Newer means faster, a new laptop is always faster and has a great performance because its hardware is compatible with the current software applications. For a certain time, like a year or two, it may work without any performance issues or degradation.
However, there will come a time when its performance will have waned as the software applications are updated.
New software applications are made keeping an eye on the current hardware. Old hardware will lose its competence with time as the software gets updated. To keep up the pace with new software applications, you will need to upgrade your hardware.
Now a question arises, does add more RAM will help in restoring the performance of your laptop? OR Will uninstalling unused applications boost your performance? We have explained in detail each and everything that’s affecting your performance.
How to boost up your laptop?
In some cases, it may not be the system hardware that slows down your laptop. It can be software issues, running multiple programs or maybe your cache is full. To tackle these issues, you can use these simple steps.
Update Your Operating System and Applications
Updating your applications and OS will not only improve your performance but also provide you security. It’s good to keep up-to-date. You can check this by simple navigation to the settings tab and click on the Updates & Security > Windows Updates.
Make sure you update from time to time.
Turn OFF Startup Programs you don’t Need
Programs that run at the startup whenever you power ON your system, drain a lot of power and resources that slow down your system. They run in the background and use a lot of power. Turning them OFF will save you a lot of power and will improve performance to a certain degree.
You will need to go to the task manager menu in the windows. You can open it with a simple shortcut (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) and then navigate to the startup tab. There you can turn off all the unnecessary programs that slow down your laptop.
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Uninstall Unnecessary Programs
We always have some applications that we think we will need some time. If you are not using a program and it’s stored on your laptop, it takes up space and memory that slows down your laptop. Uninstall all the applications that you don’t need and it will boost up your performance up to a certain extent.
Uninstalling applications is very easy. You can simply do that by going to the control panel and navigate to the uninstall applications tab. In Mac, you can just simply throw them into the trash but make sure you clean up your trash after doing that.
Kill Resource Hungry Programs
Sometimes it happens that suddenly your laptop starts running slower. There is a significant decrease in performance. Most of the time, this is due to some programs that take up a lot of memory. To tackle this issue and find out which program is eating up all the resources and slowing down your system. Go to the Task Manager and kill the program that takes all the resources.
If you are not seeing one, sort them by clicking each header and the programs that use most of the resources will come to the top. You can close the actual program or by clicking on the app in Task Manager and then select “End Task”.
Use Disk Cleanup and Defragment Tools
You can clean up all the junk files by using the Disk Cleanup tool that comes built-in within the Windows Operating System. You can open that by simply clicking right on the partitions and selecting properties. Click on the Disk Cleanup and select all the unnecessary files and clean OK.
Defrag tools mostly come with Windows Operating system, but you can use third-party tools as well. It helps you to defrag your hard drive. With time, files get fragmented that slows down your laptop. You can speed up your laptop by using this tool and get the file in a single place. Windows does that on a scheduled basis but if you find an issue you can do it manually as well.
This tool only works with Hard Disk Drive (HDD). You won’t need to do that for an SSD because it works on a different mechanism.
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Increase RAM
Random Access Memory is volatile memory, it temporarily stores programs. If you use programs that take up a lot of memory, you will need to upgrade your RAM. Also, multitasking can fill up the memory and slows down your laptop as well. Most of the time it depends on your system. Many of the old systems cannot be upgraded or upgraded to a certain level.
To speed up your laptop you will need to upgrade your RAM. This will not only increase your performance but also will enable you to run multiple large programs at the same time.
Get an SSD
The traditional hard drive is way slower than SSD. Whereas an SSD is fast and can boost your performance. It stores file in memory chips without using mechanical components. An SSD is expensive compared to a traditional HDD but it’s not too expensive, you can easily get a 128GB or 256GB SSD at an affordable price.
Reinstall or Reset Operating System
As time passes, we install programs on daily basis. The performance of your laptop is degraded. Reinstalling Windows will help in restoring the performance. It’s exactly like hitting the reset button which places everything in the same place as it was.
This will delete all the apps that were installed by you and leave out those which came with the OS by default. You can do that from the Recovery tab selected from the Update and Security tab of the setting Windows.
Conclusion
Over time, the laptop accumulates a lot of files and data. These files need to be cleaned from time to time. This may not restore the original speed but may save you from bigger changes like buying a new laptop or adding an SSD. You need to be careful because if you leave it for a certain time, it will slow down to an extent that you will have to reinstall the OS.
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