How to Fix Slow, Freeze and Sluggish Performance on Windows 10
There is a high number of Windows 10 users who are facing slow performance. There are multiple reasons for the PC to be running slow. Few common reasons that affect system or Windows to run slow are the hardware failure, virus/malware infections, multiple program running at windows startup, incorrect virtual memory settings, systems drivers or windows not up to date and very old computer.
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Table of Contents
Tips to fix the Slow performance issue in Windows 10
1. Run Hardware Test
In most cases, the hard drive is the failure, run a hardware scan on your system. If any hardware component has failed, hardware test will let you know about it and you can replace that faulty hardware, For Dell system – start your system and then immediately keep on tapping F12, select Diagnostic to run the hardware test.
2. Update your System Drivers and Windows
All Windows 10 users must update their system drivers provided by the system manufacturers- Dell Users can visit the below link and enter the service tag number of the system and select Drivers and Downloads and click on Detect Drivers to install the latest updates.
All Windows users should always update their system BIOS to the latest. Updating System BIOS can fix multiple issues with your system.
How to update Windows 10.
Open Windows 10 Settings by pressing Window + I on the keyboard and go to Settings > Update & security > Windows Update > Check for updates. From here you can update the Windows 10.
Click on Check for Updates and update your Windows, restart your PC after Windows update so that it can install those updates.
Run System Scan using Antivirus/Windows Defender: To get rid of Malware and Viruses run the system scan using any Antivirus which you have, in case you do not have any Antivirus Subscription, run system scan using Windows Defender which is an inbuilt Windows 10 Security. Do not have multiple Antivirus running as it will slow down the system performance, use only one Antivirus at a time.
To open Windows Defender type in Windows Defender Security Center in Windows 10 search box as shown below
Once Windows Defender is open, select Virus & threat protection and click on Scan now to run a scan.
3. Disable Startup Programs and Make Some Space on The Hard Drive
Open Run box by pressing Win +R and then type in Msconfig in the run box as shown below and hit OK.
Once System Configuration window is open go to Startup and click on Open Task Manager
Once Task Manager is open, select unnecessary programs from the list and click on Disable as shown below
This will stop programs to open automatically whenever you start your system and will help to boot system fast.
Now delete temporary files from your system, these are junk files which slow down your Windows
Open Run box by pressing Win +R and then type in temp or %temp% and hit ok to bring up temporary files, select all by pressing Ctrl + A and delete them permanently by pressing Shift + Delete on the keyboard.
Also, uninstall the program which you do not use, may be any particular program is causing the Windows to run slow. Open Run box by pressing Win +R and then type in appwiz.cpl and hit OK. This will bring up the list of all the programs installed in your PC, select the one you want to uninstall and click on uninstall as shown below
Dell Users: Please uninstall a program named Smartbyte from the system- it causes 100% disk usage and slows down your internet speed
Run Disk Cleanup, open disk cleanup by typing Disk Cleanup in Windows 10 search box as shown below
Once Disk Cleanup is open put a check mark in front of the all the list and then click on Clean up system files
Once you click on Clean up system Files it will pop up a window with C drive selected, hit OK. It will again bring up disk cleanup windows again, put a check in front of all the list and then hit OK to clean the disk.
This will get rid of all the unnecessary junk files on the system.
4. Disable Some Microsoft Services in Windows 10
Open Run box by pressing Win +R and then type in services.msc.
Find below services and disable it from the list:
Superfetch
BitLocker Drive Encryption Service
Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service
Select these services and make a right click and go to properties and then select startup type to disabled and then hit Apply and ok.
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5. Correct Windows 10 Virtual Memory/Pagefile
In Windows search box type in System and click System as shown below.
Now click on Advanced System Settings
On System Properties Window under the Advanced tab click on Settings as shown below
On Performance Option Window under advanced click on Change
On Virtual Memory window, uncheck Automatically manage paging file size for all drives.
From the list, select the drive on which Windows 10 is installed. (C: in most cases is already selected) click to select the Custom size radio button. Now type the minimum and maximum size of the Pagefile in megabytes (MB) according to the physical memory present in your computer.
Now how to calculate Windows 10 Virtual Memory: Initial size is one and a half (1.5) x the amount of total system memory. Maximum size is three (3) x the initial size. So, in this system we have 8 GB (1 GB = 1,024 MB x 8 = 8192 MB) of memory. The initial size would be 1.5 x 8192 = 12288 MB and the maximum size would be 3 x 12288= 36864 MB.
Now click on Set and restart your PC.
Also Read: Fix 100% Disk Usage on Windows 10
6. Fix Corrupted Windows System Files
In Windows search box type in Powershell and make a right click on Windows Powershell and click on Run as administrator and click Yes.
On the Windows PowerShell Window please paste or type in this command dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth and hit the enter key on the keyboard (note the space between “dism.exe” and “/” and each switch (/)). This will find corrupted windows file and it will fix it.
Run System File Checker (SFC Scan): In Windows search box type in Powershell and make a right click on Windows Powershell and click on Run as administrator and click Yes. On the Windows PowerShell Window please paste or type in this command sfc /scannow (note the space between “sfc” and the “/”). It will take some time to complete. This will find corrupted windows file and it will fix it.
7. Adjust for Best Performance in Windows 10
In Windows 10 search box type performance and then select Adjust the appearance and performance of windows. Under Visual Effects tab, select Adjust for best performance > Apply. Restart your system.
8. Perform System Restore
If you think that after installing some driver, updates or installing any app might have caused slow performance then you can restore your PC from a system restore point. Restoring your PC undoes recent changes made to the PC.
Please keep in mind that restoring your PC will not affect your personal files but it will remove apps and updates that were installed after the restore point.
To perform a system restore type System Restore in Windows search box and click on Create a restore point
Under System Protection click on System restore
Once you click on system restore it will give you two options, recommended restore or Choose a different restore point as shown below. Select a date which you think is related to the app, driver or update which has caused the slow performance and then click on next.
Select the date and click on next
Confirm your restore point and click on Finish.
It will take time to complete restore, your system may restart several times during the process. Once done start using the system.
9. Reset Your PC/ Reinstall the OS
If all the above steps do not resolve the slow performance issue then you might have to reinstall the Windows 10 on the system as it might have gone corrupt. Please note that you will lose all the data and the apps you installed on the system so please backup your data before you reinstall Windows 10. To know how to reinstall the Windows 10 on your PC you can visit the below link.
10. Upgrade your Hard drive to Solid State Drive
Replacing your current Hard drive with SSD is an effective solution to slow performance, SSD is flash storage and has no moving parts whatsoever, SSD storage is much faster than HDD, your PC will boot in seconds and you will love the fast performance.
11. Buy a New Computer
If your system is more than 5 years old then you might face difficulty in running a lot of current software and OS, it may not be compatible and hence those programs will run slow, new software or OS requires better and bigger hardware to run properly. So, in order to avoid this, buy a new computer which is top in the line.
Few extra points to keep in mind to improve the performance.
1)Do not keep your system on for a very long time like 2 to 3 days in a row, even if your system is in sleep mode the hard drive is still running and system accumulates a lot of static electricity.
2) Restart your system at least once in a day.
3) Keep the room free of dust and keep the air vents clean in the system.
4)Use the laptop on the flat surface to ensure proper air ventilation and cooling. It will avoid overheating.
5) Do not use any third-party hardware on the system like AC adapter or universal charger, use the charger which came with the system. Use of other brands charger may slow down performance.
Wrap Up
I hope this post helped you to Fix Slow, Freeze and Sluggish Performance on Windows 10.
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