To keep your PC running smoothly, you’ll need to keep it clean and tidy.
Is that PC you spent hundreds of pounds on not a few months ago now running more like an old, crusty Pentium II? Have your programs started to take a veritable ice age to open files? Has Windows turned into an aged old app that has to be told what to do twice or more before it reacts? If so, then you’re probably suffering from the usual system slowdown we all go through from time to time. It’s guaranteed that any PC will slow down after prolonged use, and your daily actions will take their toll.
Many worry about this lack of performance and think it may be down to damage or some form of virus. This is possible (and we’ll cover that too), but it’s far more common that any slowdown is simply due to daily use, and it’s easily reversed, as long as you know how and keep your PC clean and tidy.
We’re going to cover a wide selection of tips and tricks you can use to speed up your PC and give it a good spring clean in order to restore its previous lustre.
If your PC needs a bit of sprucing up in the performance department, read on.
The Basics
Although there’s no shortage of advanced tips and tricks you can employ to clean up your PC and keep it operating smoothly, we should start with the basics. This is always the best place to begin, as the simple, everyday tasks can often have the most dramatic results.
Uninstall Unwanted Programs
Even though it’s one of the most obvious steps to take, it’s surprising how many people’s PCs become so full of installed applications they begin to struggle under the weight of them. Think about your own brain when you’ve got too much going on. All the stress and blockage of thoughts and worries only serves to give you a headache, slowing you down. You can’t focus on one thing, and you just end up floundering. A PC is much the same. The more programs and applications it has to handle, along with the increase storage space needed on the hard drives all take their toll. If these programs also run in the background, they’ll take up even more resources. If Windows doesn’t have space to work with files, that will also contribute to your system’s woes.
A very easy step, then, to take is to clear your system down. Go through all of your programs and check to see if you really need or use them. If you don’t, there’s no reason to keep them on your system so you should uninstall them. This will free up space on your hard disk(s), and if any programs use resources by running services in the background, this will be freed up too.
It’s important to do this step first, as following tips will only be fully beneficial if the system is cleared beforehand, but more on this later.
Hard Disk Clean Up
Once you’ve removed any unwanted programs, you should look at cleaning up your hard disks and clearing out any detritus. An easy way to do this is to use Windows’ own clean-up tool. You can find this by right-clicking a drive in Explorer and selecting Properties. Underneath the pie chart that shows drive usage you’ll see a button labelled Disk Cleanup. Click this and Windows will automatically scan the drive for various types of content, such as temporary files, offline web pages, the Recycle Bin, archived files and more.
Once the scan is complete, you’ll be able to browse through a check-list that shows how much space each type of content is taking up. Select any items you want to remove and then click OK to get rid of it. If you’re not totally sure, you can use the View Files button to see exactly what the tool has identified. This way, you can save files you actually need, although this is fairly unlikely, and the majority of the time, all identified items are junk.
Taking the task further, you can also click the option to clean down system files. This will scan the system once again for more sensitive system items that you can remove, such as Windows Defender and Windows Update file. Clicking the More Options tab will expand this clear-out even more, allowing you to remove programs and the option ‘System Restore and Shadow Copies’, which lets you delete all but the most recent restore point. This can free up a lot of space, but be aware that you’ll lose your ability to restore your PC to any earlier times prior to your last restore point creation.
All of these steps and others featured here will ensure you have the most space possible on your hard disk(s). This is important, not only for your own use, but also for Windows. The OS needs room to work, and it uses space for the page file, as well as other tasks. If you have little space, this will not be available to Windows, so your system’s speed (and sometimes stability) will suffer.
Clean Up Desktop
It’s also important to ensure you have a clean desktop. Although you may not think so, a cluttered desktop can also contribute to a slow PC. Each and every shortcut you have has to be mapped when the system loads up or updates, so this needs to be kept to a minimum if possible. It’s a problem that’s improved with newer versions of Windows, but it’s worth looking into.
Clear Out History
This has been partly taken care of by using Windows’ system cleaner, but it’s worth double-checking your various internet browsers and clearing out their temporary and history folders manually. This will ensure you remove files stored by programs that may not be covered by Windows’ clean-up routine.
Fonts
Windows stores all the fonts it has at its disposal in the Fonts folder on the system drive. If you’ve been using the system for a long time, it’s likely that this folder will have a huge collection of fonts, as any new ones installed by programs are stored here.
When you’re using programs that use fonts, such as text editors or image editors, Windows will have to scan through this folder to populate the list, which can take longer than you may like. Simply having a bloated font folder can, surprisingly, also contribute to general system sluggishness.
It’s a good idea to have a look in the font folder and clear out any fonts you’ll never use. You can do this by going to Windows > Fonts and then browsing through the list of fonts. You could simply delete fonts you don’t want, but this can cause problems. If a program requires a specific font, for whatever reason, it may not work properly, and it’s hard to know which fonts are used. Instead, you can use the option to hide fonts. This keeps the font on your system, usable by programs, but hides it from inclusion in font lists. You can also choose to automatically hide fonts based on language. If you’re only interested in fonts for your own language, this is a good trick to know. You’ll find this option under the Font Settings link to the left.
Run Anti-virus And Malware Scanners
It goes without saying, but viruses and other malware can have a serious effect on your PC and its performance. In the worst-case scenario, they can make your PC unusable or unbootable and can even pinch data, but far more often they’ll simply causes all sorts of inconvenient problems, including system slowdown and other minor faults.
You need to run regular scans with both anti-virus and malware scanners and ensure you keep these up to date. Scheduled scans are best if you can set a time when you don’t need to use the PC (as scans can cause Windows to operate slowly), but if you can’t or prefer not to do this, a manual scan every couple of weeks or so is a good idea. When you’re looking at speeding up your PC, you should also do this.
It’s best to run scans in Safe Mode if possible, or at least with no other programs open, as this can affect the scan itself and make it take longer. Plan to run scans when the PC will be unused to optimise their effectiveness.
Trim Your Start-up
Uninstalling programs is all well and good, but even programs you need and want to keep can cause problems. A lot of programs like to run at start-up, launching services or background processes as Windows boots. This can add to the time it takes your PC to become ready.
Uninstalling some programs may not be desirable, as you may actually use them, but their background processes are not as essential. For example, Adobe Acrobat Reader likes to run in the background and load up with Windows. While Acrobat Reader is essential for reading PDF files and you’ll probably need to use it at some point, you don’t need it running all the time, so why let it do so, especially at start-up?
To take control of this, you should look at Windows’ start-up routine and trim it down, only allowing the programs you actually need to run in the background, such as anti-virus apps, and preventing others. This can be done easily. To do so, simply press Ctrl+Alt+Del and go into Task Manager, then click the Startup tab. In older versions of Windows, such as XP, you need to go to Start > Run and type ‘msconfig’, selecting the Startup tab from the window that appears.
The list you’ll see shows all the programs that load up with Windows. To stop this, simply right-click an entry and select Disable. New versions of Windows also help you quickly determine the overall impact a program has on performance, as can be seen in the Startup impact column.
It’s best to remove most entries here, only leaving essentials like security software and hardware tools you may need, such as GPU control panels or audio device software. Even then, you may not actually need them running with your system, as they can often be loaded up when needed later on.
Defrag
We said earlier that the previous steps needed to be done first and that’s for good reason, as the final basic step to take is to defragment your hard disk(s). This reorganises the data on the drives so Windows can locate data it needs easily and quickly. If you defrag first, then remove data, you’re just compounding the problem. Clearing the system of unwanted data and then organising it is the best way to ensure your hard disks are in order.
Once you’ve cleaned the system, uninstalled programs, cleared out fonts and so on, right-click on one of your hard disks in Explorer and select Properties. Click Tools and then press the Optimise button. This will open the disk defrag window. Here you can analyse drives to see how fragmented the data is, at which point Windows will inform you of the need to defragment. Do this and defrag your drive(s). The process can take a long time, depending on the size and fragmentation of the drive, so don’t plan on using your PC for a while. For this reason, it’s a good idea to defrag drives overnight. Once the process is complete, you should notice quite an impressive increase in performance.
Specialised Tips
With the staples out of the way, it’s time to look at some more advanced techniques you can use to bolster your PC’s performance and keep the PC cleaner and operating smoother for longer.
Registry Cleaners
There’s an ongoing debate between users regarding registry cleaners. Some argue that they’re very useful and help to keep the registry tidy, with no errant entries. Others insist such software is more of a risk that could cause problems with installed programs or even cause instability. The truth is somewhere in the middle of the two. Yes, registry cleaners can help get rid of entries left over by old programs, but letting an automated program root around in your system registry, which is likely totally different to any other PC, is always going to present a risk.
For this reason, you should always ensure you create a backup of your registry prior to any cleaning. Most cleaners, of which there are many, will give you this option, and you can use Windows’ own registry editor to do so using the export option (Win+R and type ‘regedit’).
A good registry cleaner you may want to check out is Ccleaner (www.piriform.com). This is actually a good all-round tool for keeping your PC clean, as it can automate a lot of the tasks we’ve looked at here, and it has a decent registry cleaning tool too.
Check Drives For Errors
An important aspect of keep a PC operating well is making sure it’s healthy, and this includes your hard disks. Drives can suffer from errors or corrupt sectors, and this can cause sluggishness and stability problems as Windows may try to access data from a corrupt sector. This means you need to stay on top of things.
It’s wise to run Windows’ disk checking tool every so often, as this can identify any problems and attempt to fix them. Of course, if an error is the result of physical damage, software can’t fix it, but damaged sectors can be tagged so they’re no longer used.
To use this tool, go to Explorer and right-click your hard disk. Go to Properties and select the Tools tab. Under Error checking, click the Check button. Here you’ll be able to run Windows’ error checking. This can take a while, but it’s worth the wait.
You can also find a range of third-party disk checking tools, but for most users, Windows’ own tool does the job just fine. If you’re constantly finding damaged sectors, it may be time to consider backing up your data and replacing the disk, as errors have a habit of multiplying and can even lead to unbootable systems.
Keep Windows On Its Own Partition
A very effective pre-emptive method of keeping your system well ordered and running smoothly is to install Windows on its own partition or drive, installing programs and keeping data elsewhere. This will ensure Windows isn’t bloated with other files on the drive and no space is taken up by non-OS content.
If you’re planning to format your PC, keep this in mind when you set up your partitions. If you’re cleaning up an already set up system, consider using Windows’ partition manager or a third-party app to separate Windows from the rest of your data.
Move Page File To Separate Drive
Although this is more of a general PC performance tip, not necessarily a clean-up tip, it’s nonetheless very useful and will help you keep your PC organised and running smoothly.
Windows has a temporary data file, called the page or swap file. This is a portion of your hard disk that’s reserved for Windows’ use. It’s here where it stores data that’s needed, kind of like software RAM, and it’s very important in terms of system speed. However, this can cause problems, both for storage space and speed, if the file is located on a cluttered drive or the same drive as Windows.
To limit this disruption, it’s best to move the page file to another drive, one that’s not as full or busy. Ideally, it should be situated on a drive that doesn’t see much traffic, such as a storage drive, one without installed programs.
To move the page file, right-click Computer and go to Properties. Select Advanced Settings > Advanced > Performance > Settings > Advanced and click the Change button. Here you can opt to manage the page file manually. To move the page file, simply select no paging file for the Windows drive and highlight another partition or drive, then specify the amount of space to use. You can let Windows decide the size if you wish, and this will be fine. Click OK and Apply, then reboot your PC.
Update Windows
Finally and most straightforward, keep Windows updated. Yes, it’s true that some updates can occasionally cause problems, but for the most part, updates are a good thing. Bugs and security fixes are implemented and new features and optimisation are added. They’re useful, and you should always keep on top of them.
With these tips, you should be able to keep your PC clean and claw back your PC’s former speed, all without spending anything – which is always nice.