Nowadays, Windows 10 will work well on almost any computer you can buy, but that doesn’t mean you’ll always get great performance. If Windows 10 takes the time, why not try some of these methods to speed up Windows 10? But what are the ways to speed up Windows 10? Here is a detailed summary of the 15 methods available.
Restart your computer
How does Windows 10 improve running speed? It’s easy to keep a Windows session lasting days, weeks, or even months. Windows is so stable these days. This is great, but the downside is that the application may slowly start to clog due to a lack of memory and CPU resources. If your Windows computer is running slowly, try shutting it down and back on first to see if that helps.
Table of contents of Windows 10 speed up how-to guides
- 1. Restart your computer
- 2. Use an SSD
- 3. Install more memory
- 4. Adjust the paging file for better performance
- 5. Run Disk Cleanup
- 6. Change Windows performance settings
- 7. Simplify your startup application
- 8. Achieve high performance
- 9. Enable Fast Boot in the BIOS
- 10. Use sleep or hibernation
- 11. Pause or stop cloud application syncing
- 12. Disable search indexing
- 13. Check for malware
- 14. Update your drivers
- 15. Disable background apps
Use an SSD
While it will cost you a little money, one of the biggest speed boosts you can offer Windows is to install it on a solid-state drive (SSD). These drives are many times faster than mechanical spinning hard drives.
You don’t need to spend a fortune either. If you need to consider cost, consider buying a relatively small SSD (e.g., 250GB) and then using it as a Windows installation drive along with some core applications. On almost all computers, switching to an SSD comes with an instant and significant speed boost.
SSDs can be a bit complicated, so before you pull out your credit card, we’ve recommended some reading material for you. Check out SATA 3 vs. M.2 vs. NVMe, SSD buying guides, and everything you need to know about SSD wear.
Install more memory
Random Access Memory (RAM) is a computer’s fast working memory space. When it doesn’t have enough space to contain all of your active apps and operating system data, Windows will be forced to swap data in RAM with your hard drive. It’s one of the biggest performance disasters a computer can encounter, and it’s making everything miserable. The most straightforward solution is to add more RAM to your system.
First, familiarize yourself with Windows’ RAM requirements to make sure you have enough RAM. Also, check the RAM requirements of the applications you’re going to run at the same time to get an idea of how much RAM you’ll need.
You may not actually need to spend money on an upgrade yet, try 7 ways to clear memory and boost RAM on Windows and how to allocate more RAM for specific apps in Windows The recommendations in it.
Adjust the paging file for better performance
Windows 10 Speed Up How-To Guide: If you have to rely on RAM paging files for your current workload and they’re too slow, you should consider optimizing paging files. Luckily, we have a simple guide on how to do this, so go to how to optimize paging files in Windows and take some time to get the right balance of paging file size.
Run Disk Cleanup
There are many nooks and crannies where random junk will accumulate on your hard drive. These temporary files may slow down your system long after your need for them is gone, but finding and removing them manually will be a hassle. Instead, try running Disk Cleanup to automatically find and delete these files. We have a Disk Cleanup guide in How to Run Disk Cleanup in Windows 10.
Change Windows performance settings
What are the ways to speed up Windows 10? Windows has a lot of appealing visual settings, but they come at a price! Turning off some or all of Windows Visual Decoration on low-end computers can free up system resources:
- Open the Start menu and select the settings gear icon.
- Select the system.
- Select About.
- Select Advanced System Settings.
- Select Settings under Performance, and then select Tune for optimal performance.
- Select OK.
Now Windows won’t be so flashy, but it should be faster.
Simplify your startup application
Every time you restart Windows, you may have a long list of applications waiting to run when it starts. Many of these can have a huge impact on the time it takes you to start using your PC. It’s a good idea to go through all the apps that are set up to start automatically with Windows and disable the ones you don’t need. Take a look at how to disable or change startup programs in Windows 10.
Achieve high performance
How does Windows 10 improve running speed? Windows is a very power-conscious operating system that may limit your computer’s performance to save battery power or reduce your monthly electricity bill. But if your system is plugged in the wall, why not use it to its full potential? All you have to do is:
- Open the Start menu and select the settings gear icon.
- Select the system.
- Select Power & Sleep.
- Select a different power setting.
- Choose high performance.
Now, your computer will get the power it needs to reach its peak performance.
Enable Fast Boot in the BIOS
What are the ways to speed up Windows 10? Most motherboards have a fast boot option toggle that you can use to reduce the number of actions the BIOS performs at boot time and eliminate any artificial delays, such as waiting for you to press the boot BIOS button. For specific details on how to do this on your system, check your motherboard’s manual.
Use sleep or hibernation
Instead of shutting down your computer completely, consider using sleep or hibernation mode, both of which are faster than cold starts. If you don’t know what these two modes are, read What is the difference between sleep and hibernation in Windows 10?
Pause or stop cloud application syncing
Windows 10 Speed Up How-To Guide: Cloud apps like OneDrive, Google Drive, and Dropbox are convenient ways to back up and share files on your computer, but they can cause performance issues if they use your disk when you’re trying to do something else.
So, if you’re running any of these or similar cloud sync applications on your computer, consider disabling automatic syncing or scheduling overnight syncing when you’re not trying to use your computer.
For an example of how it works, check out how to disable OneDrive on a Windows 10 PC.
Disable search indexing
To ensure that you get instant search results in Windows, there is a file indexer that runs in the background at regular intervals. On some computers, the search index can cause performance issues, but you can easily disable it. Just read Turn off indexing in Windows for better performance to get the details.
Check for malware
How does Windows 10 improve running speed? There are all sorts of malware out there that can bring your computer to a halt, so it’s always a good idea to run antivirus and anti-malware software to rule out malware as the culprit for the lagging Windows experience. If you’re not sure how to do it, read How to remove malware completely using a free tool.
Update your drivers
Incorrect or outdated drivers are often the culprits of poor performance. Manually checking that your drivers are up to date can be a hassle, so you may want to read our guide on how to automatically update your device drivers.
Disable background apps
What are the ways to speed up Windows 10? If your computer isn’t particularly high-end, then programs running in the background can eat into your hardware performance pool. To disable background apps:
- Open the Start menu and select the settings gear icon.
- Select Privacy.
- Select Background Apps.
- Either close all background apps or do this for individual apps you don’t need.
With most modern computers, you don’t need to do this, but on severely constrained machines, it’s one of those small performance gains that can really add up in the end.
This concludes our list of how-to guides and tips for speeding up Windows 10. Feel free to share your own performance-enhancing knowledge with the rest of the community in the comments below. As a bonus, check out our super guide to 99 ways to make your computer run faster.
