How to keep your PC running fast

Do your applications take a while to open?

Do you have to wait a long time for your PC to startup?

When you type on your PC does it not happen instantly like it used to?

If any of these sound like something you deal with regularly then your PC may be running slowly.

There are a variety of reasons your computer may be running slowly, such as not having enough storage space free, having too many applications running or having an out of date operating system.

In this Article we will go over a few quick and easy tips to get your PC back to running as fast as possible.

Use Disk Cleaning Programs regularly to free up space for your PC.

• Programs Like CCleaner target a Disk Drive on your computer and delete temporary files generated by your pc, this includes internet history and cookies. The files usually don’t take up a lot of space by themselves but are numerous enough to make an impact on how your PC may run. Deleting these files allows your pc to have more memory-free to run other things on your PC more efficiently. 

After installing and running CCleaner make sure to click on “custom clean” on the sidebar. It should look like this:

From here you can pick and choose what type of files CCleaner will delete and clean from your PC.

Keep programs running at the same time to a minimum.

• Computers only have a certain amount of memory built-in, and while this can be increased it is still capped. Each program you have running takes up some of that finite amount of memory meaning there is less for other programs or your PC to use. limiting what programs you have running at one time frees up that memory so it can be used elsewhere and allows your PC to not need to wait for memory to be free for use. 
• You can check how much memory each program you have running is using in the Task Manager.
• On Apple’s Mac computers instead of task manager there is the “Mac Activity Monitor” which acts similarly to the task manager. To open Mac Activity Monitor go into Applications, click on Utilities and it should show up in that folder. Alternatively you can search for it directly in Spotlight by clicking on the magnifying glass in the upper-right corner of the menu bar.

Step 1 – Open Task Manager by pressing Control, Alt and Delete at the same time.

Step 2 – Click on More Details in Task Manager (Pictured Below)

After clicking more details you will be able to see what programs are using the majority of your CPU or Memory.

Only have programs used every day on open on startup.

• Some Programs once downloaded, will set themselves to run on startup. This may contribute to the slow startup of not only your PC but also other programs. Having these programs run when your computer turns on use up Memory on your PC meaning there is less memory for other programs and your PC generally to use when starting up or running, so to ensure a fast running PC only have the programs you open immediately after turning your PC on set to run on startup. 

Step 1 – Search for “Startup Apps” in the bottom left search bar, you should see this.

Step 2 – From here you should be able to see what apps are currently running on start up and can change what apps will open when you power on your Computer.

If on a laptop, check your battery/performance settings

• Ensuring your PC or Laptop is on the correct Battery usage or Performance settings will impact how fast your PC is. If they are set to preserve energy your pc will intentionally run things slowly to save battery life over a long time. Setting this to High Performance will make your PC use the optimal amount of power needed to run your computer and its programs. 
• Battery usage and performance options are fully customizable, so if you still want some decent performance but would like to keep your battery going you can adjust the settings to reflect your needs and wants. 

To get to your Power Settings right click on the battery in the bottom right of your screen. (shown Below)

After right clicking the battery select “Power Options” which should bring up this screen.

From here you can change your power settings or customize them to suit your needs.

Close Resource intensive programs when they aren’t being used.

• Some programs are much more resource-intensive on your PC than others. Programs such as Video editing software, Photoshop, video games, and some web browsers demand a lot of resources from your PC to run themselves at full capacity. To keep your computer running quickly make sure to close these programs when they aren’t being actively used. 
• Web Browsers such as Google Chrome are notorious for using up a lot of memory space, so if you tend to have a lot of tabs open at once, that can affect the performance of your PC. 
• If you are unsure of what programs are resource intensive you can check in your task manager by using the steps above.

Keep your Computer Updated.

• Sometimes your PC could be running slowly simply because it is on an older version of your Operating system. System updates regularly find and fix bugs and find ways to make different processes more efficient.
• Updates can also bring new features that can help with running different programs and bring new functionality and ease of use to your PC.
• Your computer should tell you if there is an update for your system, though if you are unsure Microsoft always has the latest version of Windows on its website alongside a lot of helpful tips on how to figure out of you need to update or not as does Apple.

Hopefully, these tips have helped you regain some of your PC’s lost performance!