10 Tips | How to Speed Up Windows 11/10 [2024 Newest]

Tracy King updated on Sep 23, 2024 to Partition Manager | How-to Articles

Your Windows PC may become sluggish over time due to insufficient disk space, a fragmented hard drive, or other reasons. Luckily, plenty of practical solutions work to speed up Windows 10. If you have trouble with how to speed up Windows 11/10 and how to make Windows 10 faster, read this tutorial and try these methods to work out.

  1. Tip 1.  Restart Your PC & Close Unused Apps
  2. Tip 2. Install the Latest Update for Windows & Device Driver
  3. Tip 3. Disable Unnecessary Startup Programs
  4. Tip 4. Use ReadyBoost to Speed Up Windows 11/10
  5. Tip 5. Clean Up Disks/Run Disk Cleanup 
  6. Tip 6. Disable OneDrive syncing
  7. Tip 7. Adjust the Appearance and Performance of Windows
  8. Tip 8. Check and Clear Viruses and Malware 
  9. Tip 9. Upgrade Your RAM/Add More RAM
  10. Tip 10. Perform a System Restore

Although Windows 11/10 is getting faster, more stable, and more powerful, your PC or laptop may slow down due to various factors, including, but not limited to, compatibility issues, bugs, viruses, bloated software, hardware failures, or other issues. This article is for users with the following questions.

  • How to speed up Windows 11/10 startup?
  • How to speed up Windows 11/10 for gaming?
  • How to make Windows 11/10 faster on a laptop and PC?
  • How to speed up Windows 11/10 with command prompt?

EaseUS will walk you through 10 effective methods to speed up Windows 10 and optimize and improve your computer performance. 

Tip 1.  Restart Your PC & Close Unused Apps

Restarting your PC should be the first step in speeding up Windows 10. It can clear out the computer's memory and stop any processes that might be taking up resources. When you run your computer for a long time without shutdown, Windows 10 will automatically put the display to sleep, but the processes that were started before will continue to run. These will accumulate over time and slow down your computer.

Always remember to open the Apps you need and close those Apps that are not used anymore.

You can fix this issue by restarting your PC. After your PC restarts, open just the apps you need, then close them when you're done.

See Also:

Tip 2. Install the Latest Update for Windows & Device Driver

One of the best ways to make the most of your computer is to ensure that you have the latest version of Windows 10. Updating can fix Windows 10 very slow problem caused by system bugs. When you check for updates, your computer will also search for the latest device drivers, which can also help improve the performance of your computer and make Windows 10 faster.

Step 1. Click the "Start" button, then select "Setting" > "Update & Security" > "Windows Update" > "Check for updates".

Step 2. Select the updates you want to install, then select Install. Restart your PC and see if Windows 10 runs better.

Tip 3. Disable Unnecessary Startup Programs

If too many programs start up automatically, your boot time will increase dramatically. Also, too many apps running in the background will make Windows 11/10 run sluggishly. Thus, by disabling unwanted startup programs, you can also speed up your Windows 11/10 tremendously.

Warning
Don't disable Microsoft programs that are necessary for booting nor the anti-virus software that protects your computer from virus attacks.

Step 1. Right-click anywhere on your taskbar and choose "Task Manager".

Step 2. In the Task Manager window, go to the "Startup" tab.

Step 3. Select the programs you rarely use or don't always need on startup, and click "Disable" to remove it from the startup programs.

Tip 4. Use ReadyBoost to Speed Up Windows 11/10

ReadyBoost allows you to speed up Windows 10 and improve your computer's performance by utilizing the available space on a removable drive, like a USB flash drive, without opening your computer and adding more memory (RAM). To use ReadyBoost, you need a USB flash drive or a memory card with at least 500MB of free space and a high data transfer rate.

Tip 5. Clean Up Disks/Run Disk Cleanup 

Unlike disk defragmentation, which rearranges the files, Disk Cleanup works to remove unnecessary files on the hard drive and helps to reclaim your disk space.

Option 1. Clean Up System Files

Step 1. Open This PC, right-click on your system drive and choose "Properties."

Step 2. Click "Disk Cleanup" under the "General" tab, and the utility will start scanning your drive and calculating how much space you can free.

Step 3. When done, choose "Clean up system files" in the window to let the tool scan your disk again.

Step 4. After the second scan, click "OK" in the new window. You will then see a notification asking, "Are you sure you want to delete these files permanently?" Click Delete Files. Since these operations remove unnecessary files from your system, you don’t need to worry about losing important files.

If disk cleanup is not working in Windows 10, learn how to fix it first here.

Option 2. Delete Temp Files to Free Up Space

Temp files only need to exist temporarily and will become useless later. It's unreasonable to store these files on a disk with limited space. Does deleting temporary files speed up your computer? Definitely. Many users have reported noticeable performance improvements by deleting their temp files.

Step 1. Hit the Windows Key, type run, and click Run, as shown in the list.

Step 2. Type %temp% and click OK. You will then be directed to the Windows Temp folder.

Step 3. Select and delete all the files within the folder.

Step 4. Go to the Run box again, type temp, and click "OK."

Step 5. When you see a notification saying you don't have permission to access this folder, click "Continue".

Step 6. Select and delete all the files.

Step 7. Go to the Run box and enter prefetch. Click "Continue," then delete all files within the folder.

Notice:
Although deleting the temp files is safe, if you accidentally deleted any important data on your computer while manually freeing up your disk space, you can recover deleted files Windows 10 easily with the help of EaseUS data recovery software.

Option 3. Extend the System Space

As an advanced free partition software, EaseUS Partition Master Free enables you to enlarge your system drive to improve performance easily.

In addition to resizing a partition, this tool also enables you to create partitions as well as format/convert/clone/hide/wipe your disk or existing partition. In a word, it's a versatile disk/partition management tool that will help you improve your computer's performance in every possible way. 

Let's see how to extend C drive with this partition management software.

Option 1. Extend System C drive with unallocated space

  1. 1. Right-click on the System C: drive and select "Resize/Move".
  2. 2. Drag the system partition end into the unallocated space so to add it to the C: drive. And click "OK". 
  3. 3. Click "Execute Task" and "Apply" to execute the operations and extend the C drive.

Option 2. Extend System C drive without unallocated space

  1. 1. Right-click a big partition with enough free space on the system disk, select "Allocate Space".
  2. 2. Select the system drive at the Allocate Space From (*) To section, and drag the end of System C drive into the unallocated space. Click "OK" to confirm.
  3. 3. Click "Execute Task", it will list the pending operations, and click "Apply" to save the changes and extend the C drive.

0:00-0:26 Extend System Drive with Unallocated Space; 0:27-0:58 Extend System Drive without Unallocated Space.

The pro version of EaseUS Partition Master also allows you to allocate space from the D drive to the C drive directly to increase the C drive. 

Option 4. Migrate OS to SSD or Bigger HDD

If you don't have much space on your system disk to add to your system partition, your best option is to transfer your Windows 11/10 to another larger HDD or switch your disk from HDD to a better-performing SSD.

The OS migration can be completed with EaseUS Partition Master mentioned above. The linked article thoroughly details the tutorial, including video and text, to transfer Windows to another drive. Follow the guide to make your Windows 11/10 substantially faster.

Check the following steps on migrating OS to SSD or another bigger HDD. 

Steps to migrate OS to HDD/SSD:

  • Run EaseUS Partition Master, and select "Clone" from the left menu.
  • Check "Migrate OS" and click "Next".
  • Select the SSD or HDD as the destination disk and click "Next".
  • Check Warning: the data and partitions on the target disk will be deleted. Make sure that you've backed up important data in advance. If not, do it now.
  • Then click "Yes".
  • Preview the layout of your target disk. Then click "Start" to start migrating your OS to a new disk.

  • After this, click "Reboot Now" or "Done" to determine if you want to reboot the computer from the new disk immediately.

"Reboot Now" means to keep the changes instantly, while "Done" means you need to restart the computer later manually.

Note: The operation of migrating OS to SSD or HDD will delete and remove existing partitions and data on your target disk when there is not enough unallocated space on the target disk. If you saved important data there, back up them to an external hard drive in advance.

Tip 6. Disable OneDrive syncing

OneDrive is the built-in synchronization service in Windows that allows you to sync your files to the cloud and access them on any PC using the same OneDrive account. This can be a useful feature. However, the automatic syncing is likely to slow down your PC. You can easily manually sync an important file to OneDrive once automatic sync is disabled. To see whether OneDrive syncing is affecting your Windows 11/10 performance, Right-click on the OneDrive icon on the right side of the taskbar, Click Pause syncing, and choose a time period. If you experience an improved performance of your computer during the pause, follow the steps below to turn off syncing and choose an alternative way to back up your computer that doesn't come at the cost of reducing your computer's performance.

Step 1. Right-click the OneDrive icon and select "Settings" > "Account."

Step 2. Choose "Unlink this PC" > "Unlink account."

The seven methods above are what you can do to make your Windows 10 faster while booting/running or for gaming by changing your computer settings. The next three solutions utilize third-party software to easily perform advanced tasks to speed up your Windows 11/10 system.

Tip 7. Adjust the Appearance and Performance of Windows

You may use many visual effects, such as animations and shadow effects on Windows 10, to make your computer look great. However, these visual effects use additional system resources and can slow down your PC. You can adjust the appearance and performance of Windows to speed up Windows 10 when your PC has a smaller amount of memory (RAM).

How to disable or adjust the visual effects in Windows 10 

Step 1. In the search box on the taskbar, type Advanced system settings. Click the "Advanced" tab > "Settings" > "Visual Effects".

Step 2. On the Visual Effects tab, select "Adjust for best performance" > "Apply".

Restart your PC and see if that speeds up Windows 10. If the fonts on your computer are affected, and you want to keep fonts crisp and more readable, you can select the Custom option.

Tip 8. Check and Clear Viruses and Malware 

A virus, malware, or malicious software may run slowly if your computer has been infected. The best way to remove viruses and malicious software is to try to prevent them by running antimalware and antivirus software and keeping it up to date, like Bitdefender, Norton, Kaspersky, Avast, etc.. Windows Security, included in Windows 10, can also scan your PC for viruses or other malicious software.

Tip 9. Upgrade Your RAM/Add More RAM

One of the most effective ways to speed up Windows 11/10 is to increase the amount of virtual memory (RAM). To run smoothly, Windows 11/10 requires a minimum of 4GB.

When your laptop or PC has too little RAM, it cannot support too many applications to run smoothly, and it will run very slowly. In this case, installing a new RAM chip to increase the RAM capacity is quite effective for improving the performance of your computer.

To see the specific condition of your RAM, click "Performance" and "Memory" in the Task Manager.

Have these methods helped you speed up your PC running Windows 10? If so, share this post with more users:

 

Tip 10. Perform a System Restore

If you have recently installed apps, drivers, or updates for Windows, your PC and Windows may get running slow. In this case, you need to restore your system to the previous time point:

Step 1. Click on the Start menu or press the Windows key. Search for System Properties.

Step 2. Hit the System Restore button and click Next when the System Restore Wizard prompts.

Step 3.  A list of available restore points will appear. Choose a restore point from the list. If you want to see more options, check the box for Show more restore points.

Step 4. Review the list of programs that will be affected and click Close if you're okay with it.

Step 5. Click Next > Finish > Yes to proceed.

To Sum Up

This article provides the most comprehensive methods for speeding up Windows 11/10, such as restarting your PC and opening only the apps you need, using ReadyBoost to help improve performance, checking for low disk space and freeing up space, extending your system drive, upgrading to an SSD, increasing the capacity of RAM, and more. You can choose the best tip for your computer situation and improve its performance.

How to Speed Up Windows 11/10 FAQs

Check the following questions that are highly relevant to how to speed up Windows 10 and make it faster.

1. Why is my Windows 10 computer so slow?

  • Virus or malware attack
  • Slow on startup
  • Run out of disk space
  • Dirty fan or heat sink
  • Windows system issue
  • Hard drive issue
  • Virtual memory is not enough
  • ...

2. How can you increase your computer speed?

To increase your computer speed, you can:

  • Install the latest updates for Windows and device drivers
  • Restart your PC and open only the apps you need
  • Use ReadyBoost to help improve performance
  • Make sure the system is managing the page file size
  • Check for low disk space and free up space
  • Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows
  • Stop OneDrive syncing
  • Disable unnecessary startup programs
  • Check for viruses and malware
  • Restore your PC from a system restore point

3. How can I make Windows 10 2022 faster?

How to speed up Windows 10 2019, 2020, or 2022:

  • Restart your PC
  • Check for update
  • Check startup apps
  • Run Disk Cleanup
  • Remove unused software
  • Disable special effects
  • Disable transparency effects
  • Upgrade your RAM
  • Use an SSD
  • Run System Maintenance