5 Ways to Make Windows 10 Run Faster

Few things in modern life are more frustrating than a sluggish computer. Since many of us spend much of our lives in front of a screen, any small bump in computing speed can have a large impact on our productivity.

If you have Windows 10 and your PC is running at a snail’s pace, the following tweaks can get you out of the quicksand and onto a smoother and speedier path forward.

Change your power settings

Saving power usually is a good thing. But leaving your PC in the Windows 10 “power saver” mode can cause performance to lag.

To get your PC firing on all cylinders, go to your Control Panel and select “Hardware and Sound,” then “Power Options.” Find “Show additional plans,” click the down arrow and select “High Performance.” If your laptop isn’t connected to a power source, try the “Balanced” option instead.

Clean your disk

This simple process gets rid of temporary files that are gumming up your computer’s ability to zip from task to task.

Start by going to the search box in the left corner of your screen and searching for “Disk Cleanup.” Then, choose the drive you want to clean, and you will receive suggestions about which files to remove.

Then, simply choose to “clean up system files,” and Windows will take care of the rest.

Disable effects

Hidden inside Windows 10 are little visual add-ons that make the system look good — at the cost of reducing performance speed.

If speed is what you care about most, get rid of the visual effects by pressing the Windows key and “R” at the same time to open the “Run” command. Type “sysdm.cpl” in the box and click OK to launch System Properties.

Under the “Advanced” tab, look for “Performance” and click the “Settings” button. When the next box (Performance Options) opens, choose the “Adjust for best performance” radio button and click “Apply” and “OK.”

Shut down tips and tricks

Windows regularly sends you suggestions for getting the most out of your PC. But ironically, these incoming tips can slow down performance.

To stop such messages, click the Start button, select “Settings” and go to “System” and “Notifications & Actions.” Scroll down to the “Notifications” section and uncheck the box marked “Get tips, tricks, and suggestions as you use Windows.”

Run system maintenance

Windows 10 typically checks your system without you even knowing it. But if you want to run a check on demand, go to the Control Panel, click on “System and Security” and then “Security and Maintenance.”

Under “Automatic Maintenance,” you will find an option to “Start Maintenance” if you so desire.