How to speed up your slow PC for free

Every time you use the computer it’s always the same story; your historical technological partner is really slow and you always find yourself complaining in front of the monitor because of its excessive slowness: ” my dear PC, you have to wake up: you can’t keep me dumbfounded in front of the screen for half an hour to open a menu or perform an operation from a few seconds. Maybe you have become too fat and lazy. You should eat a healthy diet and at least an hour of running a day to get back on track. ”

No, don’t tell me, are you talking to your PC too and trying to get it to move?! Don’t worry, you are not crazy; unfortunately, however, the computer is an inanimate object and does not want to hear reasons. On the contrary, I have the right solution for you: a series of useful tips that are always working.

How do you say? The topic is of interest to you because you would like to speed up your slow PC, possibly without spending a dime? Would you like to get your PC back on track in the blink of an eye, cleaning it from top to bottom to free up space, improve its stability and performance? Okay, then this is just the guide for you. I wish you a good read.

Index:

• Changing some Windows parameters
• Disabling automatic running programs
• Installation of applications and lightweight software
• Checking for malware infections on your PC
• Hard drive defragmentation and cleaning
• Windows recovery
• Replacement of hardware components

Changing some Windows parameters

If your PC is slow, you may want to consider turning off the animations and graphics effects that are used in the Windows interface. These elements, in fact, require the use of performance that on old PCs could cause significant slowdowns.

Also consider not applying changes to the Windows themes or interface: often third-party tools that allow customization of the Windows interface could slow down the performance of your PC, especially if it is dated.

If you want to know how to disable Windows graphics effects, then keep reading the next lines. First, you will need to open the Windows Control Panel. To do this, in Windows 10 click on the icon with a magnifying glass symbol ( Search ) and type in the term control panel.

Then click on the corresponding result and, from the window that just opened, click on System and Security. Then click on System and then, from the items on the left of the window, on the heading Advanced system settings.

You will be shown a small window, where you will need to reach the Advanced tab and click on the Settings button, in the Performance section.

From the list of items that are shown to you, you will need to make sure that there is no checkmark on Show previews instead of icons, Show window shades, Save taskbar previews, and Smooth screen font corners.

Then click on Apply and then on the Ok button. I also recommend that you try turning off the other items and see the impact on your PC’s performance.

You will also need to check that your PC’s indexing system is active and, if so, what elements of your PC it acts on. Indexing is the feature that allows you to search through the Windows Search function and identify any matching elements.

If you have indexed all of your PC’s items, folders and partitions, this could slow down your PC’s performance.

I, therefore, advise you to check which elements you need to index. To do this, click in Windows 10 on the icon with a magnifying glass symbol ( Search ) and type in the term indexing options. Then click on the corresponding search result and, from the window you just opened, click on Edit.

Then put a checkmark on the elements you want to index and remove it from the unnecessary ones. When done, click Ok and then Close.

Disabling automatic running programs

Slowing down your PC can also come from the many programs that run automatically when Windows starts. In this case you will have to disable all those programs that you are sure are of no use to you when you turn on Windows.

To do this, you can rely on the use of third-party software, such as CCleaner, or the integrated functionality of Windows. Since there is no difference between the one and the other, let’s see the tools offered by Windows.

In Windows 10, open the Task Manager , through the key combination CTRL + Shift + Esc or CTRL + Shift + Esc . You can also open it, simply by right-clicking on the Windows Taskbar at the bottom and selecting the Task Manager item.

Then go to the Startup tab and disable all on-screen services that are useless according to your needs. Then right-click on one of them and select the Disable item.

Installation of applications and lightweight software

If your PC does not have the necessary resources, it may have serious difficulties in opening “heavy” software. In this case, I recommend that you rely on applications and software that perform the same functions, but require fewer resources on your PC.

A prime example is an antivirus. A computer without antivirus could be a danger to your personal data, as well as to your privacy. My advice is to install an antivirus that require very few resources or to rely on Windows Defender, which is pre-installed and available for free on Windows operating systems.

If you still want to install a third-party antivirus, rely on those that have few but effective features, such as Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition or any other that I recommended in my free antivirus guide.

In addition to antivirus, many other programs of daily use can be “heavy” for your PC not very performing. For example, the navigation browser, such as Chrome, may not be the best choice; in this case you could maybe rely on Microsoft Edge, which is an equally valid solution.

Just to give you a few more examples, if you are using mail viewing software, you may want to go to simple web viewing, which only requires the use of your browser.

If you need to open a PDF file, you might think about not installing Adobe Reader, but using the internal Windows viewer, which Microsoft Edge owns.

In general, my advice is to prefer integrated solutions and, in the eventuality, to use light software, to the detriment of those considered “heavy” and which take a long time to execute.

Checking for malware infections on your PC

If your PC is slow, this may be due to the fact that there is malware in it that slows down overall performance. Just as an example, even a latest generation PC will be slowed down if it has been infected with a cryptocurrency miner.

My advice is therefore to check if your PC is clean through an antivirus scan. Always prefer a full scan, to the detriment of the quick ones, which can only analyze certain sectors of your PC, ignoring others.

Also, remember to check that you have the latest update of your antivirus software and its database. Scanning a computer with an outdated version of antivirus is risky: the antivirus would not be able to do its job fully and malware could remain undisturbed on your PC.

Hard drive defragmentation and cleaning

A procedure that allows you to speed up your PC is also defragmentation. This procedure must be performed only on hard disks and consists in moving the current data location from one point to another on the disk, in order to make access to this data faster.

To better understand this procedure, imagine your hard drive as a large library. On each shelf you will place your books, according to an order set by you. This way you will be able to easily locate a specific book when you need it. However, if the books on the shelves are placed in bulk, it will surely take you more time to locate a book.

Defragmentation is therefore the tool that allows you to tidy up your hard disk, so that the data in it can be accessed more quickly.

To perform the defragmentation you can use third-party applications, such as Defraggler, or the internal Windows utility.

In the latter case, click on the icon with a magnifying glass symbol ( Search ) and type the term defragment and optimize drives. Then select the corresponding search term and, from the window that appears, click on Change settings. Then check the  Run on a schedule box and select the frequency from the drop-down menu below. Then click Ok.

You can also proceed manually by selecting one of the drives on the screen from the system disk defragmenter window. You will then need to click on the Analyze button and, when finished, click on Optimize.

I advise you not to perform defragmentation on SSDs as these, due to their structure, do not require this procedure to be carried out.

Another piece of advice I can give you to speed up a slow PC is to free up hard disk space. You can perform this procedure by uninstalling all unnecessary programs and freeing up space from your PC. You can read more about it in my guide on how to delete traces on your PC and how to uninstall a program.

Windows recovery

Sometimes it can happen that, despite all the advice I gave you in the previous paragraphs, your PC continues to be slow. In that case, then I recommend that you perform a Windows installation reset which, in general, could solve the problems that afflict your PC.

You can then proceed with reinstalling Windows and formatting the hard drive. In this regard, I suggest you consult my guides on how to format your PC and how to format Windows 10.

Replacement of hardware component

If, finally, despite all the given solutions and even after a Windows reset, your PC continues to be slow, then you may be facing a hardware problem.

Probably the reason for the slowness is due to the fact that your PC has little RAM memory or has an outdated hard disk that is too slow. In the latter case, then I suggest you replace it, perhaps by installing an SSD: this is able to significantly improve the performance of your PC.

In this regard, I can not help but refer you to reading some of my guides, where I address the subject and give you some advice on purchases. You can then refer to my guide on the best SSDs and to the one relating to RAM suitable for your PC.

 

 

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