With your laptop beginning to accumulate more files the more regularly you use it, it’ll come as no surprise that it will begin to run slower over time.
A slow-running laptop can be a huge source of frustration with effects on your productivity and stress levels being possible consequences.
Spring-cleaning your laptop and giving it some general maintenance can help to decrease the time you spend waiting for it to catch-up, but how can you get it running faster indefinitely?
If your laptop is running slow or is taking a long amount of time to load programs, windows or apps, you might want to follow these steps:
Update your software
The Windows operating systems that many laptops currently run on is constantly being updated as a stream of various issues, bugs and complaints are always being reported.
Making sure that the software on your laptop is up-to- date is important for helping it to run smoother because the latest edition is likely to have fixed problems you may have been experiencing.
Applications, web browsers and drives for other devices like printers also benefit from using software that has been recently updated, so it’s important not to ignore the notifications regarding new updates!
Virus checks
If your laptop is running slowly, completing a thorough virus check on your machine can highlight the potential reasons why.
Not only can viruses result in a slow-performing computer but it can also cause data loss; with spyware having the ability to collect your personal information without you even realising.
Load up your antivirus software and carry out a full scan to identify if there is a virus on your machine. If there is, the anti-malware software you have should be able to remove it.
Defragment your hard drive
Although a defragmentation of your hard drive may sound complicated, it can be carried out by people who aren’t particularly tech-savvy.
Running a disk defragment on your laptop essentially optimizes the hard drive that stores your information for order for it to become fully efficient at storing files.
To do this, go to your computers’ Control Panel and search for ‘disk defragmentation’. You can even schedule your disk to be optimized on a regular basis which can help with the speed of your laptops’ operations.
Uninstall unused programs
When you buy a new laptop, it usually comes with a large number of files and programs that you won’t use for personal use.
Open the Control Panel, head to the Programs and Features page and have a look through the software your computer has already installed. If you recognise that some of these programs are ones that you have never used and aren’t listed as being published by Windows (your PC manufacturers’name), uninstall the program.
Removing these programs can help to speed up the time it takes for your laptop to load and you’ll hopefully see an improvement in the time taken to complete normal functions.
Still not working?
If your laptop is still running slowly and none of the tips we’ve mentioned seem to work, it may be time to throw in the towel.
Get in touch with the Sell Your Laptop team and let us explain how we can help you upgrade your laptop. We can help you trade-in your old laptop online for cash to put towards your brand new machine!
