Why is my PC Slow ?
Over time your PC will slow down and become less responsive. You might need to change your hardware, but first do a little housekeeping.
What do I look for and where will I find it?
- Windows Update (Settings -> Update & Security)
- Update can get downloaded and partly installed, while waiting for a reboot it can slow thingd down
- Check they are all installed and reboot the PC
- Check again after the reboot as sometimes new ones appear
- AntiVirus Scan (Check your Anti-Virus Program)
- Some Anti-Virus programs take so much processing power to run a scan the whole PC slows down
- Run the scan out of working hours
- Change for a less intrusive program
- How many things start-up automatically? (Task Manager -> Startup)
- You will see a large list, disable all but those you really need.
- You need to restart your PC to see the differance
- If you have been too keen, re-enable it
- Synchronisation, are OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox running and always synchronising? (Task Manager -> Processes)
- Sort by CPU and Memory
- If they are near the top - disable them via the startup Tab
- Restart the PC
- Indexing too much rubbish? (File Manager -> Disk drive -> Properties -> Disk Cleanup)
- Click System Files
- Let it make the full list, and check it
- Click OK and delete them
- How much spare space on the disk? (File Manager -> This PC -> Devices and Drives)
- If any of the lines indecating space is red then you have a problem.
- Windows makes temp files and moves things around, if it can't you need to make some space
- What percentage is the CPU & Memory use? (Task Manager -> Performance)
- Wait for it to settle
- With nothing happeing the CPU should be less than 10%
- If memory is above 90% you need some more
- You are not actualy restarting your PC (Settings -> Power & sleep -> Additional power settings -> Choose what the power buttons do)
- As Microsoft explains with their default settings when you turn off your PCs you haven't. It doesn't stop everything, it just hibernates things, so your PC doesn't restart fresh, and leaves problems still running in the background.
- Click Change settings that are curently unavailable -> Un-tick Turn on fast start-up (recomended) -> Then Save changes
- Does it have an Hard Disk or an SSD? (Settings -> Storage -> Optimise Drives)
- Windows 10 and above run slow on a traditional HDD - Hard Disk Drive
- Change any HDD for an SSD
- There are kits that make it easy
- How much RAM? (File Manager -> This PC -> Properties)
- The real minimum for Windows is 8Gb
- 12Gb or 16Gb will help
The above is a start there are also services you can stop, and tools to clean and repair the Registry.
Obviously we at CTi Communications Ltd, can help with all or any part of making the changes needed.