A slow PC is one of the most frustrating things in modern life. Every click feels like a question, every wait like an insult. But before spending money on a new machine, try these 10 steps — they've worked for thousands of people and they'll take you less than an hour total.
Step 1: Disable Startup Programs
Every program that launches at startup steals RAM and CPU before you've even opened a browser tab. Most of them you don't need.
- Press
Ctrl + Shift + Escto open Task Manager. - Click the Startup tab at the top.
- Look at the "Startup impact" column — sort by "High".
- Right-click anything you don't use immediately on boot and select Disable.
Safe to disable: Spotify, Discord, Teams, Skype, OneDrive (if you don't use it), Teams. Do not disable your antivirus or anything from Microsoft itself.
Step 2: Run Windows Updates
Pending updates often run in the background, consuming resources. Getting them done eliminates that drag.
Go to Settings → Windows Update → Check for Updates. Install everything and restart once done.
Step 3: Free Up Disk Space
Windows needs at least 10–15% of your drive free to operate comfortably. If you're below that, performance tanks.
- Open File Explorer, right-click C: drive → Properties.
- Click Disk Cleanup.
- Check everything including "Temporary files" and "Previous Windows installations".
- Click Clean up system files for even more savings.
Step 4: Switch to High Performance Power Plan
Windows defaults to "Balanced" to save battery — but on a desktop or plugged-in laptop, this throttles performance unnecessarily.
Search "Power plan" in the Start menu → Choose or customize a power plan → Select High performance.
Step 5: Scan for Malware
A single piece of malware can cause your entire PC to crawl — and you might not even know it's there. Run Windows Defender before anything else:
Windows Security → Virus & threat protection → Quick scan
If Quick Scan clears, also run a Full scan overnight.
Step 6: Reduce Visual Effects
Fancy animations and transparency effects look nice but chew through GPU and RAM.
- Search "Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows" in Start.
- Select Adjust for best performance.
- Or manually keep a few effects like "Smooth edges of screen fonts".
Step 7: Check RAM Usage
Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) → Performance tab → Memory.
If you're constantly above 80% usage, you either have too many programs open or genuinely need more RAM.
Closing unused browser tabs alone can free 500MB–2GB. Chrome especially is a RAM hog.
Step 8: Update Your Drivers
Outdated GPU drivers in particular can cause stuttering and slowdowns, especially in games and videos.
For NVIDIA: use GeForce Experience. For AMD: use Radeon Software.
For everything else: Device Manager → right-click → Update driver.
Step 9: Delete Temp Files Manually
Disk Cleanup misses some temp files. Clean them manually:
- Press
Win + R, type%temp%, press Enter. - Select all files (
Ctrl + A) and delete. Skip any that can't be deleted (they're in use). - Then press
Win + Ragain, typetemp, and repeat.
Step 10: Restart (Actually Restart, Not Shutdown)
In Windows 10/11, "Shutdown" doesn't fully clear memory because of fast startup. Restart does a proper fresh boot.
Make it a habit: restart your PC at least once a week, and you'll maintain snappy performance much longer.
🎯 Key Takeaway
You don't need a new PC. You need a clean one. Most slow Windows computers are just overwhelmed with startup junk, pending updates, and old temp files. These 10 steps clear all of that in under an hour.
Bonus: When to Consider a Hardware Upgrade
If you've followed all 10 steps and your PC is still painfully slow, it may genuinely need hardware:
- Less than 8GB RAM? Upgrade to 16GB — it's the most impactful upgrade for the money.
- HDD (spinning drive) instead of SSD? This is the single biggest speed difference you can feel.
- Older than 8 years? It may be time for a new machine — but only after trying the above.