Ways to Improve Performance in Windows – Personal computers, or PCs, are everywhere nowadays. Whether you’re a laptop user or a desktop user, PCs are hugely helpful in modern life – a lot of us have needed them more than ever for work, due to working from home scenarios brought on by Covid-19. Most people with a PC fall into two main camps – Mac or Windows. Many businesses, such as managed IT services provider TechQuarters, opt for Windows PCs for their work – this is mainly because Windows is compatible with a wide range of laptop brands. What is more, Microsoft has certainly cemented itself as the top provider of business-oriented software.
If you use a Windows PC, there are several things you can do to keep it running at optimal performance. It is common for PCs to slow down and perform worse as they age. Of course, sometimes this is due to parts of the hardware wearing down gradually over time, but there are many ways to bring your PC’s performance back up to speed.
1. Update Windows & All Your Device Drivers
All Windows users, whether they have personal, work, or school accounts, receive every operating system update as it is released. Most people recognize the regular reminders to update their OS and likely see them as an irritating distraction, but installing those updates is very important. Updating your operating system ensures your data stays secure and your PC performs at its best—improving OS stability and often providing access to the latest features and technologies.
Windows updates usually come in two forms. Windows Updates (sometimes called Microsoft Updates) keep your PC up to date with released patches. Then there are Cumulative Updates – these updates focus on improving the functionality of apps and programs on Windows. As you can see, both types of updates offer significant benefits to users, so it is always worth keeping Windows up to date for better performance.
2. Limit Apps on Startup
Quite often, you get apps that open automatically when you start up your PC. This is usually intended to be helpful – if your OS notices that you regularly open the same apps, it will start opening them automatically. Other times, you get apps and programs that run in the background and start up automatically without you noticing – usually because they were designed to open on startup.
Running multiple apps and programs at once forces your PC to work harder to provide the necessary computing power, which can slow down performance. While you might want certain apps—such as your frequently used work tools—to launch automatically, sometimes they fail to do so, leading to wasted resources.
There are a few ways of finding out which apps open on startup. One way is to look at the icon tray on the right side of your taskbar. Click Show Hidden Icons to see which programs are running. Another way to do this is to open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) right after you turn on your PC and see which apps are running.
3. Consider using ReadyBoost
Sometimes, your PC’s performance issues stem from insufficient RAM. RAM, or Random Access Memory, handles multitasking on your computer. While you can easily upgrade or replace RAM, it involves opening your PC and installing new modules. If you’re uncomfortable with this process, you might consider using a program called ReadyBoost.
ReadyBoost is disk-caching software developed by Microsoft. It allows various external storage devices to serve as a cache between your PC’s hard drive and RAM, boosting responsiveness and overall performance. Included by default on Windows 10 and 11, to activate it, insert a USB flash drive into your PC.
Open File Explorer, locate the drive, right-click it, and choose Properties. In the Properties window, find and select the ReadyBoost tab, then click ‘Use this device’. ReadyBoost will analyze the drive to see how much free space it can utilize for memory optimization. Just click OK, and that space will be allocated for ReadyBoost. How much free space on it can be used to optimize memory? Simply select OK, and that space will be reserved for ReadyBoost.