1. Close and Exit Programs in Your System Tray
There may be programs that run in the background when you are using your computer that you may not need. You can find them by going to the system tray on the bottom right side of your screen on the taskbar and clicking the “^” arrow. You can right-click the icons, and some of them will allow you to “exit” or “close” them.
2. Make Sure Your Software Is Up-To-Date
Updating your software, apps, and drivers can help speed up your computer. When a Windows update becomes available a notification will come up on your screen, but you can also check to see if you missed it. From the Start menu, go to Settings, and then to Update & Security. From there, it will tell you if there is an update available.
Sometimes other apps like iTunes will give you notifications that an update is ready to be installed, and updating those apps could improve their performance as well.
3. Delete Files and Programs That You Do Not Use
Sometimes when you have too many files on your computer, it can slow it down. You should delete things like videos, programs, and other large files that you do not use or need anymore to free up space on your hard drive, and make sure to empty your recycle bin after.
4. Change Your Power Settings to Favour Performance
Your computer has a balance between how much power it uses and how fast it is. You can change the balance so that performance is favoured over saving power. To do so, go to Settings, then System, then Power & Sleep, then Additional power settings.
From here, a new window will pop up, and click Create a power plan.
5. Limit Which Programs Run When You Turn on Your Computer
When you start up your computer, many different programs also start up and run in the background which takes away from your computer’s performance. To see these programs, open up the Task Manager by hitting the Control, Shift, and Escape keys at the same time, and then click the Startup tab (note: if you cannot see the Startup tab right away, then click More details and your screen should look something like the following image).
In the Startup tab, you will see the list of programs and can disable things like iTunes, Skype, Microsoft Teams, and other programs that you recognize but do not use all the time. By disabling these programs, you do not actually get rid of them, you just stop them from automatically running when you start up your computer. If you need to use these programs later when you are using your computer, just start them up how you would normally (by searching them in the bottom left corner of your screen, double-clicking on their icon on your desktop, etc.) and then exit out of them when you are finished.