Tips and Tricks to Speed Up Windows

Looking for a quick way to speed up your computer? You can make Windows faster in less than 10 minutes with these 10 tweaks.

It would be nice to get more speed out of your PC, but you don't have a lot of time. The most important speed benefits, such as upgrading your hardware, can take hours to shop, ship, and physically replace.

Here are some quick tricks to speed up Windows in no time at all. You can speed up your system in a number of different ways without spending hours on it.

1. Uninstall some startup programs (5 minutes)

Getting rid of unnecessary startup programs is one of the easiest ways to improve the performance of your computer. When you log into your PC, many apps, such as Skype, Spotify, and Chrome, start by default. If you don't use them immediately, you waste resources at boot and throughout your session.

Windows 8.1 and 10 users can view what programs start at startup by right-clicking an empty spot on the Taskbar and selecting Task Manager. Click the Startup tab to see what programs are launched. Each item's Startup impact is displayed on the rightmost column. The Windows operating system determines this, and it isn't always accurate, but it gives you a general idea. By typing msconfig into the Start Menu and selecting the Startup tab, Windows 7 users can access the Startup menu.

If you see anything that shouldn't run at startup, right-click it and choose Disable. Do not disable vital software, such as your antivirus or backup program. In case you're unsure, you can review our list of items to remove from startup. Once you remove a few items from the list, your computer will boot up faster.

2. Disable Windows Visual Effects (2 Minutes)

Microsoft Windows comes with a bunch of fancy effects that make working with it more enjoyable on all but the weakest machines. Animations when minimizing or maximizing windows, fade effects, and font smoothing are among them. Taking them off will free up extra resources for performance instead of eye candy.

In the Start Menu, type performance and choose Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows. On the Performance Options window's Visual Effects tab, you'll find several options. You can either read through them and choose which ones you want to keep, or you can select the Adjust for best performance option to disable all of them. Windows will apply your changes after you click OK.

Disabling these will make Windows more clunky. You won't even notice it after a few days.

3. Take a look at your power plan (3 minutes)

You can choose how Windows uses energy by choosing from several power plans. If you want to conserve your laptop's battery life, an energy-saving plan makes sense. However, limiting the performance of your PC with this is not necessary on a desktop where power consumption is not an issue.

Navigate to System > Power & sleep in the Settings app to view your power plans. To open the Power Options entry in the Control Panel, click the Additional power settings link. Check that you have the Balanced plan selected.

As part of the bottom drop-down menu, Windows also offers a Power saver plan and High performance option. A Balanced plan is the best option for most users, since it automatically adjusts power consumption based on what you're doing. A High performance plan provides no added benefits.

Changing any of the options, such as how long it waits before going to sleep automatically, can be done by clicking Change plan settings.

4. Uninstall Old Apps and Bloatware (5-10 Minutes)

Your computer won't become faster by uninstalling programs alone. If those apps are running in the background, accessing the internet, using Windows services, etc., removing the unnecessary apps may have a positive effect on performance. Especially true are bloatware programs that nag you into buying their premium product.

You can view your installed software by opening Settings, selecting the Apps entry, and scrolling through the list. Click Uninstall when you find an app you haven't used for a long time (or a program you don't need). Find more specific tips on removing these programs in our guide to easily removing bloatware.

5. Clean Up Your Hard Drive (5 Minutes)

Cleansing up old files does not immediately speed up your computer, like uninstalling programs. You may be able to improve performance by giving your hard drive some breathing room if you have tons of files on it.

It is not necessary to install any new software to clean up old files. Run Disk Cleanup from the Start Menu to scan your hard drive for unnecessary dataOnce you see the Disk Cleanup window, select Clean up system files.

View this page to see what you want to remove and how much space this can free up. You can safely delete most of them, such as temporary files and error logs. Before removing the Previous Windows installation and Windows upgrade log files, you should think carefully.

Windows saves your old installation in a folder called Windows.old when you upgrade to the latest version of Windows 10. If you don't like the new version, you can easily roll back in just a few clicks. When you delete Windows.old from this menu, you'll have to manually downgrade, which is more time-consuming.

Therefore, we recommend waiting until you are certain there are no issues with the new Windows 10 Update before cleaning these options.

6. Replacing some software (5-10 minutes)

Perhaps the software you're using is slow, not Windows.

Check your most-used apps for updates first to take advantage of new features and speed improvements. Additionally, we have reviewed the most efficient software in several categories to maximize your PC's performance.

Performance could be improved by replacing a few programs with lighter alternatives.

The idea of getting rid of the bloated Norton Antivirus and letting Windows Defender take over is a good one. Chrome is known to eat up RAM, and you do not need Adobe Reader when there are lighter alternatives.

7. Check Your Internet Speed (5-10 Minutes)

While we're discussing potential solutions that are not related to Windows, we should mention the speed of your internet connection. If you're browsing on a slow network connection, even a powerful computer can slow to a crawl.

This can be improved by speeding up your home network, and by tweaking Windows to fix internet issues. You just need to ignore internet speed myths.

8. Let Windows check for problems (5 minutes)

What are the built-in troubleshooting tools in Windows? These can scan for and find common issues, such as issues with Windows Update, even if they don't always work.

Type Control Panel into the Start Menu to open the performance troubleshooter. You can change the View by entry from Category to Small icons in the upper-right corner. Go to Troubleshooting and click Run maintenance tasks under System and Security.

You will see the troubleshooting window appear. Select the Advanced link and make sure the Apply repairs automatically checkbox is selected. Additionally, choose Run as administrator so that the tool can fix additional issues. Click Next and wait a few moments for the tool to run. If it detects any issues, you'll see a summary of them at the end.

9. Check for malware (10 minutes)

Your PC might be infected by malware if it suddenly slowed down drastically. Try installing Malwarebytes and running a scan.

In order to prevent future issues, make sure your system is using the right security software once it is malware-free.

10. Restart! (2 Minutes)

One of the easiest ways to boost your PC is to restart it! You may experience more performance issues and a sluggish system when your system has not been shut down in weeks. With little work, a restart of your system can resolve issues and improve your performance.

Due to Windows 10's Fast Startup feature, shutting down and rebooting isn't the same thing as restarting. You must select Restart from the power menu to do it correctly.

What is the best way to speed up Windows?

You can speed up Windows without investing much time with these 10 methods. Even though these software tweaks will not speed up the system as much as installing an SSD, they will certainly help. Take a look at these next time you have a few minutes, and most of them don't require installing anything.

If you're tweaking Windows, don't make maintenance mistakes that could cause further issues.

If you want Windows to run faster, what quick tweaks do you use? Were these tips helpful? In the comments, let us know what you think and what tricks you use!