How to Overcome a Lagging Laptop – If your Windows laptop isn’t as fast as it used to be, there are many ways to make it work like new. It could be infected with malware, or you might have an outdated operating system.
Also, there may be too many startup programs or too many temporary files. If you have an older laptop, you may need to replace your hard drive or memory card.
Here are the most common reasons why your laptop is running slowly, and how to fix it.
Close Behind-the-scenes Programs
If your laptop is slow, one of the easiest things you can do is to close as many programs as possible. However, there are some programs that keep running in the background even after you close them. These programs can drain your processing power, which can slow down your laptop.
How to Overcome a Lagging Laptop: You can use Windows Task Manager to close programs running in the background. To do this, press Ctrl + Alt + Delete on your keyboard and select Task Manager . Then make sure to click More details in the lower left corner. This lets you see which programs are using your computer’s CPU, memory, and more.
You can sort all the programs running on your laptop from the most to the least resource consuming by clicking on the header of any column.
Then you can select the program and click End Task in the lower right corner of the window to force quit the program.
However, there may be certain programs running in the background that are necessary for your laptop to function properly. So make sure you know what a program is before choosing to force quit.
Having Too Many Startup Programs
You may also have too many programs open when you start your computer. Some of these programs will ask for permission to run when you boot your computer so you will use them more often.
However, there are some programs that will run automatically every time you turn on your computer without ever asking for permission.
How to Overcome a Lagging Laptop: To find out which program is set to run when you boot your laptop, go to the tab Startup at the top of the Task Manager window. Here, you will see the name of the app, its status, and the impact of its startup.
Click column header Startup Impact to see which apps are slowing down your laptop the most. Then select the program and click Disable in the lower right corner of the window.
You can also speed up the boot process by closing all your programs before you shut down your computer. This way, you won’t have any apps trying to start every time you boot up your laptop.
Need to Update Operating System
If you haven’t updated your OS (operating system) in a while, you may be missing driver updates and new software patches. This can slow down your laptop and leave you unprotected from security vulnerabilities that hackers use to infect your computer.
Typically, Windows rolls out major feature updates twice a year. On the other hand, patches to improve security and fix bugs are released every month. If your laptop seems to be running slower than usual, make sure your system is up to date.
How to fix it: To find out if you need to update your OS, click the magnifying glass icon in the lower left corner of your screen and type update in the search bar. Then click open and select download if there is an update available for your system.
You will then be asked to restart your laptop for the changes to take effect. You can do this by clicking Restart Now when the update file finishes downloading.
Your Laptop Is Infected With Malware
If you see pop-up ads on your laptop or programs don’t work randomly, your computer may be infected with malware (malicious software).
Your computer can become infected when you open emails from unknown senders or download files from suspicious websites.
There are different types of malware that can cause your laptop to slow down for various reasons. Some malware can infect your laptop’s memory and spread to other programs and files on your computer. Hackers also use malware to steal your personal information, such as your bank details or home address.
How to fix it: To remove malware from your computer, click the magnifying glass icon in the lower-left corner of your screen. Then type Security into the search box and click open . Next, select Virus & threat protection then click Fast scan .
You can also use third-party applications, such as the free version of MalwareBytes to scan your laptop for malware. Or, if you are looking for better protection, you can also install an antivirus program.
Having Too Many Temporary Files
Temporary files are stored on your laptop whenever you create or modify a file. Typically, these files have names that end in “.tmp” or begin with a tilde or dollar sign. Temporary files are usually deleted after you close a program or application.
However, there are times when your laptop doesn’t automatically delete these files. As a result, they can take up space on your hard drive and cause your laptop to slow down. To prevent this, you can delete temporary files manually.
How to fix it: To delete temporary files on your laptop, click the magnifying glass icon in the lower-left corner of your screen. Then type Disk cleaning into the search bar and click open . In the pop-up window that appears, select the drive you want to clean and click OK . Finally, check the box next to Temporary files and click OK .
From here, you can also delete temporary internet files, downloads, and more. You can also click Clean system files to delete more temporary files. Then, you can also select the tab More Options to remove programs you don’t use often and old system restore points.
Fragmented Files Slow Your Laptop
Every time you create, delete, or edit files on your computer, some of that data becomes fragmented. That means chunks of files are stored in different parts of your hard drive.
Over time, this can cause your laptop to slow down as your drive has to jump around to find every piece of data.
To consolidate and organize the data on your drive, you can defragment your computer. And, while Windows 10 automatically defragments files once a week, you can also do it manually whenever you want.
How to fix it: To defrag the drive, click the magnifying glass icon in the lower left corner of your screen. Then type Defrag in the search bar and click open . In the pop-up window, click Analysis to check how much space the fragmented files are taking up on your hard drive.
If there are many fragmented files, click optimize. Finally, wait for the drive to reach 0% fragmented before you start using programs or opening files again.
However, you should only defrag your drive if it’s labeled hard disk drive below Media type . If you notice that your drive is labeled as a solid-state drive, defragmenting it can actually do more damage to your drive.
If you want to know more about how to defrag the hard drive on your Windows 10 computer, check out our step-by-step guide here.
Need to Update Your Hard Drive
If you’re still using a traditional hard disk drive (HDD), you might want to consider upgrading to a new solid-state drive (SSD).
HDDs typically last three to five years because they use magnetic disks (or platters) to store data. An arm sits on top of these platters and reads and writes data as the disc spins at thousands of RPM (revolutions per minute).
On the other hand, SSDs consist of flash memory chips, so there are no moving parts. Because of this, it can read and write data several times faster than HDDs. In addition, SSDs are less noisy and consume less power than HDDs.
How to Overcome a Lagging Laptop: Many laptops these days are equipped with an empty M.2 slot that allows you to easily attach an SSD. All you need to install this tiny hard drive is a screwdriver.
And, if your laptop has an open M.2 slot, you can even keep your old HDD plugged in and use it as a backup drive.
However, if your laptop doesn’t come with an empty M.2 slot, it can be tricky to figure out how to replace your hard drive.
To find out how to replace the hard drive in your laptop, it is best to read your user manual or look for instructions online.
Not Having Enough RAM
Random access memory (RAM) is temporary storage for your laptop. It keeps all the things your computer needs on standby. Then, when the time comes, it can quickly pull the information out and hand it over to your processor.
For basic tasks like word processing and surfing the web, you can use 2-4 GB of RAM. However, for multi-tasking or graphics-intensive programs, you may need 8-16 GB of RAM or more. While adding more RAM doesn’t necessarily speed up your laptop, you must have more than the minimum amount of RAM for certain programs to run properly.
How to Overcome a Lagging Laptop: To find out how much RAM you have, click the magnifying glass icon in the lower left corner of your screen. Then type About in the search bar and click open . You will then see how much RAM you have below Device specifications next to Installed RAM .
If you want to increase your RAM, you must first make sure that your laptop allows you to swap your RAM card. On some laptops, the RAM card is soldered to the motherboard, which prevents you from swapping it out.
Also, check your RAM specifications on your laptop manufacturer’s website. Find out the maximum amount of RAM that can be installed and how many RAM slots you have used. Also, make sure you have the correct type of RAM card installed; otherwise they will not work.
Short Conclusion
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Short Conclusion
So, that’s a brief discussion that we have summarized in this article with a discussion of the theme, namely the title How to View Deleted WA Messages
If you like our summary, please share it as widely as possible starting from social media such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram.
If you like our summary, please share it as widely as possible starting from social media such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram.
Hopefully this summary can be useful for all of you in this meaningful discussion, and see you in the next summary.
