accelerated GPU scheduling
You can use hardware accelerated GPU scheduling. Instead of relying on Windows to turn this on, let’s, go down to the search field and type in: graphics settings.
Please Note: that this setting depends on the hardware that your PC has. On some box standard desktop PC’s, you may not see these settings.
However, if your hardware supports this, when you click on the best match, you will be taken to the graphic settings and you should see hardware accelerated GPU scheduling is turned off by default. The eventual plan is to turn it on by default.
Today, window schedules the GPU, and that causes some latency. The plan is to have the GPU handle all of the scheduling and, as a result of that, you’ll see slightly better performance. Now, if you turn it on, this will help you get a little bit ahead of the curve.
How to Speed Up Windows 10 PC – Reset this PC
If your PC is still going extremely slow and you really just feel like giving up don’t worry, you can also go back to the original state when you first got your PC.
Down below in the search field type in: Reset this PC and Click on the best match.
This opens up the recovery view and right up here, you can reset your PC. When you click on get started, you can decide to keep your files on your computer or you could simply remove everything and start from scratch.
How To Make Your Computer Faster Windows 10 – Conclusion
We’ve covered many tips on how to improve your computer’s performance. If performance is still poor and you want to make sure that your next PC is as fast as possible. There are two things highly recommended to get.
First, I recommend getting an SSD. This is a solid state drive your PC will be able to access data much faster than with a traditional spinning hard disk drive.
Second, I recommend getting raid 0. Raid 0 saves files on two separate hard drives.
So, instead of waiting on one hard drive to read a file, two hard drives can do it faster together. There are some redundancy concerns, but if you have a backup – and you want the most speed possible, this is a great choice.
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