5 easy and free steps to speed up your computer

Slow computer get you down? We have put together a few simple steps to speed up your machine and bring it back to its original settings and speed. Just like everything in life, as computers age and go through their daily tasks thousands of times, over and over, they will eventually start to get bogged down. This might be from installing and uninstalling software, fragmented hard drives, or many different things. You don't have to be a tech expert to give your computer a much-needed performance boost. Just follow these easy tips, and you should be able to feel the difference. If you've followed these steps and don't notice a difference, you might want to check out our reviews of system optimizers, but why not start with the easiest ways and see if they'll help before you look at adding more software.

If your computer is running slow, one of the best ways to speed it up is to close open programs. This can be especially helpful if you have a lot of programs running in the background. And although this might sound like pretty common sense, the truth is that it can actually be a little bit more than just closing the programs you see running, but we will start with those first.

To close open programs:

1. Click on the taskbar at the bottom of your screen.
2. Right-click on each program and select "End Task."
3. Once all of the programs are closed, restart your computer. You should notice a significant difference in speed.

Now the second aspect is closing stuff running in the background. At the same time, you might not see any programs on your pc that doesn't mean that you don't have tasks still running. For this, you will want to open your task manager and see if programs are taking up a lot of resources. Find out what those are and try shutting them down if you aren't using them. The same can be done for your startup. If too many things are loading when you first start up your PC, you might have to wait longer than if you disable the auto-start options for programs you don't use.

To keep your computer running smoothly, it's essential to delete unnecessary files regularly. Here's how to do it:

1. Open the Start menu and type "Disk Cleanup" into the search bar.

2. Select the drive you want to clean up and click "OK."

3. Disk Cleanup will scan your drive and calculate how much space you can save by deleting temporary files, internet cache, and other unnecessary files.

4. Select the types of files you want to delete and click "OK."

5. Disk Cleanup will delete the selected files and free up space on your hard drive.

Adjusting your power settings is one of the easiest ways to speed up your computer. Making a few changes to how your computer uses power can help it run faster and smoother.

To start, open the Control Panel and go to Hardware and Sound. Then, click on Power Options. You can Change Plan Settings for any of the power plans listed here. For most people, the Balanced plan will work just fine.

Next, click on Change Advanced Power Settings. This will open a window with a long list of options. Scroll down until you see Processor power management > Minimum processor state. Set this to 100% for both plugged-in and on battery. This setting controls how much power your processor uses when it's idle.

Updating your drivers is one of the easiest ways to speed up your computer. Here are four steps to take to make sure you have the most recent versions of your drivers:

1. Check for updates. Go to the manufacturer's website for your computer or the website of the company that made your printer, scanner, or other devices, and look for a section on support or downloads.

2. Find your model number. Once you're on the website, look for your model number, and this is usually in a drop-down menu or listed next to a product image.

3. Select your operating system. When you find your model number, you'll also need to select which operating system you use: Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10.

4. Download and install updates.

If you don't want to do these steps manually, some programs can do it for you. Some come at a price, but if you have a lot of outdated drivers, you might get better functionality out of the things that use the drivers, as well as an increase in performance.

If your computer is running slowly, it could be infected with malware. Malware is malicious software that can damage your computer or steal your personal information. Using a free malware scanner, you can check for malware on your computer. Many different malware scanners are available, so you may want to try several to find one that works well for you. Once you've found a scanner you like, run it regularly to help keep your computer safe from malware. This is similar to the first step, where additional programs can slow your computer down, but with the added aspect of causing harm to your system and privacy. This is why we suggest always having a good antivirus program installed. If you aren't sure if your current program is good enough, you can check out our antivirus reviews to see who is the best on the market today.

As we are at the end of the article, we hope that you found at least a few things you can try to restore some of the speed to your pc that you might have lost. Although new games and apps will always need better and better specs to run smoothly, the truth is that for everyday pc users, an older computer should get what you need to be done. Most people send emails, watch Youtube (even if they hate the ads), and do light work on them. If you are a graphic designer, you will need a lot of Ram and a good processor, but a couple of years old computer for everyday people should suffice.