Make your Windows laptop faster in 7 easy steps!

MAKE YOUR WINDOWS LAPTOP FASTER IN 7 EASY STEPS!

Do you work on a Windows laptop or do you always have the laptop with you when you are on your way? Then of course you want it to continue to function correctly. After all, nobody likes long loading times or even complete crashes. However, has your laptop become extremely slow or does it regularly crash? Then in many cases this is easy to solve. Read on and discover 7 useful tips that can improve the speed of your laptop.

1. Delete applications and files

The first step you can take to improve the speed of your Windows laptop is to remove unused applications. Both on old and new laptops you regularly install (automatically) software that you never use. Thanks to a full hard disk files and applications are loaded less quickly. So always start by critically looking at all the applications that are installed on the laptop. Do you never use an application? Then it is easy to remove via the Start menu.

The same applies to other documents installed on your laptop. Who knows, for example, you may have put many gigabytes of videos, images or music on the computer. There is a good chance that certain films that you have already watched can be removed. It is therefore wise to also delete these files in order to optimize the speed of your laptop.

2. Switch off automatic start-up

Various programs tend to start automatically during Windows startup. This option is often automatically checked during installation and there is a good chance that you have forgotten to disable this so-called “functionality”… The first option is to launch relevant applications and disable “automatic switch-on” via the settings. The other option is to deactivate apps that run automatically with the key combination Ctrl + Alt + Del and then open “Task Manager“. Next, look under “Startup options“. Here you can see which apps run automatically and you can easily disable this.

3. Install updates

It is probably well known that updating software is good for the safety of your laptop. But did you know that updates can also make your laptop faster? For example, it is possible that the loading times decrease or that known bugs have been solved. Perhaps the most important update that you should always perform is that of the Windows 10 operating system. To check whether the most recent version is already installed, you can navigate to Start and then to Settings> Update and security> Windows Updates. By clicking on “Search for updates”, it will be checked if updates are available.

Are you using an older operating system than Windows 10, such as Windows 7 or Windows 8? Then switch to Windows 10 as soon as possible. Not only will this improve the speed of your laptop. You also use the most recent security updates.

4. View processes

Did your laptop always work perfectly and did it suddenly become slow? There is a good chance that a certain application will suddenly consume a lot of CPU power or RAM memory. This is a major problem especially for older and less powerful laptops. Fortunately, it is easy to find out what potential “large users” are in terms of computing power. Simply open Task Manager using the Ctrl + Alt + Esc combination. Under “Processes” you will find all the programs and the amount of computing power that the tools use. Graphic programs and browsers in particular can suddenly use a lot of memory. You can then easily remove this thanks to the tips in step 1.

5. Disable graphic effects

Although many visual effects are started by default within Windows 10 that make the operating system look modern, they sometimes make your laptop slower. Turning off visual effects is therefore a good tip to get your slow laptop back up and running quickly. First click on the Start menu to then open the Settings. Click on the search field and enter “Performance” here. Now select the “Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows” option.

You can then manually switch all visual effects on and off. Examples of graphical options that (possibly) require a lot of memory are the animations on the taskbar, soft borders, and displaying the content while dragging. Keep in mind that when you disable these options, Windows 10 will look less attractive.

6. Replace hardware

The next option to make your laptop faster usually works best, but at the same time it is the most expensive: replacing  hardware components. As your laptop gets older, chances are that the hardware is not powerful enough for the latest software. The “average” laptop that can run most applications quickly currently has (at least) 8GB RAM, an SSD as a hard disk and an Intel Core i3 processor. Is there hardware in your laptop that does not meet these requirements? Then there is the chance that your laptop will function less quickly.

7. Check malware

The last regularly occurring cause of a slow Windows 10 laptop is malware. Issues such as viruses or trojans often seem obvious, but this is not always the case. Sometimes malware functions completely in the background and you hardly notice it as a user. For example, strange alerts or pop-ups cannot appear, but you will only notice that the laptop has become slower. Therefore always check your laptop for malware in order to discover if that could be the cause. Use reliable security software such as ESET or Bitdefender for this. This ensures that all malware is discovered and deleted!