Speed up your PC

[uk666]

Speed up your PC

The Microsoft Windows 10 operating system is quite efficient and performs well using default settings. However, it is possible to speed up Windows 10 even more and improve its performance.

Try the following options to speed up your Windows 10 computer, as well as help reduce or eliminate potential errors.

1. Turn off shadowing and visual effects

Windows 10 includes some appealing look and feel features to program windows, text, icons, and other areas. While it may look nice and even flashy, it comes at a cost. Those features, otherwise known as shadowing and visual effects, use up system resources, which can cause Windows to run slower.

To turn off these resource draining features, follow the steps below.

1. In the Search Windows text box, next to the Start button on the taskbar, type sysdm.cpl and press Enter.
2. In the System Properties window, click the Advanced tab.
3. On the Advanced tab, click the Settings button in the Performance section.
4. In the Performance Options window, select the Adjust for best performanceoption, then click the OK button.

1. Adjust Windows power settings

By default, the Windows operating system often utilises a power plan that can result in slower computer performance. If you have a desktop computer, or a laptop computer connected to a power adaptor, you can adjust the power plan used by Windows and increase the computer's performance.

To view and adjust the power plan in Windows, follow the steps below:

1. Open the Windows Control Panel.
2. Find and click the Power Options utility.
3. In the Power Options window, select the High performance power plan, then close the window.

If you want to adjust or the settings of the High performance power plan, click the Change plan settings link next to that power plan option.

You can adjust two power settings in the Edit Plan Settings window, or click the Change advanced power settings link to further adjust the power plan settings.

3. Run Windows System Maintenance

Windows 10 has a built-in maintenance utility that can help find and fix issues in the operating system. It can also identify and run processes that can help improve computer performance.

To access and use the Windows System Maintenance utility, follow the steps below:

1. In the Search Windows text box, next to the Start button on the taskbar, type system maintenance, then press Enter.
2. In the Security and Maintenance window, click the Troubleshooting link towards the bottom of the window.
3. In the Troubleshooting window, under the System and security section, click the Run maintenance tasks link.
4. Click the Next button to run the Troubleshooter utility. If a message appears saying to run the Troubleshooter as an administrator, click the Try troubleshooting as an administrator option.

      5. If any errors or issues are found, or any suggestions are provided, follow the steps to fix the errors and issues, and implement the suggestions.

4. Clean the Windows registry

Registry repair software can remove items from the registry that make your PC run, without these items it will not work at all, that's the dangerous side. Sometimes the registry gets so cluttered up that registry repair is needed to keep a PC working. 

Why don’t registry cleaners work? 
The truth is that cleaning your Windows registry will not speed up your computer, and, as the recent CCleaner malware infection shows, it could leave you much worse off.

In reality, there is no reason why you should have to streamline, optimise, defrag, compress, or clean your registry. Even Microsoft agrees.

In a statement, they wrote: “Microsoft does not support the use of registry cleaners. Some programs available for free on the Internet might contain spyware, adware, or viruses.”

Here are 5 reasons why using a registry cleaner may not be necessary...

1. Windows has set up an alert to tell you when you’re so low on Hard Disk Drive (HDD) space that it is affecting your PC’s performance. This utility will actually help you remove files that aren’t needed as well.
2. Web browsers have come a long way in the last ten years, evolving into quicker and far more intelligent machines. Browser caches don’t need to be cleaned to make things run faster, in fact deleting the information from your Internet browser’s memory will just mean that data will have to be restored from scratch. Registry cleaners love to entice you to clear cache and cookies, but there isn’t really a performance-related reason for this.
3. It can be difficult for individuals to understand what in the Windows registry is necessary and what isn’t. There’s a good chance you could delete critical components for one of your programs or necessary keys and then you’ll be a lot worse off. To really speed up a PC you would be much better off hiring an IT support provider to fine-tune your system properly.
4. Even before the recent news of CCleaner being hacked, free registry cleaner programs were easy targets for those who wanted to install spyware or adware on your computer. Downloading the cleaner to speed up your PC could end up slowing it down even further. In a worst-case scenario, it could cause you to need a system restore. With so many different options available to consumers it can be difficult to know which ones are reputable. But ultimately, even the reputable ones are targets for viruses and malware.
5. There are no legitimate benchmarks available to show how registry cleaners speed up systems. In fact, the evidence of this seems to be purely anecdotal. If registry cleaners did help then we should have benchmarks to review surely? Malwarebytes Lab believes that users who notice a difference may be suffering from a computer style ‘placebo effect’, and they advise against using them. More damningly, many of the programs meet the Malwarebytes’ Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP) criteria, meaning if you’re under their protection you can’t access them anyway.

Use registry repair software as a last resort when all else fails just before you reload a faulty OS. Using it then might keep your system going a bit longer. So use it only when you have nothing to loss.

Below are a couple of registry cleaners:

•  CCleaner - fixes many registry issues, and includes several additional tools to speed up a computer.
• Windows 10 Manager is a system application that helps you enhance, tweak, fix and clean up system. It will improve your system speed, remove system fault.

[koolkat]

A useful post, and I second the advice to avoid registry cleaners.

Another important action to take is to stop some apps from starting with the system unnecessarily, thus prolonging start-up and consuming memory.

Task Manager > Start-ups

Examine the list carefully, and if there is anything that doesn't have to start with the system and be constantly active, right click and disable it. Of course, it will still start, but only if and when you need it and start it yourself.

Be careful you don’t disable any essential apps, like the antivirus.

[BamSec1]

Thanks to both for your advises.

And almost the same settings can be set for those who still use Win7.

One instantly sees the difference in speed after changing the standard Microsoft's setting!

I changed mine years ago, directly after installing the Win7 OS.