Games and applications these days take a lot more resources to run than they used to. If the hardware you are working with happens to be a few generations behind, you could find yourself struggling to run the latest games at 60 fps. Today’s day-to-day computer use often calls for improved hardware, with applications like Google Chrome being notorious for hogging system memory. These issues have a simple fix; buy a brand new, state of the art system from us . But if you don’t want to spend large amounts of money on upgrading your Gaming PC or Workstation PC, there are plenty of ways you can improve PC performance for FREE.
Those of us with lagging systems call on the ever-helpful online guides (like this one) to help improve PC performance anywhere we can. Do not fear, for Cyberpower is here…with a comprehensive guide on how to squeeze every bit of system performance you can out of your PC!
Uninstall Unwanted Apps and Features
If the system you are running is more than a few years old, the chances that you have a bunch of unnecessary apps and programs installed are pretty high. Many of these unwanted apps could be taking up precious ram and processing power, especially if they are startup enabled! So, the first thing you should do is navigate to windows settings (type settings in the bottom left search bar), then select ‘Apps & Features’. From here, you will be shown a list of all apps and features present on all system drives. It is then up to you to search through deleting any apps you feel are unnecessary. You have the option to filter by size to rid your system of programmes taking up the most storage space.
Disable Unwanted Startup Processes
Over the years, programs and apps you have installed could be eating at your systems speed without you even knowing it! After you install something, there is a chance that it comes with a startup process. A startup process is something that will run whenever you boot your system, which can drastically slow your boot times. To resolve this issue, you can press ‘Ctrl + Alt + Delete’ then select Task Manager. From there, you can navigate to ‘Startup’, where you will find all processes enabled and disabled on system startup. You can then scroll through and disable any you feel are unnecessary. If you have never done this before, this simple trick can significantly improve your boot times and your day-to-day use as you will rid yourself of unnecessary processes running in the background.
Enable High Performance in Power Settings
If you have never taken a gander at your PCs power settings, there is a good chance your systems power plan is set to ‘balanced’. This obviously isn’t ideal if you are trying to get all you can out of your system. What you’ll want to do is navigate to ‘Settings’ and choose ‘System’, then select ‘Power and Sleep’. From here, you can choose your system’s power plan, where you should then select ‘High Performance’ or ‘Best Performance’. If not already enabled, enabling this setting is a sure-fire way to improve PC performance!
Run a System Scan / Check for Viruses & Adware
Running a system scan can be a good way of increasing PC performance as you may have viruses and adware slowing down your system. You can run a full system scan by going to your search bar and typing ‘Windows Defender’. Once opened, you can select to either run a full system scan or quick scan. Alternatively, you could install a third-party program such as Malwarebytes or AdwCleaner and run separate scans to ensure your system is free of all malware, spyware and adware hiding in the darkest corners of your system.
Run Windows Troubleshoot
By running troubleshooters, you can identify and fix potential problems certain programs and systems have within your PC. Troubleshooting will attempt to fix corrupt settings and files of which could be hindering your system’s performance. You can get to windows troubleshooter by again navigating to the search bar and typing ‘Troubleshoot Settings’. From here, you can select the windows recommended troubleshooting as well as additional troubleshooters, which opens up options within all areas of your system.
Update Your Systems Drivers
Your systems drivers are essential pieces of software that ensure your computer’s software and hardware are running as smooth as possible. If your computer is running slow, it could be down to outdated drivers. If your systems drivers are left outdated for too long, it can cause your system to run less efficiently. These days there are specific graphics card drivers that have optimisations for the latest PC games (Especially with Nvidia Graphics Cards). So, ensuring these are to date can significantly help the performance of your Gaming PC in some cases. Locating and updating each driver can become tedious, very fast. To help with this, you could install one of the many driver support software out there, such as Driver Booster, which detects outdated system drivers and updates them for you.
Improving PC performance for free feelsgoodman (clap).
By following the steps listed within this blog, you could easily find yourself gaming at a noticeably higher fps as well as increasing worktime productivity! It goes to show that the slowing down of a system doesn’t always have to mean buying new parts, and some tinkering here and there can make a world of difference in improving PC performance!