How to speed up my computer: uncommon yet effective tips
There’s probably not a single computer user on the face of the Earth who hasn’t googled “how to speed up my computer” at least once. Usually, such a query follows a session that feels like a walk on a rocky beach full of boulders: you cannot keep up a steady pace and stumble all the time, getting an unpleasant background feeling of heaviness. There are dozens of sound pieces of advice that actually do help to speed a computer up, from regular malware scans through defragmentation to startup routine optimization. In this piece, we give PC performance boost tips that are less common but at least as effective in the matter.
1. Disable Windows visual effects
Microsoft wants Windows to look and feel smooth and cool, so the system spices up user experience with shadows, animations, special transition effects, etc. These, however, consume system resources and, ultimately, slow the computer down.
You can disable Windows visual effects in the System section of the Settings menu. Click on the Advanced system settings there, then the Settings button in the Performance block of the window that pops up. There, you can choose the “Adjust for best performance” option, or disable just some of the effects you don’t think are worth the resources spent on them.
2. Clean up the desktop
The number of icons on your desktop does not have a significant effect on the performance of your computer. You will feel the slowdown only if the space is really cluttered. There’s a flip side to this coin, though: an exuberant amount of stuff on the desktop likely reflects lack of organization and structure to everything else about your PC, and that does slow it down.
Take some time to clean up the desktop, and you’ll likely end up tidying up your folders, setting up patterns and neat structure, and getting rid of apps that you’ve installed, used once or twice, and then forgotten all about. Ultimately, this cleaning will boost your computer by offloading the burden you didn’t even know existed.
3. Stop OneDrive Syncing
OneDrive is a convenient service by Microsoft, but not the only online backup and sharing solution out there. Since it’s part of the Windows ecosystem, you have it by default, and the client of OneDrive loads at startup, consuming resources and slowing down your computer a little bit. So, if you’re not using this solution, it makes sense to disable it.
To remove OneDrive from the list of software loaded automatically, open Task Manager (right-click on the taskbar and select it in the menu), then navigate to the Startup tab, find Microsoft OneDrive in the list, right-click on it, and select Disable. That’s it, next time you restart your computer, Microsoft’s backup and sharing solution will not load up.
4. Increase virtual memory
Virtual memory is a RAM extension the OS allocates on the hard drive and uses when the actual RAM is full. Windows transfers data not requested often to that swap space, thus allowing for more applications to run simultaneously, albeit at a slower speed compared to the actual RAM.
If you’re doing some heavy-duty tasks, and/or have upwards of a couple dozen tabs in your browsers, more swap space can speed the computer up a bit. To increase virtual memory:
- press Windows + I to open the Settings app;
- click on System, scroll down, then click About and the Advanced system settings link;
- go to the Advanced tab, and hit the Settings button in the Performance box;
- click on the Change button in the Virtual memory box, Uncheck the box “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives”;
- choose the option for Custom size, and enter a value in MB for both the Initial size and the Maximum size.
A common recommendation is to set the Initial size to 1.5 times your RAM, and Maximum size to 3 times your RAM.
5. Use lightweight software alternatives
This one is quite simple, really, but often overlooked. There are millions of programs for each and every need out there, and most of them are not unique, i.e., there are alternatives. If you feel your computer is slowing down when you’re, say, browsing pictures downloaded from your phone, consider trying a more lightweight viewer. Along the same lines, if your text editing tasks do not require complex formatting, choose a lightweight alternative to the regular office suite, and consider switching to Google Docs or a similar online solution.
This is where Software Informer can help: in addition to being an updater, this program suggests software that can complete or replace the apps you have installed. Often, the suggestions bring something lesser known, but perfectly fitting the purpose. Get your copy of Software Informer here:
