Why my Laptop is so Slow (Windows 10)

A lot of individuals had put some warm welcome to Windows 10 when it was first introduced. Many people were excited about a new much better product than the infamous Windows 8. And while Windows 10 is a big innovation, this operating system is not really perfect.  From assertive data gathering to aggressive updates, this operating system was able to collect many criticisms from normal users to loyal users.

In spite of this operating system’s cool layout and new features, Windows 10 can also give you some slow performance.  If you’ve noticed apps that are operating pretty slow, or your laptop being so slow to startup, then don’t worry because we’ve listed reasons why your laptop is so slow while using Windows 10 Operating System.  If you want to learn the reasons and how to fix them, make sure to stay tuned till the end! 

Your Laptop’s Hard Drive Is Low on Space 

If your laptop’s hard drive reaches around 95% of its storage space, then your laptop might run as much as half its normal speed. In other words, the lack of storage space for temporary files used by certain applications makes Windows 10 run significantly slower.

The Solution: Search for the program or files that are taking up a lot of space on your local drive and get rid of them or transfer these rarely-used files to another drive. In this regard, we highly suggest PC cleaner utility if you want to speed up the optimizing process. (Source)  The first step you would want to do is open the Storage in Windows Explorer. Then click on This PC folder. On the flips side, if you want to automatically eliminate temporary files and guarantee that you have plenty of storage space, simply activate Storage Sense. 

The next thing you would want to do is choose a Folder from those that appear. Apps and Games, Temporary Files, and Others are some of the categories that usually take up a lot of storage space.

Simply proceed until you see a folder in Windows Explorer. Then get rid of the files by selecting them and pressing the Delete button.  Lastly, open the subfolder and a Windows Explorer file will open. Then simply get rid of the files that are unnecessary. 

Your Antimalware Program Is Too Aggressive 

If you observe that your laptop seems to slow down at different intervals, then it’s most likely because of your antimalware program.  The Solution: For the most part, your antimalware program is probably taking up a lot of processing performance while doing a background scan. What you want to do is customize the antimalware’s settings.

 The first thing you want to do is search for the antimalware program in the Windows search bar. Make sure to search for the brand of antimalware you’re using.  After looking for the antimalware program, click on its settings and click the Scan Schedule. Pick the box of the Scan that you want to modify, then press Edit.  The last step you want to do is modify the date and time of the scan base on your preference and the frequency of course. Keep in mind that this process might differ from antimalware program to one another.  But for the most part, they are pretty much the same and self-explanatory.

You Are Running a Number of Apps at the Same Time 

For sure this reason may sound too simple to be true, particularly if you are using a high-end laptop with a quad or even an octa-core i7 processor. With such high-end specs, there’s probably no way that some extra windows can be dragging down your laptop’s performance, right? So, in order to make sure, try checking out the Task Manager.  You are most likely running many programs at a time if your browsing experience is pretty slow, programs are taking too much time to load or start, and worse your programs are freezing a lot of times.  The Solution: Simply launch the Task Manager in order to search for programs that are using a lot of your laptop’s memory and get rid of them.

Just open the Windows search bar and search for Task Manager and open the utility.  After you opened it, search for applications that are using a lot of memory. To make it easier for you, just click the top of the Memory column in order to sort apps by memory use. Right-click on the problematic apps then click on End Task.  In addition to that, make sure to quit any programs and extra tabs that are operating in the background in order to free up some CPU bandwidth and RAM so your laptop can operate smoother. 

Corrupted Windows System Files 

Your laptop has probably corrupted Windows System Files if it experiences black or blue screens, driver errors, and some issues that greatly affect your daily usage.  The Solution: For the most part, Windows 10 operating system offers its users two main utilities to solve this problem. The first one is called SFC or System File Checker. The second solution is called DISM or Deployment Image Service and Management. 

System File Checker

 To use this utility, simply open PowerShell from the Windows search bar and be sure to choose run as administrator.  After that, simply search for SFC/scannow and press enter. And it will automatically search for corrupt files and replace them. 

Deployment Image Service Management 

Simply searches again for PowerShell in the Windows search bar. After the software pops up, right-click again on it and run again as administrator.  The next thing you want to do is write down dism.exe/Online/Cleanup-image/Restore health in the Window that shows. Press the enter button and the Deployment Image Service Management will start searching for corrupt files and replace them.  Overall, these two utilities will search for corrupted files. After the search is done, simply restart your laptop. If ever-corrupt files are really the reasons why your laptop is performing slowly, then for sure implementing the solutions we mentioned above will make your laptop run smoothly. 

A Lot of Startup Applications 

Your laptop has probably a lot of startup programs because it takes a lot of time just to boot your Mac and worse is that it freezes up when it is booting.  The Solution: If you’re tired of this problem, you need to disable the automatic applications that are causing the slow performance.  The first step you want to do is press Windows Key then X in order to display the Quick Link menu. After that, you should click on the Task Manager.  After the Task Manager is open, click on the Startup tab.  The final step is to scan through the list of applications that automatically start when you start your laptop and search for applications that you rarely use. After that, right-click on the unnecessary apps and then click Disable. Simply do this step over and over again for the apps that are dragging down your laptop’s performance.

Final Thoughts 

A lot of us know that a slow laptop is pretty frustrating. But with the reasons and tips we discussed above, we hope that you can make your laptop experience a better and smoother one.  Furthermore, aside from deleting extra files, you might also discover some issues along the way that are probably causing slow performance of your laptop, such as being infected by malware.  Anyways, with all the tips we shared with you today, we hope that you can have an awesome laptop experience. Please leave any comment down below if you’ve already tried one of these tips or you want to share more.