*The information in this blog is designed to provide helpful information on the subjects discussed. Please seek a professional for expert advice as we can not be held responsible for any damages or negative consequences upon following this information.

If you have ever felt frustrated with your laptop’s slow speed, know that it’s only natural and nearly everyone has been there; you might have faced the same with a newer laptop bought just a few months ago. But before you go about upgrading to a higher performance laptop, try out the following methods to improve the speed and performance of your laptop or notebook.

1.    Scan for Viruses and/or Malware

Malware, adware, and viruses can seriously hamper the performance of your laptop because they run in the background and use up essential system resources. They can even cause certain applications from starting and running properly. Download good antivirus software and an antimalware program to get rid of unwanted viruses, Trojans, and malware. Remember to keep these programs updated on a regular basis. 

2.    Clear Up Excess Data and Clean the Registry

Sometimes all that your laptop needs is spring cleaning; unused programs and tiny bits and pieces of data left over from previous programs can bog down the system speed. In addition, the registry system of Windows-based machines get filled up with chunks of unnecessary data like duplicate entries, information related to uninstalled applications, and undesirable file extensions.

So, what can you do? Download a free cleaning utility like CCleaner which hunts down and removes excessive data and scans and repairs the registry as well.

3.    Defragment Your Hard Drive

You must have heard of it before, right? Well even if you didn’t, that’s fine. Defragmentation refers to the process of searching for the fragments or pieces of data of a certain file and placing them in a single location; think of rearranging your cupboard, so that everything is tidy and neat. Overtime, a hard disk becomes fragmented with data from different files scattered all over the place.

You should perform defragmentation on a weekly basis, or at least once a month. It will not only improve your system performance, but it will also contribute to the battery life as the hard disk has to spin less to retrieve data.

4.    Reduce the Startup Programs

When your operating system such as Windows boots, a number of programs start up in the background. Most of these are important services which are needed by Windows, but some of them are unnecessary and slow down your laptop. You can disable them by typing ‘msconfig’ in the ‘run’ dialog box under the ‘start’ menu in Windows, while in Windows 8 and 10, this list is located in the task manager.

5.    Upgrade RAM

If you want to drastically boost the performance of your laptop, consider upgrading the RAM; more RAM means more data is buffered quickly, and the remaining data doesn’t has to wait for long to be processed.

6.    Install an SSD

SSD or solid-state hard drives are different from conventional hard disks in the sense that they do not contain any moving parts, and because of that, they have higher read/write speeds. Traditional hard disks use a motor to spin a magnetic disc for reading and writing data. SSDs are fairly inexpensive nowadays, so consider getting one. Your laptop will feel as if it is running on NO₂.

*The information in this blog is designed to provide helpful information on the subjects discussed. Please seek a professional for expert advice as we can not be held responsible for any damages or negative consequences upon following this information.