We live in a world of immediacy, where deliveries arrive the next day, and everything we need is available at the touch of a button. However, all of this grinds to a halt with a slow running PC. In the workplace this can reduce productivity as staff are left waiting for programmes to load and data to save. Not only is it annoying but it is inefficient.
There could be numerous reasons why a PC slows down including:
- Outdated equipment – Most hardware has a limited life span, meaning that whilst old hardware may work, as the memory fills up, it may not be possible to update the software with the latest versions and patches, which can affect functionality and slow the machine down.
- Out of date software – Most third-party software manufacturers supply regular updates, which fix bugs, enhance functionality and improve security. Therefore if these updates are not installed there can be security risks, functionality failure or the machine slowing down.
- Slow internet connection – With the majority of PC tasks being carried out in the cloud a slow internet connection can severely impede any activity from Zoom meetings, to opening documents or sending emails. This is a simple fix by upgrading to a faster internet speed.
- Shut down – When you leave your PC on overnight, even if everything is shut down there will be a number of processes running in the background which can slow your machine down. Therefore it’s important to reboot your PC at least once a week to free up RAM used by the background processes.
- Remove Power Saver plan – With Windows 10, activating the Power Saver Plan reduces the performance of the PC in order to save power. It’s better to set the PC to High Performance or Balanced.
- Disable programs running on start-up – To speed up your PC disable programmes to run on start-up unless they are programmes you will be using straight away.
- Upgrade your RAM – It could be necessary to instal extra RAM on to your PC in order to deal with speed issues. This wouldn’t take the team at Supportwise long to do and would improve the performance of an older machine.
- Clear history – Clearing your history will speed up a machine as the temporary files, cookies, and caches all take up space on your hard disk whilst offering little value.
- Disk clean up – There is an automatic tool which will do a disk-clean-up and will remove all unnecessary files, thumbnails and even empty the recycle bin. At the same time you can run a disk defragmentation which will give you up-to-date information on the disk space available.
- Install an SSD drive – By upgrading to a Solid-State Drive (SSD) will speed up the processes on your PC and is particularly effective if you use multiple programmes at once or use photographic software.
- Uninstall unwanted software – As we head into spring, why not spring clean your PC by removing any apps that you don’t use as well as those which are pre-loaded, as they occupy valuable disk space and can slow down your PC.
If you have tried all these things and your PC is still running slow, or you would like some help implementing these activities contact the team at SupportWise and we’ll be happy to help you out.