16 Best Tips to Speed Up Your Windows 10 PC

Do you want to increase the speed of your Windows 10 computer?

Are you looking for the best ways to boost your PC for free?

Whether you are a gamer, a video editor, a blogger, or a simple user… Everyone wants to do tasks on their PC without lag or slow performance.

Having your PC run at the optimal speed will increase your productivity and can also increase the FPS while gaming.

Windows 10 is slow compared to older Windows versions, this is due to the number of background processes and tracking running which is consuming a lot of memory and CPU power.

Certainly, you can increase the speed of your computer by upgrading your hardware (CPU, GPU, RAM, etc.) but in case of a limited budget, you have to do some tips & tricks to boost your PC’s performance.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to speed up your computer for FREE!

Let’s dive in!

1. Update Your Windows/Drivers

Update Your Windows 10 System

The first thing you should keep doing once a month at least is to download the latest updates available.

Every update comes with improvements and bug fixes, security updates are usually pushed automatically to ensure better use.

To download and install the latest updates open your Settings App using the Windows+I keyboard shortcut.

Click on “Update & Security“.

Click on “Download” to start downloading and installing the updates.

After the downloading and installing is done, you will need to restart your PC for updates to complete installing.

Update Your Drivers

To update your drivers there is Drivers Cloud which is an online free service that comes with a light-weight tool allowing you to analyze your system and provide you with download links to the latest driver updates available.

To start open this URL in a new tab: https://www.driverscloud.com/en/start

Click on “INSTALL” and open the file after the download is finished.

Wait for a couple of seconds to download necessary files…

Click “OK“.

Click on “START” on the browser, this will open the DriversCloud tool, click “Detect“.

After the detection is complete you will get a new page, click on “MY DRIVERS“, here you will find most recent drivers ready to download.

2. Optimize Power Options to Speed Up Windows 10

To speed up your computer we will need to optimize the Power Options.

To begin with open Run prompt and type in it powercfg.cpl, hit Enter.

Select the plan “High performance” for maximum speed.

Click on “Change plan settings“.

Click on “Change advanced power settings“.

On “Hard disk” put 0 in the setting “Turn off hard disk after“.

Don’t click “OK” yet.

On “Processor power management” put 0 on the Minimum processor state and 100 on the Maximum processor state.

3. Increase Boot Speed of Your Windows 10 PC

If your PC is slowing booting up, you can follow the steps I shared on my previous easy tutorial: Improve the Boot Speed of Your Windows 10

4. Use 64-bit System (32-bit Windows 10 is out-dated)

Microsoft is no longer supporting the 32-bit version of its Windows 10, and here is what Microsoft said:

“Beginning with Windows 10, version 2004, all new Windows 10 systems will be required to use 64-bit builds and Microsoft will no longer release 32-bit builds for OEM distribution.”

To check which type of Windows 10 you are using open System with the Windows+Pause keyboard shortcut.

5. Disable Privacy Background Processes

One of the major resource-consuming tasks on Windows 10 we find tracking services under the Privacy settings.

Open your Settings App with the Windows+I, click on “Privacy“.

Under the “General” page toggle every privacy option to “Off“.

Under the “Background apps” page choose “Off” for “Let apps run in the background“.

6. Disable Some Notifications & Suggestions

Open your Settings App with the Windows+I keyboard shortcut and click on “System“.

Under the “Notifications & actions” page, uncheck these options:

• Show notifications on the lock screen
• Show reminders and incoming VoIP calls on the lock screen
• Show me the Windows welcome experience after updates and occasionally when I sign in to highlight what’s new and suggested
• Get tips, tricks, and suggestions as you use Windows

7. Improve Gaming Settings to Increase Windows 10 Speed

If you are a gamer, these tips will improve FPS drastically, if you use Steam then you can follow my 8 Tips to Boost FPS on Steam Games for PC.

Open your Settings App and click on “Gaming“.

Under “Game bar” uncheck the option “Record game clips, screenshots and broadcast using Game bar“.

Under “Captures” turn Off the option “Record in the background while I’m playing a game“.

Turn Off all options under “Broadcasting“.

8. Defragment Hard Disks

Defragment your system hard drive once a week, especially if it’s not an SSD.

To do this open “Start” and search for “defragment“, click on “Defragment and Optimize Drives“.

Select your C: drive and click on “Optimize“.

9. Disable Startup Programs to Fix Slow PC

After months of use, you PC may run into the problem of having too much time to fully load.

Part of this problem are the programs that launch during the system startup.

To disable the programs that autostart with Windows 10 open the Task Manager, here are 10 Ways to Open the Task Manager on Windows 10.

Go to the “Startup” tab and disable the programs that you don’t use often or are unnecessary to start with Windows 10.

10. Remove Temporary Files to Free Space and Speed Up Windows 10

Open the Run prompt, type in temp and hit Enter.

Press Ctrl+A and hit Delete button. Confirm by clicking on “Continue” for all current items.

Same thing with AppData temporary files, this time use %temp% in Run and hit Enter.

Confirm and removal by clicking on “Continue” for all current items.

Empty Recycle Bin

Right-click on your Recycle Bin and choose “Empty Recycle Bin“”.

11. Clean Up Hard Drive

Open “This PC” in the Explorer (Windows+E).

Right-click on your C: drive and click on “Properties“.

Click on “Disk Cleanup“.

Click “Clean up system files“.

Select these options:

• Downloaded Program Files
• Temporary Internet Files
• Recycle Bin
• Temporary files
• Thumbnails

The tool will calculate how much space you will be able to free first.

Then you will be prompted to confirm the removal, then the cleaning process will take place.

12. Disable Non-Microsoft Unnecessary Services

Open msconfig with Run.

On the “Services” tab, check “Hide all Microsoft services” and disable all or some services that are not necessary. Click “OK“.

13. Disable Visual Effects to Improve Windows 10 Speed

Open the System window using Windows+Pause.

Click on “Advanced system settings“.

Click on “Settings” under Performance.

Choose “Custom:” and select these visual effects:

• Show shadows under mouse pointer
• Show thumbnails instead of icons
• Smooth edges of screen fonts
• Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop

Click “OK“.

14. Upgrade Your PC’s RAM

The first thing I think of when it comes to upgrading my PC is the green memory slots. And it will cost you very little.

You can order memory sticks from Amazon or eBay if you don’t have a PC repair shop near you.

15. Clean Up Your PC to Prevent Overheating

Borrow a compressed air tool or use a brush to clean the inside of your PC tower from dust to prevent overheating.

Heat is a major problem when it comes to the performance of your PC, keep your PC clean for maximum speed.

16. Optimize & Clean Up the Registry

Use Ccleaner to clean the Registry from unused keys.

There you have it!

You just learned how to increase the speed of your Windows 10 computer.

If you have any questions I am here to help.