There are numerous causes for your Windows 10 computer to run slowly or freeze. These include viruses and malware programs, falling behind on Windows and driver updates, too many startup programs, or your storage and RAM (Random Access Memory) may be filled up causing your PC to run slower. Sometimes your computer may even be too old and need to be upgraded or replaced entirely. Below are a few methods to help boost performance and speed up Windows.
1) Checking for viruses or malware
A virus or malware infection may cause Windows 10 to be extremely slow and unresponsive. To fix this issue you should first ensure that your computer is not infected with a virus or malware. Windows Defender can scan your computer for viruses or malware. It is a built-in tool in Windows, so launch Windows Defender and perform a full scan to detect and remove any viruses or malware on your computer. Apart from Windows Defender, any trustable third-party antivirus software is also acceptable.
2) Switch off high-performance processes
Some unwanted third-party programs cause Windows 10 to run slowly. You can examine and disable high-performance processes.
Follow the steps:
- Right-click the “Taskbar” and select “Task Manager”.
- Navigate to the “Startup” tab and sort the processes by “Startup impact” rating.
- Disable the process by right-clicking it.
3) Unnecessary services should be disabled
There are various services on your computer and most of them are essential and some are unnecessary. Disabling unnecessary services improves Windows 10 performance
Follow the steps:
- Press the Windows key and R key together so the “Run” dialog box opens.
- Then, in the box, type services.msc and press OK to proceed.
- Then you’ll see a list of all the services that start with Windows 10.
- Right-click the unnecessary services and select “Properties”.
- Set the “Startup type” to “Disabled”.
- Save the changes by clicking “Apply” and “OK”.
4) Turn off visual effects and transparency
Windows 10 has too many beautiful visual effects and graphics, and these features will cause your computer to run slowly or even become unresponsive. Try disabling visual effects and transparency to speed up the system.
Follow the steps:
- Open “Settings” and select “Personalize”.
- “Colors” can be found in the left panel.
- Scroll down to “Transparency effects” and turn it off.
5) Defrag hard drive
If your computer is slow after a Windows update, you can defrag your hard drive.
Follow the steps
- In Windows, type defrag and then select “Defragment” and “Optimize Drives”.
- Press the “Analyze” button after selecting the desired drive.
- Select the fragmented drive and press the “Optimize” button after scanning the drive.
- Wait until the process finishes.
6) Driver and software updates
Outdated drivers or software causes Windows 10 to be unresponsive. To resolve the issue, update all outdated drivers and software. To update the driver, go to the Microsoft official website and download the most recent driver. You can also visit the software’s official website to download the most recent version and install it on your computer. After you’ve completed all the steps, restart your computer to see if the issue of computer slowness after the Windows update has been resolved.
7) Turn off the Windows Module Installer service
- Open the “Run” dialog box, by pressing the Windows key and the R key together.
- To continue, type services.msc into the box in the pop-up window and click OK.
- Locate and double-click the “Windows Module Installer” service in the “Services” window.
- Change the “Startup type” to “Disabled”, followed by the “Service status” to “Stopped”.
- To confirm the changes, click “Apply” and “OK”.
- After you’ve completed all the steps, restart your computer to see if Windows 10 has been installed.
8) Change your power settings
Open the “Control Panel” app and select “Hardware and Sound from Power Options”. There are usually two options: “Balanced” and “Power Saver”. Click the down arrow next to “Show additional plans” to access the “High performance” setting. Simply select the desired power setting, then exit the “Control Panel”. Changing your power plan from “Power Saver” to “High Performance” or “Balanced” will give your computer an instant performance boost.
9) Disable game mode
“Game Mode” is enabled by default, so to disable it, navigate to the “Settings” app and press on “Gaming” and then select “Game Mode” and slide the “Game Mode” slider to “Off”. After that, on the left side of the screen, click the “Xbox Game Bar” category, and on the next screen, turn the slider at the top of the screen to “Off”.
10) Turn off windows tips and tricks
Open “Settings” and then click on “System” and go to “Notifications & actions”. Unselect the box labeled “Get tips, tricks, and suggestions as you use Windows” in the “Notifications” section.
11) Pause OneDrive syncing
You can temporarily disable OneDrive syncing to see if it improves PC performance.
Follow the steps:
- Look for OneDrive near the notification area on the taskbar.
- Press on OneDrive and go to “Help & Settings”.
- Press on “Pause syncing”, and then specify the length of time you want to pause syncing your files.
- Restart your computer and check to see if your performance issues have improved with syncing disabled.
12) Restart and keep only required apps open
Having multiple apps, programs, web browsers, and so on open at the same time can cause your PC to slow down. Having a lot of browser tabs open at once can also significantly slow it down. If this happens, close any unnecessary apps, browser tabs, and so on, and see if that helps your PC speed up. If that doesn’t work, restart your computer and then open only the apps, programs, and browser windows you need.
13) Get rid of prefetch files
- Open the “Run” dialog box, by pressing the Windows key and the R key together.
- Enter prefetch into the text field.
- Delete every file from the folder, which opens.
14) Turn off background programs
You can choose which applications can run disable the function or run in the background prevent all stopping background-running applications if you want to speed up your computer as much as possible.
Follow the steps:
- Launch the “Settings” app and “Select Privacy”.
- Select “Background applications” and turn off the applications you wish to stop from background processes.
15) Remove unnecessary applications from Windows 10
Follow the steps:
- Open the “Settings” app and click on “Apps”.
- Click on “Apps & features”.
- Select the app to remove and click the “Uninstall” button.
16) Update applications
Older software can cause a computer to run slowly because of glitches or incompatibilities with Windows 10.
Follow the steps:
- Launch the “Microsoft Store” app.
- On the bottom left, select the “Library” button.
- Select “Get updates” from the menu.
17) Upgrade to a faster drive
One of the best ways to improve performance and speed on outdated hardware is probably to upgrade to a solid-state drive. Since SSDs don’t typically have moving parts as conventional hard drives do, data can be read and written much more quickly. Windows 10 will boot noticeably faster when you switch from an HDD to an SSD, and its overall performance will be faster and more optimized.