Last Updated: May 30, Approved. This article was co-authored by Luigi Oppido. Luigi has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades. He is also the host of the Computer Man Show! This article has been viewed 2, times. As your computer ages, it accumulates fragments of temporary files and computer is slow windows 10 home free download hard drive becomes encumbered as a result; after enough time has passed, you will notice a significant difference in your computer's processing speed.
While you can't completely negate computer slow-down as it pertains to age, you can do a few things to speed up your computer's processing speed and startup time. Open the Task Manager. Click the Start-up tab. Select a process. Click Disable. Repeat for other processes that you don't need to open automatically. Reboot your PC. Did this summary help you? Yes No. Log in Social login does not work in incognito and private browsers. Please log in with your username or email to continue.
No account yet? Create an account. Edit this Article. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. By using our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Cookie Settings. Learn why people trust wikiHow. Download Article Explore this Article parts. Tips and Warnings. Related Articles. Article Summary. Part 1. This will bring up your PC's task menu. If you have a myriad of programs starting up when you log into your computer, you'll likely have to deal with several minutes of general slow-down.
Disabling startup programs will fix this issue. Click the computer is slow windows 10 home free download Manager" option. This will open your computer's Task Manager, from which you can alter or end PC processes. Click the "Startup" tab. This is near the top of your Task Manager window; doing so will bring up a list of the programs that boot up when you start your PC.
Click on a process you wish to disable. Note that "disabling" a process will not disable it from running at all; rather, it will prevent the program from starting up automatically. Click the "Disable" button. This is in the bottom right corner of your Task Manager window. You can also computer is slow windows 10 home free download a process and then click "Disable" in the context menu.
Repeat this disabling process for all relevant programs. Some common high memory-usage culprits include Skype and Steam If you're unsure of which programs to disable, look at the "Startup impact" column on the right side of the Task Manager window; generally speaking, you should disable any "High"- or "Medium"-rated programs. It is recommended that you leave your antivirus enabled; otherwise your antivirus might not run at startup and thus you would be unprotected from viruses.
Close the Task Manager when you're done. To get the most out of this process, you'll also need to clear out the Hidden Icons menu. Open the "Hidden Icons" menu. This is the upward-facing arrow on the right side of your taskbar and to the left of your clock. Click or tap it to open your menu.
Review your Hidden Icons menu. Often, you'll find background processes running here e. Killing these processes will free up random access memory RAM which will in turn increase your computer's processing speed. You can end these processes from within this menu. Right-click a process you wish to end. For example, if you aren't using your computer's cloud storage app, you should consider ending this process.
Click "Exit" at the bottom of the context menu. This will usually prompt you to confirm your decision by clicking "Exit App Name ". You'll need to repeat this process for every single process you want to end. Part 2. Open Control Panel. Search for it in the Search computer is slow windows 10 home free download, located near the bottom right corner of your screen. Fast startup is a new Windows 10 feature, which speeds up the startup time on your computer. Next scroll down to the Shutdown settings screen and check the "Turn on fast startup" option.
Part 3. Open the Start menu. This is in the bottom left corner of your computer screen. Visual effects in Windows 8 and 10 were designed for relevant brand-new machines; if you updated to one of these operating systems with an older computer, you've probably noticed some significant slow-down. Turning down the visual effects will speed up your computer's processing immensely. Open the "Control Panel" app.
You can do this by typing "control panel" into Start's search bar, or you can open Control Panel computer is slow windows 10 home free download from the "Windows System" folder at the bottom of the Computer is slow windows 10 home free download menu.
Type "Adjust the appearance" into Control Panel's search bar. The search bar is in the top right corner of your Control Panel window. Click "Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows". This should be near the top of the "System" group on the left side of the Control Panel window. Review your computer's visual effects. You have a few options in this menu: Adjust for best appearance - This will turn Windows effects all the way up, which is effectively the opposite of what you should do.
Adjust for best performance - This will turn Windows effects down considerably, speeding up your computer in the process. Custom - Un-check the box next to any feature you wish to disable. For optimal performance on an older machine, disable every feature. Click the option that best pertains to your PC. For older machines, using the Custom option to disable all visual effects is your best course of action, while the "Adjust for best performance" option will take care of most mid-range computers.
Exit the Performance Options window. You may notice a decrease in the presentation quality on your computer, but its processing speed should have increased. Part 4. Open your Start menu. This computer is slow windows 10 home free download in the lower computer is slow windows 10 home free download corner of your screen. Type "disk cleanup" into the search menu.
You should see an app appear computer is slow windows 10 home free download the top of the Start screen. Click the "Disk Cleanup" app. Disk Cleanup is a standard utility on an Windows computer; it rids your computer of temporary files, processes, and other small bits of information that can slow down your PC's processing speed.
Go to source. Check every box under the "Files to Delete" heading. This will clear the following items from your computer's cache: Downloaded program files Temporary internet files Recycle Bin contents Temporary files Thumbnails You may also see other options here depending on which default apps shipped with your device. It's perfectly safe to check any box in this menu, so check these too.
Click "OK", then confirm by clicking "Delete Files". This will get rid of your computer's temporary files. If you don't perform this cleanup often, you can find several gigabytes' worth of temporary files and such here. Open Start again, then type "defrag" into the search bar. This will locate the disk defragmentation app on your computer.
Click the "Disk Cleanup" app. Disk Cleanup is a standard utility on an Windows computer; it rids your computer of temporary files, processes, and other small bits of information that can slow down your PC's processing speed.
Go to source. Check every box under the "Files to Delete" heading. This will clear the following items from your computer's cache: Downloaded program files Temporary internet files Recycle Bin contents Temporary files Thumbnails You may also see other options here depending on which default apps shipped with your device. It's perfectly safe to check any box in this menu, so check these too.
Click "OK", then confirm by clicking "Delete Files". This will get rid of your computer's temporary files. If you don't perform this cleanup often, you can find several gigabytes' worth of temporary files and such here.
Open Start again, then type "defrag" into the search bar. This will locate the disk defragmentation app on your computer. Click the "Defragment and Optimize Drives" option. This should be at the top of your Start menu. When your hard drive has been around for a while, its subfolders and their respective contents get scattered around your hard drive in other words, your drives "fragment". Running the Disk Defragment tool will consolidate your files and these fragments, which will increase the speed at which your hard drive can access information.
Do not run the Disk Defragment program if your computer has a solid-state drive installed. SSDs are made to resist fragmentation, so running a defrag on them can seriously damage your files. Select your main drive in the Defrag window. It should be labeled something like "OS:C".
Click "Optimize". This will begin to defragment your drive. Depending on how long it has been since your last defrag, this can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. Consider moving files to external storage.
Hard drives recall the first 50 percent of storage placed on them much quicker than they do the bottom 50 percent; for example, if you have a gigabyte hard drive, the first gigabytes of information you put on your hard drive will be quicker to access. You'll notice significantly less slow-down on your PC if you limit your file storage to half of that of your hard drive's capacity.
The best way to do this is by increasing your hard drive capacity with an external flash drive or hard drive. You can also move your files to any one of several free cloud storage services e. Part 5 of You can view all of your PC's programs and apps from inside of the Start menu; simply scroll down to view all of them.
You will also see folders here; they often contain more apps, so click them to view their contents. Decide on which apps you want to uninstall. Generally speaking, apps like "News" or a radio app that ship with your OS are completely unnecessary and easily replaced with better programs or online plugins.
If an app is crucial to your computer's functionality, you won't be able to delete it; that being said, most mandatory apps take up minimal processing power. Right-click an app you want to uninstall. This will prompt a context menu. Click "Uninstall", then confirm your choice.
This will immediately uninstall your app or program, negating the need to visit the "Programs and Features" folder. You may have to click "More" at the bottom of the context menu to access the "Uninstall" option.
Uninstall any apps you don't use. Most Windows computers ship with a large quantity of stock apps, plugins, programs, and free trials; these should all be candidates for deletion. Consider installing replacement programs. For every stock installed app, there is at least one viable alternative: [ citation needed ] Replace Microsoft Edge with Chrome or Firefox. Both of these browsers are faster, easier-to-use alternatives to Edge.
Again, you can't delete Groove, but it takes much more processing power to run Groove than it does to run iTunes. VLC can play almost any video format and has a simpler, cleaner interface than default Microsoft video players, which translates to quicker processing speed. Restart your computer. After implementing all of these changes, your computer should be running much faster now!
Did you know you can get expert answers for this article? Unlock expert answers by supporting wikiHow. Luigi Oppido. Support wikiHow by unlocking this expert answer. Not Helpful 4 Helpful 1. Natfor gaming. That is connected to your hardware already. Not Helpful 1 Helpful 9. Not Helpful 3 Helpful If I delete the history of my previous web searches, will that make my computer faster? It will make your browser run faster, but most likely not your computer. Not Helpful 6 Helpful In part 3, the Disk Cleanup gives me the option to clean system files.
Should I leave this alone or delete the files? You can delete anything that the Disk Cleanup utility gives you an option to delete. Windows won't let you delete files that are necessary to run the system. Not Helpful 0 Helpful Not Helpful 1 Helpful 3. You should try cleaning temporary files. To do this open the Start menu and type "RUN" in the search bar. Now you should see a folder with lots of files, which you can delete to increase your computer's speed.
Not Helpful 33 Helpful I keep cleaning up my disk so it can perform quicker, but every time I restart, I encounter an unoptimized disk. As soon as you remove those files, Windows -- upon booting -- restores the important ones. It is enough if you do this once a week. Not Helpful 2 Helpful 4. I am cleaning up my computer, how do I know which processes to disable under task manager?
Don't disable processes, just disable the startup programs that you don't use very often, and restart your computer. Not Helpful 16 Helpful It depends on your hardware and the software you download, install, etc. Not Helpful 2 Helpful 2. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. By using this service, some information may be shared with YouTube. Make sure your computer is running in high-performance mode. If you're on a "Power Saver" plan or something similar, you will notice decreased processing speed when using high-performance apps or games.
You can check this by clicking the battery icon on the right side of your taskbar. Helpful 2 Not Helpful 0. While it isn't technically part of your physical computer, clearing your browser's cache and cookies will improve your web browsing speed. You should also run security checks at least once a week using the antivirus security program of your choice.
This will keep adware and malware from clogging up your computer's processor. Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0. If your computer is more than a couple years old, you're going to have a hard time transitioning to a new operating system e. New OS renditions are generally optimized for technology currently on the market, not three- or four-year-old machines. Helpful 1 Not Helpful 1.
Practicing good technology habits--such as keeping your computer charged and turning your machine off regularly--will increase both your machine's lifespan and its running speed significantly. Refrain from downloading third-party apps to clean up your computer.
Everything one of these apps might accomplish will be easily doable by you with the technology available by default on your Windows PC. Helpful 5 Not Helpful 2. Related wikiHows How to. How to. Expert Interview. About This Article. Co-authored by:. Co-authors: Updated: May 30, Categories: Featured Articles Windows. Article Summary X 1. Nederlands: Je computer gratis sneller laten draaien.
Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 2,, times. It's all in one place, explains why and how step by step. Thank you for making this simple for those of us that are nearly computer illiterate.
I will print this and keep it on my desk for future reference. Type defrag in the search box of Windows and choose Defragment and Optimize Drives. When the defragmentation process is finished, reboot your computer and check whether the Windows 10 very slow and unresponsive issue is fixed or not.
Outdated driver or software can also cause the issue of Windows 10 very slow and unresponsive. So, in order to fix the issue that Windows 10 slows down my computer, you can try updating all outdated drivers and software. To update driver, go to the Microsoft official site or manufacturer official site to download the latest driver. To update software, you can also visit its official site to download the latest version and install it on your computer.
After all steps are finished, reboot your computer and check whether the issue of computer slow after Windows update is fixed. Virtual memory is an essential part of Windows 10 to improve performance. If you come across the issue of Windows 10 very slow and unresponsive, you can try adjusting the size of virtual memory.
Type View advanced system settings in the search box of Windows 10 and choose the best-matched one. In the Advanced tab, click Settings under Performance section. Switch to Advanced tab, click Change under Virtual memory section. Uncheck Automatically manage paging file size for all drives , select the drive, choose Custom size.
Then input the Initial size and Maximum size. At last, click Set and OK to save the changes. After that, you will set the size of virtual memory for that drive. In order to solve the Windows 10 very slow and unresponsive issue, you need to set the manual size for all drives. Then reboot your computer to check if the issue of computer running slow is fixed.
The disk usage is another cause of Windows 10 very slow and unresponsive. It is a common problem faced by users since there are too many programs and software running on your PC.
The issue service host local system high disk is always troublesome. This post will show you how to fix service host local system high CPU problem. Some users reported that the issue of Windows 10 very slow and unresponsive may be caused by the Windows Module Installer service.
So, in order to fix computer running slow Windows 10, you can choose to disable Windows Module Installer service. When all steps are finished, reboot your computer and check whether the Windows 10 very slow and unresponsive issue is solved. When coming across the issue Windows 10 very slow and unresponsive , you need to check hard drive space. If the hard drive space is running out of space, the performance of computer will also become slow. In this situation, you need to free up hard drive space.
In order to free up hard drive space, there are various ways, such as deleting unnecessary files, extending partition and so on. Buy Now. Therefore, you can read the post 10 Ways to Free up Disk Space in Windows 10 [ Update] to learn more ways to free up disk space so as to fix the error computer slow after Windows update.
Another suggestion to resolve Windows 10 very slow and unresponsive issue is to upgrade system to a faster SSD. You can choose to clone the whole system disk to a faster SSD so that improving computer performance. So, the free clone tool — MiniTool ShadowMaker can help you do that. Free Download. After entering its main interface, go to Tools page and click Clone Disk.
Click Source module to choose disk clone source. Here select the system disk as the clone source and click Finish. Click Destination module to choose a target disk and click Finish.
Then the disk clone process will begin. It will take some time and the costing time depends on the number of files on the hard drive. In addition, do not interrupt the disk clone process until it is finished. When it is finished, you will receive a warning message which tells you that the source disk and target disk have the same signature. You need to remove or disconnect either of them. Besides, if you want to boot computer from the target disk, change the BIOS settings first.
After upgrading system to SSD, the performance of your computer should be improved and the issue of Windows 10 very slow and unresponsive will be resolved. When setting up a computer by yourself, what are the major components of a computer? This post shows you the full guide.
If the above tricks cannot help fix the issue of Windows 10 very slow and unresponsive, you can choose to perform a clean Windows 10 installation. Before reinstalling the operating system, please back up all your personal files. Then read the post to Detailed Steps and Instructions to Reinstall Windows 10 to learn how to perform a clean Windows 10 installation. This post helped me to fix the issue of Windows 10 very slow and unresponsive. Click to tweet.
