Tips on How to Speed Up Your Windows 10

Windows 10’s many features require more system resources. Thus, upgrading an older machine to this system may slow it down. But worry no more! Here’s how to speed up your Windows 10.

Use an SSD as your system drive. An SSD boosts performance more than any system optimization. Upgrade RAM and other hardware.

If not, use these strategies to speed up Windows 10 if you don’t have a high-end machine; even small boosts matter.

Disk Defragmentation

Fragmented HDDs delay your system significantly, and Defragment them regularly. To prevent repeating this operation, you can automate it at predefined times.

1. Open Run.
2. Type dfrgui
3. Tap on Enter to open Disk Defragmenter.
4. Choose all your hard drives and click “Optimize” on each one.
5. Then, click Change settings or Turn on.
6. Check Run on schedule and Boost the importance of the task.
7. Set the frequency to what you want and click on Choose next to Drives.
8. Turn on your HDDs and turn off your SSDs, then click OK.
9. Hit OK again.

High-Performance Power Plan

Windows offers High Performance, Balanced, and Power Saving power plans with preset power and performance options. Switch from a Balanced to a High-Performance power plan to speed up your system. Speed Up Your Windows 10

It accelerates the processor’s clock cycle and heats it faster, shortening its lifespan. Thus, enable this power mode only when needed or if your cooling system is sound.

1. Open Run.
2. To open Power Options, type powercfg.cpl and press Enter.
3. Click on Show more plans and check the box next to High Performance.
4. You can also change your power options by going to Change plan settings and then Change advanced power settings.
5. When you’re done, click OK.

Remove Unwanted Apps

After installation, several programs run automatically. Your system also starts default apps. Unless you actively close them, these apps use system resources even if you don’t open them. Disable them to free resources.

1. Open Run.
2. To open Startup Settings, type ms-settings: startup apps and press Enter.
3. Turn off all apps that you don’t need.
4. Then, press Ctrl, Shift, and Esc to open the Task Manager.
5. Go to Startup Tab
6. Select any apps that you don’t need and click Disable

Uninstall these apps if you no longer require them. To free up space and avoid auto-running processes, uninstall any unused apps.

1. Open Run and enter appwiz.cpl.
2. Uninstall unwanted apps.
3. Follow on-screen directions.
4. Run again.
5. Open AppData with appdata and enter.
6. Delete the uninstalled app’s user files from all AppData directories; you can search if you need to know the folder names.

Disable Third-party Services

Windows has various startup or process-launching services like startup applications. Check for and disable unnecessary services.

1. Open Run.
2. Press Enter after typing MSConfig to open the System Configuration window.
3. Click on the Services button.
4. Check Hide all services made by Microsoft.
5. Turn off any services you don’t think you need. You can also look up information about each service on the Internet before doing so.
6. Click Apply, then OK.

GPU Scheduling

Some computers use Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling to assign video processing work to the GPU instead of the CPU. This reduces CPU stress, boosting performance.

However, a low-spec GPU will choke other devices and further down your system. Enable the option, check for issues, and leave it enabled if there are no issues.

1. Open Run.
2. Type ms-settings:display-advancedgraphics and hit Enter.
3. If the option is there, turn on Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling.

Disable Indexing

Windows creates and updates your file/folder index for faster search results using search indexing.

Indexing might drain system resources if your CPU needs to be faster. In this scenario, disable it because it slows your machine.

1. Open Run.
2. To open Windows Services, type services.msc and press Enter.
3. Double-click Windows Search to open Properties.
4. Set the Startup type to Disabled and click Stop.
5. Click Apply, then OK.

Set Virtual Memory

A pagefile creates virtual memory on your system drive along with your RAM. Windows automatically sets this file’s location and max/min size, but you can change it.

The page file will be slower on an HDD volume than on an SSD partition. If you don’t have an SSD, the system drive pagefile works best.

1. Open Run.
2. Type systempropertiesadvanced and press Enter to go to the System Properties Advanced tab.
3. Click on Settings under Performance and then go to the Advanced tab.
4. Under Virtual memory, click on Change.
5. Uncheck Handle the size of all drives paging files automatically.
6. Choose an SSD partition or your system partition, and check System managed size.
7. Check No paging file for other partitions.
8. Keep clicking OK to close the Properties window and save the changes. Then, restart your PC to make the changes take effect.

OS/Driver Updates

Microsoft sends out updates regularly to add new features and fix bugs. If you want Windows to run as well as possible, keep it up to date. Speed Up Your Windows 10

Your device drivers are the same way. So, if the devices don’t work as quickly as they should, you should also check the drivers manually to see if there are any updates.

Here’s how you can update your Windows:

1. Open Run.
2. To open Update Settings, type ms-settings: 
3. windowsupdate and press Enter.
4. Click on Check for updates or Install now, depending on whether any updates are available.

For manual updates:

1. Open Run.
2. To open the Device Manager, type devmgt.msc and press Enter.
3. Open up the categories and right-click on the devices.
4. Choose Update Driver, and then choose Search automatically for drivers.

Verify System Integrity

Lastly, if you want your system to run smoothly, check for problems with its integrity and fix them. 

You can do this with the help of the tools Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) and System File Checker (SFC). Even if there aren’t any problems, this process won’t hurt anything, so it’s safe.

1. Open the command prompt for the top level.
2. Type in the following:

• dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
• sfc /scannow

MORE GUIDES ABOUT WINDOWS 10 

• Windows 10 Hidden Features and Settings That You Should Use
• How to Manage Startup Apps on Windows 10 & 11
• How to Restore the Windows 10 Taskbar Weather Widget
• How to Format a Flash Drive to FAT32 in Windows 10 and Windows 11

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