How to speed up Windows 10 or Windows 11 (15 Ways)

Have you Just installed Windows 10 or updated Windows 10 to 11 and facing speed issues or suffering from the lag of every software you’re using or games you’re playing? Well, our 15 tips to speed up Windows 10 will not only make your computer faster but this will improve overall PC performance. And all of which you can do for free without the need to buy any new hardware or software.

If you’re using Windows 10, make sure it is activated or you can activate Windows 10 for free. But if you’re facing with installation issue, you make sure to solve every Windows problem first. Then try to reinstall Windows 10 from USB.

In this guide, you’re going to speed up windows 10 to get the ultimate experience from the most popular operating system on the planet. Assuming that you’re all set and ready to make your computer or laptop faster. But the very first question that always comes to mind is –

Why is my Windows 10 being so slow?

It can happen to anyone – Suppose you have brought a brand-new Laptop or PC. Booted up for the first time and you’re amazed at how fast it is. But a couple of months or a year after you’ll realize that your computer struggles to run even a basic program.

Well, there are a lot of reasons why a computer might slow down including out of memory, running out of space drive, unnecessary activities, and systems’ capability.

Here are some important reasons why your computer is so slow. Don’t worry if you’re in the under-listed categories. Because after going through this how to speed up Windows 10 guide, you can solve each and every computer issue. 

• If your RAM (Random Access Memory) ran out.
• There is No space on Hard Drive (HDD or SSD)
• Your hard drive is fragmented or old.
• Too many background programs running.
• Too many startup programs activate.
• Falling behind on Windows or driver updates.
• Your PC is under Malware or viruses.
• You use many Special effects and visual features.

How to speed up Windows 10 or Windows 11?

There are so many ways you can speed up Windows 10. Or if you’re planning to experience the latest version of Windows, you can learn how to download and install Windows 11 for free.

We have come up with 15 tips and tricks on how to speed up your PC and hope you follow these steps to make your computer faster.

Turn off the Transparency Effects

While the visual effects and animations do make Windows 10 or 11 look better, they do use up system resources, making your computer slower. So, it’s important to turn it off to get a better speed on your computer.

So the first way to speed up Windows 10 is to turn off those transparency effects that are used in the start menu and taskbar. To do that –

• Open the Settings app.
• The easiest way to open it is to left-click on the start menu and select it from your pinned apps or by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting it from the list or using the keyboard shortcut which is the Windows key plus I.
• In the left panel select personalization.
• Go to the colors on the right.
• In transparency effects, click the toggle to turn them off.

Change Visual Effects Settings

Another way to speed up Windows 10 to improve its performance is to change the visual effects settings. To Change Visual Effects Settings –

• Click the start button in your taskbar or press the Windows key on your keyboard and begin typing View Advanced System Settings. When it appears select it.

• When it opens you should be in the advanced tab.
• In the performance section, click on the settings
• Click the circle next to adjust for the best performance. You’ll notice that the others below are no longer checked.

• Check the box next to Show thumbnails instead of icons.
• If you don’t want your fonts to be blurry, check the box next to the smooth edges of screen fonts.

Disable Startup Programs

The 3rd method to speed up Windows 10 is to disable all the startup applications. The programs and apps that start when you boot your computer can harm performance. To free up resources and improve your boot times – 

• Open Settings. in the left panel, select apps.
• On the right go to Startup. 
• You can now see everything that is enabled or disabled when your computer boots up.

• Look for the programs you don’t need at startup and click the toggle for those that are turned on to turn them off.
• Make sure to only disable those that you’re sure you won’t need at startup.

Disable Background Programs

There’s a large number of unnecessary programs that run in the background. That can create slowdowns or cause your system to lag. That’s why our 4th tip for how to speed up Windows 10 is to disable those background programs. To put a stop to them – 

• Right-click on the start menu and select apps and features. As you will be able to see there are quite a few. 
• Go through the list and find the program that you don’t want running in the background.
• To the right select the three-dot menu icon.

• Click on advanced options.
• Look for background app permissions.
• Click the drop-down menu and select Never.
• Repeat these steps for each program that you don’t want to tie up resources in the background.

Change the Power Plan

To boost performance, maybe you just need a power plan that is higher performance than what you’re currently using. So, it’ll be wiser to change the power plan to get the ultimate performance. 

• Click the start button and type the Power plan of the choices on the left. Select choose a power plan.
• To see all the plans available for your pc click show additional plans.
• If you’re currently on a balanced power saver or something similar, switch your plan to high performance. And if you have It available for an additional boost, select ultimate performance.

• After selecting your power plan, click on Change plan settings for that plan. 
• Then click on Change advanced power settings. 
• This will open a new window. Scroll down and double-click on processor power management. 
• Then double-click on minimum processor state and maximum processor state.

• Make sure the setting for both is set to 100, if not click the percentage for each and type 100.
• Click Apply to save the changes If you made any. Clicking ok will also save the changes and exit the window.

Remove All Temporary Files to speed up windows 10

Removing those needless files taking up your drive could also give you a speed boost. Especially if your drive is nearly maxed out. So, our 6th guide on how to speed up a computer is to delete all the temporary files on your device. To remove temporary files –

• Open the Settings app. 
• In the system select storage.
• Click on temporary files. check the box next to all those that you want to Get rid of.
• Then back to the top. Select remove files. 
• You’ll get a pop-up window that says the selected files and their data will be permanently deleted.
• If you’re okay with that, click continue.

Unable Storage Sense

If you’d like to automate the process of getting rid of the files that you no longer need –

• Let’s go into settings once again and make sure that you’re in System.
• Go to storage. Click storage sense. 
• In automatic user content cleanup, click the toggle to turn it on.

With it enabled, windows will automatically check your system and get rid of temporary files and junk that are no longer needed to free up space.

You can set how often stored sense runs, how often to delete files in recycle bin. and when to delete files in your downloads folder If they haven’t been opened for a certain period. And of course, it is one of the important methods of how to speed up a computer.

Remove Needless Files and Software

While you’re removing needless files, this would also be a good time to get rid of the programs that you no longer use, taking up space on your drives. So removing those files can automatically speed up Windows 10 approx 5%. To do that –

• Once again open the settings app.
• In the left panel select apps Then click apps and features now go through your entire list of programs. Find the software that you want to remove.

For each program that you want to get rid of –

• Click the three-dot menu on the right and select uninstall. 
• Then click uninstall again and just wait for it to finish.

Defragging and Optimizing Drives to speed up windows 10

Defragging and optimizing your drives can help to speed up Windows 10 performance. So, click on start and begin typing Defragment and Optimize Drive. When it shows up, click on it. 

If you’re using a hard disk drive, those can get fragmented over time, slowing down your performance and if you have a solid-state drive, those should never be defragmented. But optimizing those can speed up performance.

For example, our pc has two drives installed. if the current status for the hard disk says okay, zero percent fragmented, do nothing. Otherwise clicking optimize will defrag that drive.

For the solid-state drive if the current status is okay, do nothing. if it says, needs optimization. Clicking optimize will clear out blocks of data no longer being used and help to make that drive last longer.

Turn Off Restartable Apps

When you reboot your pc, windows 11 restarts the background apps that we’re running before restarting. On older pcs, It can be a benefit to you. To disable this feature.

• let’s go into settings. on the left, select accounts and then sign-in options.
• Scroll down and toggle the switch off to automatically save my restartable apps and restart them when I sign back in.

Disable Notifications

Another impact on performance, albeit minor, is those notifications, that not only use system resources but can also be quite distracting. So it is wise to disable notifications to speed up Windows 10.

• Open the Settings app.
• In the system, click on notifications. 
• Toggle the switch off for those you no longer want to get Notifications from.
• Below that, uncheck both offer suggestions on how I can set up my device and get tips and suggestions when I use windows.

Disable Virtualization-based Security to speed up windows 10

If you’re a gamer, there are reports that the new virtualization-based security feature in windows 11 is causing Performance to drop upwards of 25%. And to speed up Windows 10 you need to disable those advanced features. To disable virtualization-based security –

• Click the start menu and type Core Isolation. Select it.
• This new feature is intended to prevent malicious code and for many of you, it’s best to be left turned on.

But if you’re a gamer, want the best performance, and feel confident about your computer’s security, you can turn it off.

Disable Game Mode

For those of you who don’t play video games on your pc, turning off game mode will speed up Windows 10. To disable game mode –

• Open Settings in the left panel. Select gaming.
• On the right, go into game mode. 
• Disable It. Turn off services related to Xbox in the background and stop the game DVR and All the others.

Disable 3rd party Antivirus Software to speed up windows 10

Many people still believe that third-party antivirus software is still needed on newer Windows operating systems including Windows 10. You can choose one from the best antivirus software list. For most people, Windows security is all that they would ever need. It’s built into windows and includes Microsoft defender antivirus.

While most third-party security programs can slow down your pc, Microsoft defender is optimized with protection from viruses and other malware with low system impact. So, disabling or uninstalling those 3rd party antivirus software can speed up Windows 10.

If you’re a responsible pc user not clicking on links wildly on the internet or visit sketchy websites, do yourself a favor and save your money by not buying and installing third-party security software.

Restart and Update

There may be times when Windows 11 does not load properly, making your computer slower. It’s rare, but it does happen. Restarting your computer most of the time will fix the issue.

To restart on windows 11 – 

• Click on Start. Then, the power icon.
• In the lower right and select restart.

Also updating windows which could Include bug fixes is a good place to start if your pc is running slow…

To check for updates –

• Open settings. in the left panel, at the very bottom select windows update. 
• If there’s an update available install it. If not click on check for updates – and there might be an update available that can fix your problems.

Final Thoughts

So, with this necessary information, suggestions. recommendations and guidance, you’ll learn how to speed up Windows 10 to boost productivity. If you follow these tips, you can easily Speed Up Windows 10 OS as well as improve performance.

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