Over the years, you might feel your laptop has slowed down and no longer provides performance like it used to.
It doesn’t necessarily mean that your laptop is out of date and you need replacement. There are certain methods you can try to bring your laptop back to its original speed.
Whether it was because of carelessness, software issues, or hardware limitations, you can try various tweaks to improve the performance and speed of your laptop.
In this guide, we will be discussing how to make a laptop faster and what are the most efficient methods to increase the speed of your laptop. Let’s get right to it.
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Improving Your Laptop’s Speed – 11 Best Methods
There are several methods to improve the speed of your laptop. We will discuss them one by one to provide you with everything you need to know.
Uninstall Unused Applications
One of the reasons your laptop might have slowed down over the months or years is because a lot of unused applications have accumulated that are just a burden on its performance.
New laptops come with a lot of bloatware, applications you don’t need and will never use, and you need to get rid of such applications to improve the speed of your laptop and make it faster.
Go to “Uninstall or Change A Program” from Settings and look at all the applications that are installed in your system. Uninstall the ones you don’t use or don’t need and then restart your laptop.
Limit Start-up Applications
If you have not been maintaining the startup applications, they can keep on increasing. So, when you turn on the laptop, a lot of applications automatically start up and keep running in the background.
This can significantly affect the performance of your laptop. To prevent this, you need to limit the startup applications on your laptop.
Go to Task Manager and identify which startup applications are enabled on your laptop. You will also be able to see the impact of these startup applications.
If the impact of an application is high or medium but you are not using it, it is better to disable its startup permission.
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Upgrade Memory & Storage
One of the common methods that can help you significantly increase the speed and performance of your laptop is upgrading the components.
If you are using HDD storage, upgrading it to SSD can significantly increase the speed and performance of your laptop.
Your storage can get filled over time and if you have important files and backups stored in the drive, you should consider upgrading storage. The more space you have, the better your laptop will perform.
Upgrading RAM can also have a significant impact on the performance of your laptop. If your laptop comes with additional slots for RAM upgrades, you can upgrade it to make your laptop faster.
Update OS & Drivers
Always keep your Windows and drivers up-to-date. If you haven’t enabled automatic updates on your laptop, then you need to regularly check for updates and schedule restarting your system for those updates to install.
One of the common reasons laptops slow down is because people haven’t been updating their OS, which makes it difficult for a laptop to keep up with the modern needs of its users.
Update Web Browser
If your laptop slows down when you are browsing the internet, then perhaps your web browser isn’t up to date or you have opened too many tabs.
Consider updating your web browser to the latest version and see if it resolves the issue. Most of the time it will.
Also, enable automatic updates for web browsers. Internet browsers are constantly being upgraded to keep up with the revolutionary speed of the modern world and you need to update to the latest version to avoid slowing down.
Proper Cleaning & Maintenance
One of the reasons laptops often slow down is because people don’t care for them properly.
Your laptop requires proper cleaning and maintenance from time to time, which impacts not only its performance and speed but also its life.
In terms of cleaning, you should regularly clean your laptop externally and clean it internally at least once a month.
Also clean the laptop fan and vents from time to time, to ensure the cooling is working and maintaining the temperature.
If you have a high-performance laptop, consider replacing the thermal paste once every six months so that the laptop can keep performing at optimal levels.
Also Read: Why Is My Gaming Laptop So Slow?
Restart Your Laptop
It has become common for people to put their laptop to sleep and not turn it off for weeks. They would leave tabs open and applications running, and just hibernate their laptop or put it to sleep.
Over time, this can become the very cause of the slow speed of your laptop. Every once in a while, consider restarting your laptop.
Restarting your laptop works like magic. It automatically cleans up and refreshes the whole system, taking care of many problems of the laptop on its own.
Adjust Power Options
If you are using balanced or power saving settings in the Power Options or Battery Settings of your laptop, it might be the cause of slow performance and speed.
When you are in need of intensive performance and high-speed functionality, especially while multitasking, consider optimizing the settings for the best performance.
This will consume the battery more, but it will significantly increase the performance of your laptop.
To avoid battery consumption, you can plug in your laptop and use it on AC power, which will further boost the speed.
Run A Disk Cleanup
If your storage is filling up, you can run a Disk Cleanup to clear the storage and delete unnecessary files from your laptop.
You can use the official Windows Disk Cleanup application or download a third-party application to improve the performance of your laptop.
Over time, the temporary files and cache memory in your laptop can accumulate, which can take up a lot of space and cause your laptop to slow down.
Using advanced applications to clean up these files and clear the cache memory of your laptop can help you boost performance and speed.
Adjust Performance & Graphics Settings
If you have a gaming laptop or one that comes with a dedicated GPU, then you can optimize the graphical settings of your laptop for better performance.
If your GPU is adjusted to provide the best visual quality, it can significantly impact the performance in pursuit of quality and make your laptop slow down.
So, by opting for better performance or a balanced approach, you can get more speed while working or multitasking.
Also, you can switch to integrated graphics when not running graphic-intensive tasks to save battery and further increase performance.
Keep Virus Data Up-to-Date
Your laptop might have slowed down because of malware or virus in your system. Always keep Windows Defender active and activate real-time protection on your laptop.
Make sure that you have enabled automatic virus data updates. Windows will automatically download the latest information about viruses to deal with the issues and keep your system protected at all times.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why is my laptop very slow and hanging?
There can be a number of reasons why your laptop is slow and hanging. It might be because of software issues, hardware limitations, or improper care and maintenance of your laptop. Read our above guide thoroughly to learn how to deal with it.
How can I clean my laptop to make it run faster?
There are various methods to clean your laptop. You can run a disk cleanup for cleaning its storage, clean it externally for dust and debris, and open the back panel to clean fans and vents for proper cooling.
Can I increase the speed of my laptop?
There are various methods to increase the speed of your laptop. You can do proper cleaning and maintenance, keep your OS, drivers, and applications up to date, remove unnecessary data and applications, and upgrade performance components.
Is it possible to fix a slow laptop?
Yes, there are several methods that can help you fix a slow laptop. We have discussed various of these methods in our above guide. Read it thoroughly to learn how you can improve the speed of your laptop.
Wrapping Up!
Summing it all up, it is certainly possible to improve the speed of your laptop. You can do internal and external cleaning to enhance the cooling potential, run several optimizations to improve software performance, and do hardware upgrades.
The above guide provides you with detailed methods that will help you make your laptop significantly faster. Good Luck!