There are several factors that can affect the performance of our equipment. Many of them, if not most of them, we can avoid if we make good use of our equipment and we avoid using our computer as a test equipment for any application that passes through our hands.
However, it is also likely that the performance problems that our equipment is experiencing are due to other factors, such as the software that is factory installed on our equipment or that some component of our equipment is damaged. If you want to check why your computer is slow and how to fix it, I invite you to keep reading.
Remove bloatware
Laptop manufacturers have always insisted on installing a series of applications that practically nobody uses and that all they do is slow down the operation of our team. These applications have become so annoying that they have been dubbed bloatware.
Microsoft is aware of the mania of the manufacturers and the constant hatred of the users towards this type of software. For remove bloatware quickly and easily, Microsoft makes the Start from scratch function available to us, a function that will allow us to eliminate all factory installed applications.
This function is available in Settings> Update & Security> Windows Security> Device Performance and Health.
Check the programs that run at Windows startup and in the background
Many are the applications that to start more quickly, are installed at the start of our system, causing the startup time of our equipment is increased, especially when there are many applications that do it.
Eliminating the applications from the Windows startup will allow us reduce the startup time of our team without affecting the operation of the applications. The only negative point, to call it in some way, is that the application may take a few more seconds to open. Nothing more.
To access the applications that run in the start menu and disable them, we must access the Task Manager (Ctrl + Alt + Del). Inside the Task Manager, we go to the tab. To disable an application from the Windows startup, we must go to it and click on the Disable button located in the lower right corner.
Delete the apps you don't use
The disk of our computer is not only used to store system applications, but it is also used by Windows as extra memory when the physical RAM is being used and is you need more resources to keep working.
The disk space that Windows uses as memory is called virtual memory, and its size may vary depending on both the power of the equipment and the application we are using. In the latest versions of Windows, virtual memory works automatically, so we cannot set usage limits.
This forces us to always have enough free space on our computer so that Windows uses the one it needs at all times. Having applications installed on our computer that we know we are not going to use, all it does is affect the performance of our computer.
To delete applications quickly, we just have to go to the application icon in the start menu and press the right mouse button to select the Uninstall option.
Don't install apps without rhyme or reason in our team
Many are the users who like it test apps just to see what they do, even if they do not intend to use them in life. Every time we install an application on our computer, the Windows registry is modified, but when we delete it, the registry is not modified again to leave it as it was.
In the long run, this is a very serious problem for the team since the registry tries to find services where there are no longer any, and in the long run, both the start time of our team and overall performance is seriously affected.
Important data, on an external hard drive
Store our photos, videos or movies on our main hard drive to consult whenever we want it's an excellent idea and we do it daily.
But in most cases this is not the case, so all that information should move it to an external hard drive, not only so that it does not take up unnecessary space on our hard drive, but also to have a backup copy in case our equipment stops working.
Today, the price of hard drives has dropped a lot and it is very easy to find external hard drives of good capacity for about 50 euros, so the price is not an excuse to improve the performance of our equipment in general and to avoid losing our most valuable data.
The computer is compatible with the Windows version
The first thing we must take into account when finding out if our computer is no longer as fast as when we bought it, is if the version of Windows that we are running it's compatible with the specifications of our team since each new version of Windows requires a little more power.
When I say compatible, I mean that does not have the necessary resources to function with ease. If our computer came to the market with Windows XP, it is very unlikely that it will work relatively well with Windows 7 or later versions, but not Windows 10.
If none of this works, we can only reinstall Windows
When reinstalling Windows on our computer, although it is true that the most comfortable thing is to restore a backup of the system that the manufacturer offers us, it's the worst we can do, even if it is the fastest way.
And I say it's the worst, because initially we will suffer from bloatware again that I have commented above. Installing Windows 10 from scratch is the best we can do. And I say that it is the best, because we do not have to go to the manufacturer's website to look for the drivers of the components of our equipment, Windows 10 is in charge of searching for them automatically.
In older versions of Windows, yes, we should download the drivers, but only that, the drivers, never the programs with applications that the manufacturers put at our disposal if we want to avoid bloatware.
Microsoft offers us a installer that will not only take care of downloading a copy of the Windows 10 version that we need, but also, it will also allow us to make a backup copy of the data that we want to keep. This tool can be downloaded directly from the Microsoft website.