How to optimize system
Is your computer, which is no longer very recent, trudging under the weight of the years? Has your PC become slower overnight and you don’t know how to fix it? Don’t panic. By putting into practice a few small tricks, like the ones I’m about to suggest in today’s guide, you should be able to improve the situation.
Let me be clear: miracles cannot be done. If your PC is old, slow or there are hardware problems that prevent it from working “smoothly”, even optimizing the system to the maximum will not achieve extraordinary results. If, on the other hand, you have a good PC and its performance is limited by software problems, you will almost certainly be able to bring it back to life.
What are you waiting for then? Take a few minutes of free time, find out how to optimize your system thanks to the advice I’m about to give you and try to put them all into practice. Whether you have a Windows PC or a Mac, I am convinced that you will notice a minimal improvement over the current situation. I wish you a good read and, above all, I wish you a big good luck for your system optimization work!
Index
- Run an anti-virus and anti-malware scan
- Reduce the software set to start automatically
- Uninstall unnecessary applications
- Use “lightweight” software
- Update the drivers
- Limit graphic effects
- Defragment the disk
- Delete unnecessary files
- Adjust file indexing
- Restore the system
- Upgrade your computer hardware
Run a virus and malware scan
If you are using a Windows PC, the first operation, or rather the first operations, which I recommend you do to optimize the system are to install a good antivirus and a good antimalware and check the computer with the latter.
There are many valid antivirus and antimalware, even in the free sector. I personally recommend Bitdefender Free as an antivirus and then a couple of antimalware: Adwcleaner that allows you to easily remove from your PC all those malware that change browser settings (the so-called browser hijackers) and Malwarebytes Anti-Malwarewhich instead deals with malware at 360 degrees and allows you to remove the vast majority of known malware. Both software do not “step on their toes” with the antivirus and do not slow down the system as they do not have a real-time protection system (Malwarebytes actually has it, but it can be deactivated and then only lasts for a few days as it is a premium feature available only for 14 days in the free version of the program).
To perform a full scan with Bitdefender Free, all you have to do is start the latter and press the System scan button on its main screen; first, however, be sure to create a free account within the program, otherwise, its protection will expire after 30 days. For more info, read my free antivirus tutorial where I explained to you in more detail how Bitdefender works.
As for Adwcleaner and Malwarebytes, to carry out a complete check of the system, just start the latter and press the button to start scanning the PC. For further information, read my guide to Adwcleaner and my tutorial on how to eliminate adware in which I told you about Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.
If you are unable to use the antivirus due to an error message, there is probably some malware blocking it. To solve the problem, download a “live” antivirus version (to be copied to a floppy disk or USB stick) and boot from it. I explained how to do this in my tutorial on how to clean your computer from viruses.
And on Mac? Despite what one might think, Macs are not invulnerable. There are also malware for macOS, but at the moment the risk of “getting” is quite low (unless you often download illegal software from P2P networks). If you want to dispel any doubts about it, however, install the free Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Mac and use it to do a full system scan. I have well explained how to use it in my tutorial on Mac cleaning.
Reduce the software set to start automatically
Another essential operation for system optimization is to reduce the number of software set to start automatically, that is, the number of software that starts automatically when the computer is turned on.
In fact, the fewer programs start at startup, the faster the system access procedure is. Furthermore, fewer programs “running” in the background and fewer system resources (RAM and CPU) are used thus improving overall system performance. The important thing is to act carefully, deactivating only the really superfluous software and preserving the automatic start-up of system components, as well as computer security software (e.g. antivirus) and all those programs that are needed in start-up phase. Let’s see what are the steps to take on all the most popular OS.
Windows 10 / 8.x
Right-click on the taskbar (the black bar at the bottom of the screen) and select Task Manager from the menu that appears. In the window that opens, click on the More details item, select the Startup tab and disable unnecessary software by clicking on their names and pressing the Disable button at the bottom right.
Windows 7 and earlier
Press the Win + R key combination on your PC keyboard to call up the Run… panel, type the msconfig command inside it and press Enter.
In the window that opens, select the Startup tab, remove the checkmark from the names of the components you want to disable and click on the Apply and OK buttons to save the changes.
macOS
Go to System Preferences (the gear icon located on the Dock bar), click on the Users and Groups icon and select your username from the left sidebar.
At this point, move to the Login Elements tab, select the elements you want to remove from the automatic start and press the [-] button located at the bottom left.
Uninstall unnecessary applications
For the same reason as above (the fewer programs there are running and less system resources are occupied), I recommend that you make a selection of the applications installed on your PC and remove those you no longer use, which may have components that they run in the background on the system, unnecessarily slowing down its operation.
To uninstall a program on Windows, click on the Start button (the Windows flag located at the bottom left), search for control panel in the menu that opens and select the first search result. In the window that opens, click on the Uninstall a program icon, select the icon of the program to remove and click on the Uninstall / Change button located at the top left. If any step is not clear to you or if you are unable to remove a software due to some error, find out how to permanently uninstall a program thanks to the tutorial I wrote on the subject.
To uninstall a program on a Mac, however, you have to act differently depending on the origin of the software and its properties.
- If a program has been downloaded from the Mac App Store, open the Launchpad, make a long click on its icon and press the (x) that appears at the top left.
- If a program has been downloaded from third-party sites, go to the macOS Applications folder , drag its icon to the Trash and empty the trash by right-clicking on it and selecting the appropriate function from the menu that opens.
- For some more advanced programs, such as Adobe graphics suites and antivirus, you need to use uninstallers similar to those present on Windows. The uninstallers can be placed in the dmg packages of the software, in their installation path or in their menu.
For more details on all three procedures for uninstalling Mac applications, see the tutorial I dedicated to the topic.
Speaking of software to uninstall: I want to advise you to stay away from “miraculous” software, those that promise to speed up your PC by 200% with a simple click (often only do damage), and not to download programs from unreliable sources in how much they might contain malware.
Use “lightweight” software
In addition to uninstalling unnecessary software from your PC, you could replace some of them with more “light” alternatives, that is, with programs that perform the same tasks – perhaps with fewer functions – but which are less greedy for resources. For example, as a PDF file reader you could use the very light Sumatra PDF Reader, the aforementioned Bitdefender Free as antivirus, MPC-HC media player on Windows and IINA on macOS, IrfanView image viewer and so on.
Update the drivers
If you are using a Windows PC, some slowdowns may be caused by the presence of outdated drivers for components such as the video card, sound card, network card, etc.
In light of what I just told you, I highly recommend that you take five minutes of free time and find out if there are any updates for the drivers installed on your PC. If you don’t know how to proceed, find all the steps you need to take in my tutorial on how to update drivers.
If you use a Mac you do not need to “manually” update the video card, sound card or other internal components of the computer as everything is handled automatically by macOS.
Limit graphic effects
On older computers, it may be useful to reduce the animations and graphic effects that characterize the user interface of the operating system (eg transparency effects). Proceeding in this way you will have a work environment a little less beautiful to look at, but definitely faster and more practical to use during everyday work. Here are the steps to take on Windows and macOS.
Windows
If you are using a Windows PC, to reduce the graphic effects of the operating system you have to open the File Explorer (the yellow folder icon located at the bottom left of the taskbar), then you have to right-click on the Computer / This PC icon which is located in the left sidebar and you have to select the Properties item from the menu that appears.
In the window that opens, select the Advanced system settings item from the left sidebar and click on the Settings button related to System performance. At this point, put the checkmark next to the Adjust item for the best performance and click the Apply button to disable all Windows graphic effects.
If you are using Windows 7 and want to keep the transparency effects active, put the checkmark next to the options Enable desktop composition, Enable crystal effect transparency and Use visual styles for windows and buttons.
macOS
To disable unnecessary animations in macOS (e.g. desktop transitions) and transparency effects, open System Preferences (the gear icon located on the Dock bar), click on the Accessibility icon and select the Monitor item from the left sidebar. At this point, put the checkmark next to the items Reduce motion and Reduce transparency and that’s it.
If you want to reduce the animations also for the Dock bar, open System Preferences, click on the Dock icon in the window that opens and remove the check from the items Magnification and Animation when opening applications.
Defragment the disk
If you are using a Windows PC, you must also pay close attention to disk defragmentation. Defragmentation is a procedure by which information on the disk is “brought together” and rearranged so that access to it is as quick as possible. It is essential on traditional mechanical disks, but it also has its usefulness on modern SSDs, although the differences in terms of performance are less noticeable (you can read this article in English if you want to know more technically).
Fortunately, Windows is “smart” enough to manage mechanical hard drives and SSDs at best, so just go to the defragmentation settings and make sure the function is active: the operating system does the rest automatically.
To check the activation of defragmentation on Windows, click on the Start button (the Windows flag located in the lower-left corner of the screen), type the term defragment in the menu that opens and select the first search result.
In the window that opens, click on the Change settings button and, if it is not already present, put the checkmark next to the options Run on a schedule (choosing Every week from the relevant drop-down menu) and Notify if three unfinished consecutive scheduled runs. If one or more disks need defragmentation (so they have the wording optimization necessary next to their names), select and command their immediate defragmentation by pressing the Optimize button.
Macs, due to the file system used by macOS, usually do not need defragmentation. In any case, you can learn more by reading my tutorial on how to defrag Mac.
Delete unnecessary files
Despite what one might think, freeing up disk space does not automatically speed up the computer; it speeds it up only if there is not enough RAM to run the running programs and therefore the system needs the so-called “virtual memory” (ie when part of the information that should be hosted by the RAM is transferred to the disk).
Having said that, deleting some temporary files and freeing up some disk space helps improve the performance of some applications (which may have a damaged or corrupted cache) and allows you to use your PC with less “worries” for your head, so it’s good to do it.
If you are using a Windows PC, you can free up disk space by using the free CCleaner application that cleans up temporary system files and many popular applications, such as browsers to browse the Internet. Using it is really a breeze: after downloading and installing it on your PC, all you have to do is start it, select the Cleaning item from the left sidebar and press the Start cleaning button located at the bottom right. If you don’t know where to put your hands, I recommend that you leave all the default settings active. For more details, read my tutorial on how to delete temporary files in which I told you in-depth about CCleaner and its many functions.
If you use a Mac, you can rely on the free OnyX application that allows you to delete temporary system files in just a few clicks. It is quite easy to use but also very powerful, so use it with care and make sure you download the version that best suits the version of macOS installed on your Mac (eg OnyX 3.2.3 if you are using macOS 10.12 Sierra). If you need more information on OnyX and how it works, read my tutorial on how to clean up your Mac.
Adjust file indexing
To allow us to find our files quickly, Windows and macOS maintain indexes with the list of all the files present in some folders of the disk (eg the documents folder, the download folder and so on). The creation of this index requires the constant use of system resources which, in some cases, could be destined for other uses.
My advice, therefore, if you have a PC that is not particularly performing, is to change the indexing settings and leave file indexing enabled only for some folders you care about most (i.e. the folders in which you search most often files).
To change the indexing settings on Windows, click on the Start button (the Windows flag icon located in the lower-left corner of the screen), search for the term indexing in the menu that opens and click on the Options item indexing present in the search results. In the window that opens, press the Edit button and delete the folders in which you never look for files.
If you’re using a Mac, you can adjust file indexing by going to System Preferences (the gear icon located on the Dock bar) and selecting the Spotlight icon from the window that opens.
At this point, choose which content to index macOS among documents, e-mails, contacts, etc. and go to the Privacy tab to select the folders to exclude from indexing.
Restore the system
In the unfortunate event that, at this point in the tutorial, you have not yet been able to optimize the system, I’m sorry but the only solution that is left to you is to reset the PC.
If you are using a version of Windows equal to or higher than Windows 8.x, you can take advantage of the operating system recovery function that returns the OS to factory settings without erasing the data on the disk: it is found in the Start menu > PC Settings> Update and security> Recovery. I told you more about it in some of my tutorials, such as the one on how to format Windows 10.
If you’re using a Mac, you can use the Time Machine system to roll back macOS to an earlier date. All you have to do is reboot the system in recovery mode (holding down the cmd + r keys during the boot phase) and select the item to restore from a Time Machine backup from the menu that opens. Alternatively, if you don’t have a Time Machine backup, you can restore macOS by re-downloading it from the Internet by choosing the Install macOS option. For more details, check out my guide on how to reset Mac.
In more “extreme” situations, you can do a nice “format” by completely erasing the contents of the disk and reinstalling the operating system from scratch. To find out how, read my tutorials on how to format your PC and how to format a Mac.
Upgrade your computer hardware
As already pointed out at the beginning of the post, optimizing the system does not allow you to work miracles on computers that are old or, in any case, do not have adequate hardware for the work they have to do.
To “seriously” increase the performance of a computer, it is necessary to act on the hardware components and modify, where possible (not all computers can be modified), key elements such as the disk and RAM memory, which make a great contribution to the daily performance of a computer. PC.
Going into more detail, my advice is to focus on two components that are relatively cheap, easily modifiable and that allow you to speed up the computer in an important way: the disk, which should be replaced with an SSD (which offers infinite performance. better than those of a mechanical disk), and the RAM memory, which should be expanded as much as possible (I would say at least 8-16GB).
If you are interested in replacing hard disks and RAM, find out about the degree of expandability of your computer (as already mentioned, not all computers allow you to modify disk and RAM) and find out which SSD to buy and which RAM to buy thanks to my guides. purchase. When you are ready to take action, then, check out my tutorial on expanding RAM where I have better explained how to install new RAM banks in various computer models.
Optimize Internet Connection
If you want to increase the performance of your internet connection (within the limits of the possible) and not those of your computer, check out my guide on how to speed up the internet as much as possible.
Speed up smartphones and tablets
This tutorial focused on PC optimization. If you are interested in knowing how to speed up your smartphone or tablet, read the tutorials I have dedicated to these topics, such as those on how to optimize Android and how to speed up iPhone.
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