At some point or another, we've all heard someone nearby whether at work, school, or even at home utter the famous words "this PC is soooooo SLOW!!!..." usually followed by other gripes or complaints about this sort of nagging annoyance.
Maybe you've had the experience yourself and you were the one saying those words or expressing similar feelings. If only you could just fix the issue..Well, this guide is tailored to help you do just that.
STEP 1. Find out if the computer NEEDS a restart.
"But I just turned my computer on, no way it needs a restart!!" That may be true, but how do we know that the computer was actually turned off to begin with?
This is important, because some computers may appear to be turned off, but simply go into a low power state after some time when you quit using them.
Not to mention...even some of the newest PC's on the market today will have performance issues if they've been running for 2 1/2 month's straight!!
To help you determine how long your computer's actually been running:
1. Press ctrl+alt+delete (or right-click the task bar).
2. Choose Task Manager
3. In the lower-left hand corner, choose "More Details" (if yours doesn't say this or says fewer details go to the next step).
4. Choose the "Performance" tab at the top.
5. Click on CPU on the left (again, if you don't see this move to the next step).
6. Under the big CPU graph(s), look for "Up Time"
7. The running clock under "Up Time" will be exactly how long it's been since your computer was last booted or rebooted.
Let's say you've just found out that your PC has an up time of 68:22:58:36...what does that tell us?
Obviously, that the computer has been running for almost 69 days straight and may be.. a little tired..
Simply put, all that may be needed to resolve your issue, is a (you guessed it..) RESTART. To restart your PC, go to Start menu, click the power button, then choose restart.
STEP 2- Clear internet browser cache & cookies
So let's say that every IT tech's "restart go-to" for issue resolution did't work this time, or your computer was genuinely booted or restarted recently and you're still having performance issues...now what? Time to dig a little deeper and clear out the internet browser cache.
This process may be a little different depending on what web browser you use. Below are some links to guides on how to do this on some of the most popular web browsers.
Now that you've gotten that out of the way, lets say the computer's moving a bit faster, but nowhere close to the speed you prefer. That takes us to...
STEP 3- Clear temp files
You computer stores temporary files over time that can really add up if they're not cleared from time to time. There's a couple places where these files can really build up and need to be cleared if it hasn't been done in a while or...ever.
The first place is your user profile's temp files. This is how to get there and how to clean out those files:
1. Press windows key on your keyboard or the START menu (or search in charm bar on Windows 8)
2. Type %TEMP% then press Enter.
3. To remove all these files press ctrl+a (or select all), then delete.
4. Go to recycle bin and empty to permanently delete all files stored in there.
The second place like it, is your Windows temp directory, which you will probably need administrator access to get it completely clean in some instances. This is how to get there and clean those files out as well.
1. Press windows key on your keyboard or go to the START menu (or search in charm bar on windows 8)
2. Type %WINDIR%\TEMP then press Enter.
3. To remove all these files press ctrl+a, then delete.
4. Go to recycle bin and empty to permanently delete all files stored in there.
Now that we've likely cleaned up some major storage space, let's check to see if the data left behind is safe to use.
STEP 4- Remove any malicious software.
Check for viruses and malware by running a virus scan. Recent versions of Windows now have built in antivirus capability. Use this guide for steps on how to run a Windows Defender virus scan on your machine (or use the scanning feature in the anti virus program of your choice).
Did the scan find viruses, malware, or PUP? If so, remove these files and clean up your PC from any known virus threats because these are detrimental not only to its security but also its performance.
As an added measure, you may want to restart the PC and run virus scan once more to make sure the threats are gone.
Let's say your computer didn't have a virus and clearing the temp files, cache, and cookies didn't do much to help the PC slowness. What now?
STEP 5- Clean up any unused files & programs.
Aside from the computer automatically storing junk you don't need in temp files, cache, and cookies, you may be storing your own unneeded junk in various places on your PC. But instead of us going through every nook and cranny throughout your PC in this walk through, these steps explain how do an automatic cleanup on your PC to get rid of any unused or unnecessary files:
1. Go to START menu (or search in charm bar on Windows 8)
2. Type DISK CLEANUP press enter.
3. Select all the things left remaining to clean up according to your preference. (WARNING: Every things deleted from this section will be deleted permanently, so if you have items in your downloads folder you'd like to keep, you may want to move those to a different location before clearing that section!!!)
4. Choose cleanup system files.
Also, did you download and install a program that you only used once and don't see yourself using in the near or distant future, uninstall it. These steps show you how to uninstall unwanted programs and apps from your PC.
1. Go START menu (or search in charm bar on Windows 8), type control panel, press enter.
2. In the upper-right corner, make sure your "view by" is set to either large or small icons.
3. Click on Programs and Features in the list.
4. If you see any programs in the list that you installed but know you don't need anymore or if there's unwanted bloatware installed by your PC manufacturer, now is the time to get rid of it by selecting each of those programs and choosing "uninstall" at the top.
Now that we've likely by now cleared out a significant amount of hard drive space, we may have to optimize how this newly found disk space is used.
If your computer has a Solid State Drive (SSD), you can go to step 7. To find out if your PC uses a solid state drive, please see this article.
Step 6- Disk defragment
Disk fragmentation can be likened to having all your dishes scattered throughout your home. In order to get to any specific dish or cup, you'd likely have to travel some distance from the kitchen to retrieve it then head back to the kitchen in order to use it.
Likewise, when our disk is fragmented, the data stored on the spinning plates inside your drive are scattered about causing delays in how quickly your disk can retrieve the needed info for your use.
When we defragment our disk, this can be likened to taking all those dishes scattered throughout our home and putting them in their proper places. By doing so, you no longer have to risk leaving the kitchen to go and find your favorite mug to use, you just reach into the cabinet and make a drink. Much quicker right?
The same sort of efficiency increase is done to your disks during the process of defragmentation. Your data is neatly organized inside your disk so that it can be quickly retrieved and used.
This is how to defragment your disk:
1. Go to START menu. (Or search in the Charm bar on Windows 8)
2. Type defrag
3. Choose Defragment and Optimize Drives
4. Click the Optimize button to rearrange all this data around the free space we just picked up.
Still having slowness issues after all this work? Don't worry, there's still one more thing we can try (without coughing up extra money for PC upgrades & replacements, that is).
STEP 7- Adjust performance settings.
Let's admit it, some computers are simply faster than others...sometimes we may wish our work computer performed as well as our home computer or vice versa.
To help out computers that are just plain slower than others, we can tune just how much of our computers resources are or aren't being used on unnecessary things such as window animations, transitions, font smoothing, and other things that may look nice, but in the end are really unimportant if we just want the computer to work.
Following these steps will help you to adjust your PCs performance so that your computer can regain precious resources and function more quickly:
1. Go START menu (or search in charm bar on Windows 8), type control panel, press enter.
2. In the upper-right corner, make sure your "view by" is set to either large or small icons.
3. Choose System
4. On the left hand side choose "Advanced System Settings".
5. Select the Advanced tab in the next window.
6. Click the "Settings" button under the performance section.
7. Choose adjust for best performance, select "Apply", then OK.
You'll likely notice after doing this that your windows don't fade in a out as elegantly as they used to when minimized or closed, but you will notice a significant performance increase in how fast the windows open, minimize, or close.
Well, those are the 7 steps to increasing your computer's performance. Hopefully, by now you've experienced a dramatic increase in your computer's response time and performance.
Granted, these 7 steps aren't the ONLY things that can be done to up your system's agility. There are plenty of other ways to do this as well such as adjusting what programs and services startup when Windows is booted, utilizing ready boost, disabling unused services, upgrading RAM, switching to Solid State Drive, etc.
Hopefully you've found this article helpful, if so feel free to post the link to this page on any of your favorite blog post, social media site, or as a response to a similar question being asked on a forum.
Thanks for taking time to read our first blog post!
