99 Ways to Make Your Computer Blazingly Fast

Squeeze the last bit of juice from your old or new PC

Over the last several years working in IT for various companies as a Systems Administrator,  a Network Administrator, and a Help Desk professional, I’ve written and learned about many ways to increase the performance of not only my PC, but also of the many PCs on my networks ranging from Windows 98 to Windows 10.

In this article, I hope to compile a huge list of all the different methods and tricks that I’ve used to get the last bit of juice out of a slow PC. Whether you are using an old PC or the latest and greatest in hardware, you can still use some of these tips to make your PC run faster.

Note that since I write two blogs, Help Desk Geek and Online Tech Tips, I have previously written about many performance tips already which I will link back to throughout. If I have not written about it, I’ve throw in a link to a relevant article from some of my other favorite sites. This list is in no particular order, just written in the order that I could think of them.

There are probably a lot of great tweaks and performance hacks that I’ve missed here, so feel free to chime in with comments! Enjoy!

Speed Up Your PC List

1. Defragment your computer hard disk using built-in Windows tools or third-party programs.

2. You should also defragment your Windows pagefile and registry if you’re running Windows XP still.

3. Clean up hard drive disk space being taken up by temporary files, the recycle bin, hibernation files and more. You can also use a tool like TreeSize to determine what is taking up space on your hard drive.

4. Load up Windows faster by using Startup Delayer, a free program that will speed up the boot time of Windows by delaying the startup of programs.

5. Speaking of startup programs, many of them are useless and can be turned off. Use the MSCONFIG utility to disable startup programs.

6. By default, the size of the paging file is controlled by Windows, which can cause fragmentation. Also, the paging file should be on a different hard drive or partition than the boot partition. Read here for the rules onbest paging file performance.

7. In Windows, by default, the Windows Search indexing service is turned on for all local hard drives.Turning off indexingis a simple way to increase performance.

8. If you don’t care about all the fancy visual effects in Windows, you can turn them off by going to Performance Options.

9. You canoptimize the Windows boot timeusing a variety of techniques including updating your BIOS or disabling unnecessary hardware.

10. Clean your registry by removing broken shortcuts, missing shared DLLs, invalid paths, invalid installer references and more. Read about theone registry cleanerthat I actually recommend.

11. One of the main reasons why PC’s are slow is because of spyware. Here is my list of thebest anti-malware and anti-spyware programsout there.

12. If you have a deeper spyware infection like a rootkit that is very hard to remove, you might need toperform an offline virus scan.

13.Remove unwanted pre-installed software(aka junk software) from your new PC using PC Decrapifier.

14. Disable unnecessary non-Microsoft Windows services that slow down your computer.

15.Tweak Windows XPand tweak Windows 7 or Windows 10 settings using free programs.

16.Disable UAC (User Account Control)in Windows if you’re an advanced user.

17.Tweak your mouse settingsso that you can copy and paste faster, scroll faster, navigate quickly while browsing and more.

18.Delete temporary and unused fileson your computer using a free program like CCleaner. It can also fix issues with your registry.

19.Delete your Internet browsing history, temporary Internet files, and cookies to free up disk space and increase your privacy.

20.Clean out the Windows prefetch folderto improve performance if you’re using Windows XP.

21. If you’re a Firefox user, check out myultimate guide to making Firefox faster.

22. Reduce the number of fonts that your computer has to load up on startup.

23. Is your computer slow to shutdown orhanging during shutdown? Read the article for fixes.

24.Transfer data across your network fasterby forcing Windows to use a wired connection over a wireless connection.

25.Turn off system restoreonly if you regularly backup your Windows machine using third party software.

26.Move or change the location of your My Documents folderso that it is on a separate partition or hard drive.

27. Troubleshoot a slow appearing right-click context menu in Windows.

28. Speaking of right-click context menus, you can alsoedit the right-click context menuand remove unnecessary items to increase display speed.

29. Is your Internet running a little slow too? Here are some tips toincrease your Internet speedalso.

30. In addition, a slow Internet connection could mean someone else is leeching off your WiFi. Make sure no one else is using your WiFi and Internet.

31. Increase LAN transfer speeds by upgrading an old router or modem to the latest version.

32. Have to copy a large number of small files across the network? Windows can be slow, so check out somethird-party fast copy programs.

33. Is your supposedly super fast SSD loading slowly? Here’s how tofix slow boot up timesif you’re using an SSD.

34.Speed up your Internet browsingby using an external DNS server such as OpenDNS or Google DNS.

35. Improve Windowsperformance by using ReadyBoost, a newer feature whereby can use the free space on your USB drive as a caching mechanism.

36. Have a lot of tabs open in your browser window? Usekeyboard shortcuts to switch between tabs faster.

37. If you have an overloaded system with tons of programs, etc., it may be a good idea todo a clean install of Windows.

38. Are yourHD videos lagging or choppywhen playing in Windows. Here are a couple of remedies.

39. If you use Outlook desktop, here are several tips for how toreduce the amount of memory Outlook uses.

40. If you’re an overlocker, you might be interested in someRAM, GPU and CPU tuning utilities.

41. Use a program called TeraCopy to speed up file copying in Windows.

42. Though I depend on ads for my livelihood, you’ll definitely be browsing faster if you use anad-blocker extension in your browser. Just whitelist my site please!

43. Invest in a program likeDeepFreezeif your computer is used by other people, especially kids, who install crap onto your system and slow it down.

44. Using a Intel Celeron processor on your PC? Might be worth looking into a Core i3, i5 or i7 processor. i9 is just ridiculous.

45.Install more RAMin your machine if you are running Windows with anything less than 2 GB of RAM.

46. Change your power settings to Maximum Performance instead of Balanced. It’ll use more energy, but make your computer faster.

47. Try out thePerformance Troubleshooterin Windows 7 and Windows 10. It actually gives some good advice.

48. If you are reinstalling Windows, make sure that youpartition your hard drives correctlyto maximize performance.

49. Is yourdisk usage always close to 100%in task manager? Here are a couple of tips to fix that problem.

50.Convert your PC into a virtual machineusing Hyper-V for free and visit risky sites or install junk program, games, etc. in the virtual machine instead of the host operating system.

51. Do notclear your paging file during shutdownunless it is needed for security purposes. Clearing the paging file slows down shutdown.

52. If your XP or Vista computer is not using NFTS, make sure youconvert your FAT disk to the NTFS file system.

53. Update all of your drivers in Windows, including chipset and motherboard drivers to their latest versions.

54. Every once in awhilerun the built-in Windows Disk Cleanup utility.

55. UseTask Managerto find resource hungry processes running on your PC.

56.Remove unnecessary or old programsfrom the Add/Remove or Programs and Features dialog in the Control Panel.

57. Use a program click memtest86 or Prime95 tocheck for bad memory on your PC.

58. Determine your BIOS version and check the manufactures website to see if you need toupdate your BIOS.

59. Every once in awhile,clean your mouse, keyboard and computer fans of dustand other buildup.

60. Replace a slow 5400 RPM hard drive with a faster 7200 RPM drive, SATA drive, SSD drive or SAS drive. Here’s how you cancheck the RPM of your hard drive.

61.Changing from Master/Slave to Cable Selecton your hard drive configuration can significantly decrease your boot time.

62. Perform a virus scan on your computer regularly. Here’s a list of the most popular anti-virus software and some tips on how toprotect yourself from viruses and malware.

63.Remove extra toolbars from your Windows taskbar and from your Internet browser.

64. Disable the Windows Vista and 7 Sidebar if you’re not really using it for anything important. All those gadgets take up memory and processing power.

65. If you have a SATA drive and you’re running Windows Vista or Windows 7, you can speed up your PC byenabling the advanced write caching features.

66. Learn how to usekeyboard shortcuts for Windows 8,Windows 10,Microsoft Excel,Outlook, orcreate your own keyboard shortcuts.

67.Turn off the Aero visual effectsin Windows Vista and 7 to increase computer performance.

68. If you are technically savvy and don’t mind taking a few risks, you can try tooverclock your processor.

69. Speed up the Send To menu in Explorer by typing “sendto” in the Run dialog box and deleting unnecessary items.

70. Make sure to download all the latest Windows Updates, Service Packs, and hotfixes as they “normally” help your computer work better. You canupdate Windows without using Windows Updatetoo.

71. Make sure that there areno bad sectors or other errors on your hard driveby using the ScanDisk or chkdsk utility.

72. If you are not using some of the hardware on your computer, i.e. floppy drive, CD-ROM drive, USB ports, IR ports, firewire port, etc., then go into your BIOS and disable them so that they do not use any power and do not have to be loaded during boot up.

73. Though it may seem silly, you can actually install faster software on your system. For example, Google Chrome is much faster than Firefox and IE IMHO. If you are using Adobe Photoshop, you can possibly accomplish the same tasks using Paint.NET. Use LibreOffice instead of Microsoft Office. You get the idea, right?

74. If you have a dual boot setup, you canshorten the length of the boot menu timeoutso that your preferred OS loads faster.

75. Though it’s less secure, you can alwayssetup automatic login in Windowsso that you boot right to the desktop after a restart.

76. I already mentioned reducing visual effects, but the same dialog has an option for processor scheduling also. You can choose from Programs or Background Services.

77. If you have lots of files in a single folder, it can slow down Explorer. It’s best to create multiple folders and spread out the files between the folders.

78. If you have files that are generally large on a specific partition, you might want to considerincreasing the cluster size on NTFSto 16K or even 32K instead of 4K. This will help speed up opening of files. Only for advanced users.

79. OneDrive comes bundled with Windows 10 and eats up resources even if you’re not using it.Disable or uninstall OneDrive if you don’t need the cloud syncing.

80.Turn off unnecessary features in Windowsby going toControl Panel, choosingUninstall a program, and then clicking onTurn Windows features on and off. You can turn off Remote Differential Compression, Tablet PC components, DFS replication service, Windows Fax & Scan, Windows Meeting Space, Media Features, IE 11 and lots more.

81. If you have enabled the Hibernation feature in Windows 10, then you should also make sureFast Startup is enabledfor quicker boot time.

82. Completely uninstall programs and applications using a program likeRevo Uninstaller. It will get rid of remnants left behind by normal uninstalls.

83. If you know what you are doing, you can install several hard drives into your machine andset them up in RAID 0, RAID 5, or other RAID configurations. RAID 0 is the fastest.

84. If you are using USB 1.0 or USB 2.0 ports,upgrade them to USB 3.0 ports. Or just buy a new expansion card and install it into an empty slot.

85. Remove the drivers for allold devices that may be hidden in Device Managerthat you no longer use.

86. A more extreme option is to choose a faster operating system. If you find Vista or 7 to be slow, go with Windows 10. Switching to Mac OS X or Linux is also an option.

87. If you don’t care about thelive tiles in the Windows 10start menu, then you should disable them to improve performance.

88. It can be complicated to upgrade a CPU, but that’s not the case for GPUs.Upgrading your GPUcan increase the performance of your PC even if you have an older CPU.

89. Disconnect any unused USB devices from your computer. They will slow down the boot and login processes in Windows.

90. If you have a desktop background, make sure it’s a small and simple bitmap image rather than a fancy picture off the Internet. The best is to find a really small texture and to tile it.

91.Change the privacy settings in Windows 10so that your PC isn’t always trying to connect to Microsoft’s servers.

92. I’ve already mentionedvirus scanning, but it’s worth mentioning that Windows Defender is usually good enough and you should uninstall any third-party anti-virus product as it will slow down your system. I still recommend using an anti-malware program in addition to Windows Defender.

93. If you have a custom built computer or a PC that was previously used, make sure to check the BIOS for optimal settings such as enabled CPU caches, correctly set IDE/SATA data transfer modes, memory timings, updated drivers, etc. You can also enable Fast/Quick boot if you have that option.

94. If you’ve been using one local account for a long time, it might be worth the effort tocreate a new user accountwith a clean profile. You can then delete the older user account later.

95. Though sometimes useful, if you want better performance you candisable taskbar thumbnailsand disable thumbnail previews in Explorer.

96. For advanced users, you candisable program compatibility assistant, which checks each program at run-time for compatibility issues.

97. If you don’t use theCortana digital assistant in Windows 10, you can save quite a bit of resources bydisabling it altogether.

98. If you arerunning a 32-bit version of Windows, you need to get to a 64-bit version ASAP, even if it means upgrading your hardware.

99. Buy a new computer!!! ;) Pretty easy eh?

Whew! If you got through that entire list, I’m very impressed! Not all tips will apply to everyone, but there literally wasn’t anything else out on the Internet that I could add to this. If I have missed a good performance tip, make sure to comment. Enjoy!

Founder of Help Desk Geek and managing editor. He began blogging in 2007 and quit his job in 2010 to blog full-time. He has over 15 years of industry experience in IT and holds several technical certifications.Read Aseem’s Full Bio

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