Run System File Checker
System File Checker is a built-in Windows feature that scans and repairs corrupted system files. Your lag computer may be caused by corrupted system files, so you can run SFC:
Restart your PC and see if it works better.
Faulty Hard Drive Could Be Slowing Down Your Laptop As Well
Most modern mid-range and high-end laptops now feature SSDs . However, older laptops and some modern entry-level laptops still use HDDs . If your laptop uses a hard disk drive and if you notice an unusual clicking sound every time you turn the laptop on, this is an indication that something is wrong with the hard disk drive. Do not take this lightly!
In case there is a serious issue with the hard drive and it crashes, you can lose important data due to hard disk drive malfunction. This is why we recommend saving all your important documents and files on an external hard drive as well so that you dont lose important files. Its a good routine to back up important files before its too late.
Just to be sure if the hard drive has really malfunctioned, you can open File Explorer on your laptop and follow these steps:
You can also run SpeedFan to check for possible issues with the hard drive. If the hard drive has malfunctioned, you will need help from the brands authorised service centre for replacement.
RELATED ARTICLES:
You Need To Update Your Hard Drive
If youre still using a traditional hard disk drive , you might want to think about upgrading to a new solid-state drive . An HDD typically lasts for three to five years because it uses magnetic disks to store data. An arm sits on top of these platters and reads and writes data as the disks spin at speeds of thousands of RPM .
On the other hand, an SSD is made up of flash memory chips, so it does not have any moving parts. Because of this, it can read and write data several times faster than an HDD. In addition, SSDs are less noisy and consume less power than an HDD.
If you want to know more about the difference between SSD and HDD, check out our article here.
The fix: Many laptops these days come with empty M.2 slots that let you easily install an SSD. All you need to install these tiny hard drives is a screwdriver. And, if your laptop has an open M.2 slot, you can even keep your old HDD connected and use it as a backup drive.
However, if your laptop doesnt come with an empty M.2 slot, it can be complicated to figure out how to replace your hard drive. In order to find out how to replace the hard drive in your laptop, it is best to consult your users manual or look up the instructions online.
Also Check: Share Iphone Screen To Laptop
Change Your Power Settings
If youre using Windows 10s Power saver plan, youre slowing down your PC. That plan reduces your PCs performance in order to save energy. Changing your power plan from Power saver to High performance or Balanced will give you an instant performance boost.
To do it, launch the Control Panel app, then select Hardware and Sound > Power Options. Youll typically see two options: Balanced and Power saver.” To see the High performance setting, click the down arrow by Show additional plans.
IDG
Change your power settings in Control Panel to give your PC a performance boost.
To change your power setting, simply choose the one you want, then exit Control Panel. High performance gives you the most oomph, but uses the most power Balanced finds a happy medium between power use and better performance and Power saver does everything it can to give you as much battery life as possible. Desktop users have no reason to choose Power saver, and even laptop users should consider the Balanced option when unplugged and High performance when connected to a power source.
Update Windows Drivers And Apps
Youve probably heard that keeping your software up to date is a good idea for security. This is true and it can help performance too. Windows will automatically send you a notification when an update is available. You just need to make sure you dont keep putting it off.
If you think you might have missed an update, you can always check. Go to Start and click Settings or the settings icon. Then go to Updates & Security > Windows Updates.
Aside from your Windows operating system, drivers and apps should be kept up to date too. Again, this is good for both security and performance. If you think you might have missed an update, a quick online search should tell you which version you should be using.
Read Also: Screen Mirror Iphone To Hp Laptop
Lagging After Upgrading To Windows 11 5 Tips To Speed It Up
Windows has some default settings for appearance and performance, but this default setting does not give it the best performance. If you feel laggy after upgrading to Windows 11, then try the following settings.
If you are open to new things and have a sufficiently configured computer, you may have a pleasant experience even with the default settings after upgrading to Windows 11.
But if you feel laggy when using it, then maybe you need to do some optimization settings to improve the system performance. Here are 5 tips you can try.
Fix : Cool Down Your Computer
Overheating is another culprit behind game lag. You should check if the cooling system works normally. Then use a compressed air can to remove the dust on the cooling system vents. Moreover, you can purchase some additional coolers for your computer.
Note: It is wise to use your computer in a cool room.
Recommended Reading: Hp Mini Factory Reset
Your Pc Is Infected With Virus
The computer may easily be infected with the virus even if you have installed an antivirus program in Windows 10/8/7. Today, virus and spyware or malware is a big cause of PC computer problems including computer lagging issue.
How to fix a slow computer or lagging PC? Right now, run the antivirus to full scan your computer and remove the virus. Then, check whether your computer is still lagging.
In addition, wrongly configured or low-quality firewalls may cause the computer to be lagging as well. If you suspect a security program to cause the lagging computer, try to temporarily turn off the firewall or virus/malware scanners and see if the lag is still present.
Note:
Use Ccleaner Frequently On Windows Machines To Clean Up Temporary Files
Please do not wait until piles of junk affect your computers performance before you clean them up. Instead, run CCleaner at least once a month to help get rid of the junk.
It can also scan the size and trim any untidy register codes and notify you of programs set to run on startup. This will help you know which programs are unnecessary and uninstall them.
Mac is very efficient with self-maintenance and will probably not need you to do this manually.
Recommended Reading: Do Airpods Work With Dell Laptop
Disable Programs That Run On Startup
One reason your Windows 10 PC may feel sluggish is that youve got too many programs running in the background programs that you rarely or never use. Stop them from running, and your PC will run more smoothly.
Start by launching the Task Manager: Press Ctrl-Shift-Esc, right-click the lower-right corner of your screen and select Task Manager, or type task manager into the Windows 10 search box and press Enter. If the Task Manager launches as a compact app with no tabs, click More details at the bottom of your screen. The Task Manager will then appear in all of its full-tabbed glory. There’s plenty you can do with it, but we’re going to focus only on killing unnecessary programs that run at startup.
To stop a program or service from launching at startup, right-click it and select Disable. This doesn’t disable the program entirely it only prevents it from launching at startup you can always run the application after launch. Also, if you later decide you want it to launch at startup, you can just return to this area of the Task Manager, right-click the application and select Enable.
IDG
You can use the Task Manager to help get information about programs that launch at startup and disable any you don’t need.
Many of the programs and services that run on startup may be familiar to you, like OneDrive or Evernote Clipper. But you may not recognize many of them.
How Can I Speed Up My Windows 10 Laptop
Tips to improve PC performance in Windows 10
You May Like: How To Connect Airpods To My Laptop
You May Like: How To Get More Space On My Laptop
Does Your Ageing Laptop Need A Boost We Look At The Software Tweaks And Hardware Upgrades That Will Give Your Computer A New Lease Of Life
Shutterstock
The saying ‘time heals all wounds’ can be applied to most things, such as physical injuries or troubled relationships, but it’s somewhat redundant for hardware.
For desktop PC time is rather unkind their average lifespan is around five to eight years, and it’s even shorter for laptop-owners . Unfortunately technology doesn’t last forever but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it can lead to new, innovative products that make our lives that little bit easier.
Still, letting go is not easy, especially if you’ve invested a lot into a laptop or desktop. But if your hardware starts to get increasingly slow, and starts to impact your productivity, you’re going to have to find ways to fix it. Luckily, there are some helpful hacks to extend the lifespan of most laptops and desktop computers.
Nothing is guaranteed, and you will have to upgrade, eventually, but we’ve compiled the best advice to help buy you some more time to find a suitable replacement.
Why Your Internet Is So Slow
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- University of Illinois
The latency of a network connection represents the amount of time required for data to travel between the sender and receiver. While all computer networks inherently possess some form of latency, the amount varies and can suddenly increase for various reasons. People perceive these unexpected time delays as “lag.”
High latency can also cause high delays. For example, your video game might experience high latency, which causes the game to freeze at times and not deliver a live update of the other players. Fewer delays mean that the connection is experiencing lower latency.
Network lag happens for a few reasons, namely distance and congestion. In some cases, you might be able to fix internet lag by changing how your device interacts with the network.
Read Also: Transfer Files From Tablet To Phone
Identify Programs That Slow Down Your Computer
If you have programs that use a lot of memory, you need to decide if theyre worth the resources theyre using. These could be high-level apps, items that start automatically that you dont use, or a program you opened previously and have forgotten about. Removing these programs can help speed up a computer.
Switch To High Performance Mode
The power plan can also affect computer performance, especially for laptops.
To improve performance, open the Start menu and search for “Power Options”. Then you can select power plan as “High performance”.
If you can’t find the High Performance option, you can also click on “Create a power plan” on the left side and select “High performance”. Name the plan, and then click “Next” and “Create”, you can have high performance mode now.
Don’t Miss: How To Factory Reset Hp 15 Laptop
Uninstall Programs You Dont Use
We often install huge programs without realizing how much space theyre taking up. If you think that might be the case, you can easily uninstall any programs you dont use. Even if its a program you do use now and again, if its particularly large, it might be worth simply reinstalling each time you need it.
To uninstall a program, head over to Control Panel> Programs> Programs and Features.
Go though the programs and decide which ones, if any, you dont need. If youre unsure about a particular program, you could simply use a search engine to find out more. Alternatively, you can also use a tool like the aptly named PC Decrapifier to help you distinguish the good from the bad.
Insufficient Or Malfunctioning Power Supply
In many cases, the insufficient or malfunctioning power supply may lead to your computer to be lagging. Ensure that there is enough power supplied for the CPU or graphics card. To fix the issue, you can contact the manufacturer and ask for help.
Actually, there are many other reasons for “my computer lags when playing games” issue, including other peripherals malfunction, audio card problem, etc. Just try the solutions based on your actual situations.
Also Check: Connecting Airpods Pro To Laptop
Set Up Windows Update Properly
Certain Windows 10 subsystems background operations can be the cause of sudden delays. Most notably, when Windows Update is downloading and installing something, it hits performance substantially. Thats why it helps to set the update schedule for times when youre not gaming: Open Windows 10 settings, navigate to Windows Update, and click Change active hours. The description states that active hours affect restart times only, but this setting actually informs other update tasks as well.
You Have Too Many Temporary Files
Temporary files are stored on your laptop whenever you create or modify a file. Usually, these files have names that end with .tmp or start with a tilde or dollar sign. Temporary files are usually deleted after you close a program or an application.
However, there are times that your laptop does not 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.
The fix: To delete temporary files on your laptop, click the magnifying glass icon in the bottom-left corner of your screen. Then type Disk cleanup into the search bar and click Open. In the pop-up window that appears, select the drive that 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 up system files to remove even more temporary files. Then, you can also select the More Options tab to remove programs you do not use often and old system restore points.
Read Also: How To Shut Off Your Computer With The Keyboard
How To Fix A Very Slow Hanging Or Freezing Windows 7 Pc
I encountered a weird problem with my Windows 7 laptop few days ago. It suddenly refuses to boot and when it does boot, it becomes very slow and occasionally hangs or freeze.
I took it to a local repairer and I was told the only solution was to format and reinstall a new Windows OS on the PC.I was sad and angry because if I decide to go that route, I will lose a lot of important files as I last backup months ago.
I did some research on Google as per the problem and I discovered the reason for the freezing and hanging was as a result of a lot of application trying to automatically start when the PC boots up.
To fix a very slow, lagging Windows 7 machine, the applications that are automatically initialized on start-up and other unnecessary ones that run in the background eating up memory need to disable
Follow the steps below to disable the startup applications.
For a quicker temporary fix on the General tab, chose the Diagnostic startup or the Selective startup with only Load system services checked.
Read Also: How To Change Keyboard Color On Msi
Easy Tweaks To Prevent Windows 10 Lag
Windows 10 may be the most stable OS till date. For online gamers however, it sometimes can cause problems and that is why we are here to help you solve these issues.
In online games, players may face lag in some of the most unexpected of ways. There have been many cases when users just do everything else they could in hopes of removing lag but the result has been anything but satisfactory.
Revealing some of these aspects that remain unnoticed and might cause lag. However, dont worry as we today will bring you some quick tweaks that will reduce with fixing Windows 10 lag.
Don’t Miss: How To Cast My Phone To My Pc