There is nothing more annoying than a slow PC. It gives you anxiety and decreases your productivity. A PC, just like a house, can easily compile clutter if it is not cleaned on a regular basis. Most people who do not have a tech background will think that a slow PC means it is aging and needs to be replaced with a newer one, not knowing that it just needs a good cleaning and a change of behavior in taking care of it. Therefore, if you realize that your PC is running slower than it used to, it doesn’t mean it is time to get rid of it. In this article, we will show you how to clean up a PC and eventually speed up its operations. To top that, we will also give you some insight into the helpful habits that you should adopt to prevent slowdowns.
Method 1: Keeping Your Software Up-To-Date
Making sure that your PC software stays updated is one easy way of speeding up your computer. The Windows system usually updates itself automatically. However, the essential third-party software on your PC may not have the liberty to do so, thereby requiring your manual intervention. You can check for updates on Windows by accessing the Settings menu. On the Settings window, choose Update & Security, then head over to Windows Update and select Check for Updates. Although the latest version of Windows 10 installs essential updates on your computer automatically, make sure to double-check if there are any updates available that have not been installed yet.
Method 2: Deleting Idle Files
Use your system’s cleanup tool to check for files that haven’t been in use for quite some time. The good thing about this method is that you do not have to comb through your files one by one, looking for the ones that are unnecessary. There are actually trusted third-party tools that you can use to clean up your PC. To clean up your system using the native tool, follow these simple steps:
- Access the Windows search bar and type Disk Cleanup.
- Once the Disk Cleanup tab has been brought up, select the drive you wish to clean and press OK.
- Check for the section labelled Files to Delete and confirm that all the file types you want deleted have been selected.
- To learn more about a certain file type, check the description under the Files to delete section.
- When done, click on OK to begin the disk cleanup process.
Method 3: Cleaning Vents
Vents are an essential component, and nearly every computer design has them. With ventilation, the computer is able to regulate heat and keep temperature low, thereby preventing overheating. However, vents accumulate dust over time, which leads to clogging. With clogged vents, your PC is likely to overheat the CPU, leading to poor performance. To avoid this, you just need to clean your vents periodically. There are a number of ways you can apply to clean your vents, and the most effective one is to use a compressed air canister, which you can easily get online or at a local retail store, and flush the dirt out of the air vents.
Method 4: Defragmenting Your Drive
The hard drive is a key component of your system as it is where all of the processed data is stored. The catch is, as you regularly save and delete files, your data is scattered all over your storage drive in bits and not in whole pieces. Thus, when a program or process is trying to locate something on your drive, it may have to go through several locations to be able to do so, hence a system slowdown. Defragmenting data is essential as it organizes data to ensure that finding the required information on your storage drive does not take much time.
Defragmenting data on Windows 10 is pretty easy and does not take much of your time. It is a process that does not require one to be a tech expert in order to execute it. To perform the basic disk defrag process, you need to access the Windows search bar and type “defrag.” Then select Defragment and Optimize Drives. You will then need to select the drive that you want analyzed or optimized. After selecting the drive, click Optimize. To access and employ advanced defragmentation options, you may need a more powerful defragmentation tool. For example, by using Auslogics Disk Defrag Ultimate, you can get the most out of intelligent file placement and customize the defragmentation process.
Step 5: Upgrading Hardware
Although you might try to keep updated on the software side, your PC hardware might be trailing behind, causing your system to perform slower. Remember, we live in a world that is driven by technology, and technology is always evolving. Therefore, some modern programs can be too stressful for old hardware and thus lead to slow system performance. Once your computer has hit its limit, updating its software, defragmenting its hard drive and cleaning its vents won’t help; you just need to upgrade some of your system’s hardware components. Here are some of the items that you should consider upgrading in order to improve your computer speed:
- RAM - running heavy programs consumes more random access memory. Therefore, increasing your RAM will give your computer more ability to process multiple programs, even heavy ones, at one go. To check your current RAM size, you need to access System info. Before you purchase more RAM, you also need to find out how much RAM your motherboard can handle.
- SSDs - the solid-state drive is the epitome of a modern-day storage drive. Its mechanism is totally different from the one applied in ancient HDDs. SSD drives use flash memory, which means, unlike in an HDD, there are no moving parts of some sort. This means SSDs are not liable to tear and wear compared to HDDs that feature magnetic tapes and mechanical parts that are subject to wear over time. The best thing is that SSDs process information 10 times faster than HDDs.
- GPU - a GPU is a silicone-based microprocessor that is found inside a graphics card and is used to render images, animations and videos. If you are a gamer or usually run heavy programs, then a powerful graphics card is a necessity. The integrated built-in graphics card might not be strong enough, so you might need a separate GPU to accelerate the rendering of videos. If your graphics card is not modern, it will also fail to do the task. Therefore, it is necessary to check the requirements of the programs that you run and the specs of your computer and then get a graphics card that will do the job efficiently.
FileWhopper - The best way to send large files online
If it concerns you that your PC isn’t fast enough, you must be looking for the most efficient ways of sending large files online fast and securely. FileWhopper provides the much-needed services. With FileWhopper, you can send files and folders of any size at lightning speed and pay only for what you transfer.
Moreover, your data is encrypted and kept secure for up to 14 days (or even 3 months if you wish so), giving the recipient enough time to download the files. After that, your files are permanently deleted, leaving no traces behind. Here is how it works:
- Select the file or folder you want to send.
- Get the tiny FileWhopper app, which will help you upload the large file or folder you wish to send to the online server.
- Copy the link to the uploaded large file and share it with the intended recipient.
- Note that your data is password-protected for safety reasons, so make sure to share the password with the recipient.
- Share, download and enjoy the content until the time limit is up!