Some Effective Ways to speed up your Windows 10

If your machine is slow or you are facing some speed issues than in this post, we discuss some Effective Ways, by using these you can speed up your Windows 10

1. Prevent programs from loading at startup

It’s a common sight for most Windows users to have tons of apps and features loaded when their machines start. These are mostly the ones installed by the manufacturers, and others which automatically launch at startup.

Watching these programs load is one of the most visible instances where you feel slowness of your machine. On Windows 10, you can disable programs from loading at startup using the task manager.

This way you can speed up Windows startup by avoiding programs you don’t want to popup automatically.

2. Use fewer apps at a time, reduce RAM usage to speed up the Computer

Running multiple apps at the same time increases your productivity. But doing the same puts an extra burden on the shoulders of your PC. Well, in most cases, the CPU isn’t affected much, but the RAM is the resource that gets exploited.

You can head over to the Task Manager app and monitor memory usage under the Performance tab > Memory. If the usage stats show that the programs are harassing the RAM chip, you can kill the culprits from the Processes tab to speed up your Windows 10 machine. But make sure you don’t end up killing an important Windows processes. You have to see that there is a difference between the ‘Available’ memory and the memory ‘In Use’.

Your system memory filling up to the brim causes things to slow down on your computer. Adding more RAM is one option, but it requires you to shell out your hard-earned money. A less efficient measure to boost Windows 10 performance would be increasing the size of the Windows Page File.

How to change Windows Page File size? (Read our detailed article on Windows Page File here)

• Go to This PC > Properties
• Click Advanced System Settings
• Under Performance, click Settings
• Go to Advanced tab
• Under virtual memory, click Change
• Untick Automatically manage paging file size for all drives check box. Select a drive and enable the Custom Size option. Choose the Initial size and Maximum size of the page file. Click Ok to save the changes.

There is one thing, if you have excess RAM, like some 16GB, you really don’t need to increase page file size. However, disabling the page file isn’t an option you should consider. Your PC might run into problems.

Read Also: How to set up and manage an FTP server on Windows 10

3. See if your Windows isn’t corrupt

One of the easiest ways to fix corrupted files on Windows 10 is to run the system file checker utility. You might have used the same while trying to repair corrupt pen drives and hard drives that went rogue. Fixing corrupted files will surely speed up Windows 10 machine of yours.

How to run System File Checker in Windows 10?

You can start an elevated command prompt window and execute the following command.

sfc /scannow

The process might take some time depending on the size of your hard drive. Alternatively, you can run the tool by visiting This PC > Windows drive (right-click) > Properties > Tools. Click Check.

4. Scan your PC for malware to speed up Windows 10

Your slow Windows 10 system might be due to some fishy app hiding inside the machine, disguised as some system update program or anything else.

You should regularly scan your PC for malware, either by using Windows Defender or some third-party antivirus software, to make your Windows faster.

5. Shutting down and restarting Windows isn’t an option, it’s a necessity

Do keep in mind, your PC can survive a few days without rebooting or shutting down. But, that doesn’t mean one always should keep it running.

Restarting or shutting down your PC at regular intervals clears the system memory that gets consumed over time, and it also kills all the errant processes to speed up your Windows 10 PC.

6. Prefer to hibernate your PC, or maybe sleep

When you hibernate your PC, less time is required when you turn it back on. That’s because the current state of the system is saved on the hard drive and gets loaded when you power on the system.

Give your PC some sleep

Putting their computer on sleep mode is mostly a routine for Mac users because these devices can live for almost a month in that way. But now, Windows users also find it comfortable keep their PC in sleep mode for long hours.

In Sleep Mode, only the RAM on the device remains active. But sleep mode drains the battery, although in small amounts. So, you might not want to prefer it every time for your Windows PC, but sleep mode makes it quicker for you to start working on the system.

7. Make Windows ugly as possible

Do away with animations and special effects

Our modern PCs are all about software that should look great, filled with animations and effects that soothe users’ eyes. But these visual improvements consume system resources. The machines which don’t possess efficient hardware could suffer the consequences sometimes.

There are also some people who don’t use their computers diligently; they install random apps and do things that cause problems. Sometimes, the normal operation of the machine suffers.

How to disable/enable animations in Windows 10?

You can tune Windows for best performance by disabling the animations. Go to My PC (right-click) > Properties > Advanced System Settings > Settings (Under Performance).

In the Performance Options window, select the radio button that says “Adjust for best performance“. Alternatively, you can select Custom and choose the options you want to disable.

Disable transparency to make Windows 10 faster

Having the taskbar, start menu, and action center transparent can be good for your eyes, but the feature consumes some of the resources on your PC. You can disable transparency by visiting Settings > Personalization > Colors. Turn off the toggle button that says ” Make Start, taskbar, and action center transparent.

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8. Always keep Windows updated

egularly updating your computer can improve Windows 10’s performance in addition to protecting the machine from unwanted threats and newly discovered vulnerabilities.

9. Choose what your PC should prefer

In the same Performance Options window I mentioned above (point 7), switch to the Advanced tab. There, you can determine whether your PC should give preference to the programs you use or the services that run in the background. This adjustment could give a considerable performance boost according to your needs.

10. Turn off cloud sync to make Windows faster

OneDrive would consume your resources and slow down Windows 10. In fact, it’s not only OneDrive, and you should do this for other services too.

To disable OneDrive sync and make your Windows faster, go to This PC > OneDrive (right-click) > Choose OneDrive folders to sync. On the next screen, untick the checkbox Sync all files and folders in OneDrive and click Ok.

11. Use fast startup to speed up your computer’s load time

One way to accelerate Windows 10 startup process is by turning on the hibernation feature that’s disabled by default. Fast Startup (enabled by default) is another feature which reduces the booting time of Windows 10. It’s a combination of shutdown and hibernation.

You can check whether Fast Startup is enabled for your computer by visiting Power Options > Choose what the power button does. Click “Change settings that are currently unavailable” to unlock the shutdown configuration. There, you’ll see the option to enable/disable fast startup.

12. Use ReadyBoost to speed up Windows 10

ReadyBoost is a Windows feature that can supplement your RAM when your hard drive is slow. You might see visible differences in system performance if you’re running low-end hardware.

The trick can make your Windows laptop or desktop faster. But keep in mind, ReadyBoost doesn’t work in the case of SSDs as they’re usually faster than USB drives.

Now, here are the steps to set up ReadyBoost on your USB drive and speed up Windows 10 (for previous versions the options may slightly differ):

• Connect the USB drive to your Windows 10 PC.
• Go to My Computer or This PC.
• Now, right-click your USB drive to open the context menu and select Properties.
• Under the ReadyBoost tab, you can allocate space for the ReadyBoost feature or use the complete USB drive.
• Select Dedicate this device to ReadyBoost if you won’t be using the USB drive for any other purpose. Otherwise, select Use this device radio button and use the slider to reserve space for the feature.
• Click OK to finish. Windows will take some time to configure the USB drive.

So, this way you can speed up Windows using ReadyBoost if you’re low on resources. You might observe some benefits of the feature but they largely depend on people’s usage habits and may differ from machine to machine.

How do I stop ReadyBoost?

There are a lot of benefits offered by ReadyBoost, but there could be many reasons you might want to disable it. For instance, you’ve have upgraded your new PC and don’t need ReadyBoost anymore.

Disable ReadyBoost Windows 10

Go to your ReadyBoost drive’s properties and click on Do not use this device radio button. Click Ok to save the changes. Next, you have to manually delete the ReadyBoost file stored on the US drive.

13. Turn off live tiles

If you’re running Windows 10 Pro, you can use the Group Policy Editor. In the editor, open User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar > Notifications > Turn off tile notifications.

Otherwise, you’ll have to disable the live tiles manually for each app. Open Start > Right-click a live tile > More > Turn live tile off.

14. Use High-Performance Mode to improve PCs performance

The ‘High Performance’ mode in Power options helps you make the best out of your PC. The CPU can utilize its full potential, while the high-performance mode prevents various components like hard drives, WiFi cards, etc. from going into power saving states.

Connect a charger while doing resource-heavy tasks

15. Use the built-in troubleshooter

With the release of the Creators Update, Microsoft has started providing a dedicated section for various Windows troubleshooting utilities. You can visit Settings > Update & Recovery > Troubleshooter.

There, you’ll find options to fix errors related to Bluetooth, BSOD, audio, Windows Update, keyboard, and other hardware on the system. Fixing various problems can make your Windows 10 PC run faster and without errors.

16. Improve app performance in Windows 10

If you’re running the April Update, Windows 10 now includes a new Settings page that lets you change advanced graphics settings for individual apps, both UWP and classic. This could be handy if you’re facing performance problems with a particular app and you’re blaming your innocent PC.

Go to Settings > System > Display. Scroll down and click Graphics Settings. One the next screen, select the classic or UWP app you want to configure and click Add.

Now, click the app’s name and click Options. Here, you can choose between different graphics specifications like System default, Power Saving, and High Performance. The high-performance setting allows the app to take advantage of the discrete GPU on your system.

17. Free up space in Windows 10

Deleting unwanted data is a great way to speed up Windows 10. In general, Windows already included the disk cleanup utility that lets you clear your hard drive. All you need to do is type Disk Cleanup in the Windows Search bar and fire up the utility. It’ll take some time to analyze your hard drive after which you can choose what to delete.

If you want to free up space in Windows 10, the April 2018 Update comes with a new junk removal tool called Free Up Space. It can be found in the Settings app and works almost the same way.

18. Reset your PC

Apparently, the last and the least option to end all of the Windows-related problems is to Reset your Windows 10 PC. You can do so by visiting the Recovery section in Settings or by the utility provided by your device manufacturer which you can access by pressing some key when the PC boots. Reinstalling Windows 10 would revert all the wrong-doings and changes you and various apps have made to the system.

So, these were some of the methods that can help you speed up your Windows 10 PC. If you have something to add, don’t forget to drop your thoughts in the comments.