



Look, it happens to everyone, you buy a brand new computer, you boot it up for the first time you are amazed how fast it is but then a couple of years and even months go by and before you even know it your computer struggles to even run some basic programs. What happened?





Well there are a lot of reasons why your computer might slow down over time, but I got a list of 10 things you can do in windows specifically that will hopefully get the computer up and running more like when your first bought it and don’t worry these are all very simple and free things that you could do right now and some of these might seem a little bit technical but they are really not that complicated once you actually see what next. So why don’t we get started?





1. Clear out startup programs.





This is got to be the number one reason for slowdowns over time, sure many of you already know that because think about it, as time goes on you install new programs and many of themselves startup with windows and if you don’t close them after you boot up, you will have an ever increasing number of programs just running in the background taking up resources all the time but don’t think that just because you don’t see any programs In the taskbar that there are not that many running in the background.





Windows 8 and Windows 10 you can actually open up the Task Manager, you press Ctrl + Shift + Esc and then go the startup up tab in the task manager to see all the programs that are going to start up with windows. Inandyou can actually open up the, you pressand then go theup tab in the task manager to see all the programs that are going to start up with windows.





In windows 7 and earlier, it is a little bit different, you go the Start Menu >> Run and type in “msconfig” and run that and then you go to the startup tab and then you can right click and disable anything you don’t immediately need all the time to actually start up and you can obviously manually run these when you want, you just don’t need them to start up with windows.





Services that run in the background but you will never necessarily see them But here is where most people screw up, many programs install what is known asthat run in the background but you will never necessarily see them





2. Clear Out Startup Services





Start Menu >> Run and then type in services.msc Now you can do this by going to the>>and then type in





Properties and then change the Startup Type to say Manual instead of Automatic, so they actually only run when you start up the program and need it. You will get a list of all services and any that says automatic will start with windows just like the programs and what you can do it right click on them >>and then change theto sayinstead ofso they actually only run when you start up the program and need it.





Keep in mind that you should be more cautious when disabling the services especially for programs that are not manually run by you.





For example disabling the printer service might cause trouble the next time you go to print that is something I will not disable, so only disable services you know you don’t need running in the background and this may also be great for programs that you may see starting up all the time but you can’t find in the startup list.





It may actually be a service and that is why it won’t show up but you can still stop it from starting out.



3. Uninstall Unused Programs





This will free up hard drive space and remove up startup junk without having to go through the whole list of programs trying to figure out what each one does.





Control Panel and to the list of all programs and uninstall them. It's way easier if you just go all the way to theand to the list of all programs andthem.





4. Scanning For Malware And Viruses





If your computer is always running slow for no apparent reason, it is possible that there are hidden malicious software running in the background and doing anything from showing you ads to using your computer’s resources in a botnet.

Now there are free and paid antivirus options and there are even free versions of paid ones. So some free ones include:





ESET Smart Security and I have been happy with it and I will recommend that one and even if your computer is necessarily running slow, you show always have some sort of antivirus program on your computer for security reasons. And for some paid programs I personally useand I have been happy with it and I will recommend that one and even if your computer is necessarily running slow, you show always have some sort of antivirus program on your computer for security reasons.





5. Disabling Windows Animations





ease of access settings windows probably in the control panel and check turn off all unnecessary animations (when possible) One of the ways you can do this is to gosettings windows probably in theand check





6. Keep Everything Up To Date





Keep all your software up to date. This includes all your graphic drivers and anything else you use regularly.



These software companies are going to be frequently releasing new updates that optimize for performance as well as increase security most of the time plus its just good practice.





7. Check Power Settings





Balance or even Power Saver which are good for conserving battery but will slow down your computer considerably. Instead may be you want to change it to High Performance. Check your power settings especially on laptops. The default may have it set toor evenwhich are good for conserving battery but will slow down your computer considerably. Instead may be you want to change it to





8. Check Drive Health/Status





You can do this in a couple of ways actually. First, you can check the hard drives reported smart health by going to the Command Prompt, so go to the Start Menu, type “cmd” and in the command prompt, type “WMIC” then type “diskdrive get status”.





OK one for each drive it means that there are no immediate serious errors that it thinks it can see at least. If they all sayone for each drive it means that there are no immediate serious errors that it thinks it can see at least.

If any of them say something other than OK then one of your drives could be having issues and you should really replace it.





If the smart health is not ok it means that something is going wrong with the drive.





CHKDSK or rather CHKDSK /F means it’s going to also try to repair anything it finds. The other way to check for drive errors is to go to the command prompt again and run the check disk command by typing inor rathermeans it’s going to also try to repair anything it finds.





CHKDSK E: /F command scans drive E for errors and attempts to repair them on completion. You can also specify a specific drive. For example,command scans drivefor errors and attempts to repair them on completion.





9. Check Windows File Integrity





To do this go to the command prompt again, you type in “sfc /scannow”





This is going to run the system file checker and it will try to find any system files that are missing or corrupted and try to repair them specifically files windows uses. This is going to run the system file checker and it will try to find any system files that are missing or corrupted and try to repair them specifically files windows uses.





Now there are tons of possibilities of different error messages it could spit back at you. So if you get one, you will have to Google it for yourself or just figure it out.





10. Check For Memory Issues





If you have a bad memory, it can cause all sort of weird problems that you will never probably guess has to do anything with the RAM but it probably does.



Windows Memory Diagnostic. Now to do this (check the memory), go to the start menu and search for





Restart Now and Check for Problems and after you restart it's going to boot into the diagnostic tool and should just automatically start doing the memory check and tell you if anything comes up. In the windows memory diagnostic window, selectand after you restart it's going to boot into the diagnostic tool and should just automatically start doing the memory check and tell you if anything comes up.





If you do get a lot of errors it could mean a couple of things. It could mean just your RAM is not seeded properly but if you check that but it could also mean one of the sticks is faulty and does need to be replaced.





If RAM is actually bad, replacing it is really the only options because it’s typically a hardware issue and you are not going to fix it yourself because it’s broken.





11. Reformat + Reinstall





Reformat the hard drive and reinstall windows. This is obviously going to be the most extreme option but if you are getting consistent issues that you can’t seem to fix no matter what you try, a fresh installation of windows is often just the best way to go.





Bonus Options

HDD with SSD . SSD is amazing, it’s so much faster to load programs, to boot up, everything is faster Replacewith. SSD is amazing, it’s so much faster to load programs, to boot up, everything is faster

Buy more RAM depending on how much you have right now currently installed.

So I thinks that just about sums it up, those should be some great things to try if your computer is running slower than it should be and if I did forget anything, You can be sure to let me know, so leave a comment may be with any tips you think will also be helpful everyone else should also appreciate it as well.