10 Ways To Speed Up And Improve PC Performance - Windows 10 (2021-With Steps)

 In today's world, PCs have gained enormous importance for gaming, personal uses and even online classes. But, over time and due to incorrect configurations as well, a laptop's speed and overall performance can be affected greatly. So, in this article, I'll be talking about 10 ways to improve and speed up PC performance in Windows 10. So, lets get started. 

1) Clear the Clutter
Temporary files take up plenty of storage on a laptop and also affect performance. So, deleting these files and help speed up your laptop. To clear these files, 

1. Press 'Windows + R' on your keyboard to open the 'Run' dialogue box.

2. Enter the text : %temp% in the search box and click OK. 

3. The temp folder will open. 
4. Select all the files in the folder using 'Ctrl + A', press delete and click YES to confirm.
5. Finally, press skip for any errors that occur. (Make sure to empty your Recycle Bin)

You can similarly clear files present in 'temp' and 'prefetch'.

2) Set Windows To Ultimate Performance
Windows 10 gives you an option to set your PC to ultimate performance on higher end and even lower end PCs. This will adjust your battery life with your PCs performance to give you best results. So, just follow these simple steps, 

1. Right-click on the battery icon on the bottom right corner of your taskbar and select 'Power Options'.
2. Under additional power options, select Ultimate Performance (IF VISIBLE)

If the Ultimate Performance option is NOT VISIBLE, follow these steps:
a. Enter 'cmd' in your search box and open Command Prompt. 

b. Type the following line in Command Prompt and press Enter : powercfg -duplicatescheme e9a42b02-d5df-448d-aa00-03f14749eb61

c. Now, you should see 'Ultimate Performance' as an option in power options.

3) Disable Startup Apps
Several Apps have a high impact on a PCs performance when they automatically start when a laptop is turned on. So, disabling these apps from Startup and help your PC run pretty smooth. So, just do the following, 

1. Right-click on your taskbar and select task manager.

2. Navigate to 'Startup' and click on which ever installed app you want to disable.

3. Finally, click on 'Disable'. (Bottom right corner)

4) Disable Background Apps
Since, processes running in the background take up a lot of memory, it is a possible speculation that disabling these background apps wll help speed up your laptop. To do this, follow these steps, 

1. Type 'Backgroup Apps' in the search box and select the option.

2. Next, turn off all the levers to all the apps in the list.

5) Uninstall Bloatware and other Unused Apps
Windows comes with a lot of bloatware or preloaded apps which are included with the original software. Several times, we also install apps which are rarely used. So, it would be wise to uninstall bloatware and these unused apps. So, follow these steps :

1. Type 'applications' in your search box and open 'Add or remove programs'.

2. This will give you a list of all the applications in your laptop.
3. Simply click on any desired app and press 'uninstall'.

6) Perform Disk Cleanups, Repairs and Optimize Your Hard Disk
Cleaning up your hard disk, performing repairs and defragmenting your hard disk can help boost PC performance greatly. So, follow these steps in order, 

Step 1]
1. Open your file explorer and go to 'This PC'.
2. Right-click your (C:) Drive and select 'Properties'.

3. Select Disk Cleanup and wait for it to perform calculations.

4. Next, click on 'Clean up system files'.

5. Then, click on 'OK' after it loads.
6. Finally, click on 'Delete Files'. 

Step 2]
1. Type 'cmd' in your search box and open command prompt in administrator mode (important).
2. Next, type the following line and press enter : 

sfc /scannow. 

3. The repairing process will begin and, it may take some time.

Step 3]
1. In your search box, type 'defrag' and select Defragment and Optimize Drives.

2. Select the disk drive you want to optimize.
3. Select the Optimize button.

7) Turn Off Visual Effects
Windows 10 is preloaded with several visual effects like, sliding of notifications and sliding up of the taskbar. So, to adjust Windows for best performance and to turn of these visual effects, follow these steps,                           

1. Press 'Windows + R' on your keyboard to open the Run dialogue box.
2. Enter the following line and click OK : sysdm.cpl

3. Go to Advanced and, under Performance click the Settings button.

4. Under Visual effects select 'Adjust for best performance'

5. Click Apply.
6. Click OK.

8) Create Virtual RAM (Useful) 
In standard laptops, 4 GB of RAM isn't enough. To run several apps like Fortnite, at least 8 GB of RAM is required for a smooth gameplay. 

With extra hard-disk space, it is possible to allocate space to RAM and create virtual RAM. It can boost performance by 30 - 50%. To do this, create a partition in your Hard Drive and follow these steps,

1. Press 'Windows + R' on your keyboard to open the Run dialogue box.                                                                    2. Enter the following line and click OK : sysdm.cpl

3.  Go to Advanced and, under Performance click the Settings button.

4. Go to Advanced again and, under Virtual Memory, click on Change.

5. Uncheck the 'Automatically manage paging file size for all drives' option. 

6. Select the Custom Size option and enter the initial and maximum size as seen above.

7. Click on the Set button. 

8. Click the OK button. 

9. Click the OK button again. 

10. Restart your device.  

9) OverClock Your PC (Useful)

This option is not the most suitable one but, it can boost PC performance by almost 200 % ! But, it comes witha side effect - it makes your PC 10 to 15 Degrees hotter. The steps to overclock your PC will be included in a coming blog so, stay tuned.  

10) Factory Reset Your Laptop (The Best Option)

A lot of times, our PCs may become slow due to irreversible of hidden configuration and files which can sometimes even reserve space in the memory, making the PC very slow. 

So, the best option to fix a slow or sluggish laptop is to factory reset it or, in simple terms, erase all the user data. It is quite simple in Windows 10. Just follow these steps and, I assure you that your laptop will become as good as new, 

1. Open settings and select Update & Security. 

2. Go over to Recovery and select 'Get Started' under Reset This PC. 

3. Out of the two options, select Remove Everything IF you have a copy of your personal data and, select Keep my Files if you don't want to remove your personal data. 

4. Click on Next.
5. Finally, click on Reset.

NOTE : Take a copy of all your personal data on a Hard Disk before performing a factory reset because, potentially, it would remove all you personal data, settings and applications. 

😉I hope this article was of any help to you. If it was, feel free to comment and follow my blog. Peace Out !