What Causes My Laptop To Run Slow

Fix: Use Windows Security

You can use the built-in Windows Security to scan for virus.

Besides, you can acquire a powerful and reliable antivirus program to help you kill virus and protect your system in the future. Please always keep your antivirus program up-to-date in order to protect your laptop against the latest viruses.

How Do I Test My Alienware Performance

Most likely, your Alienware device uses Windows. This OS comes with a built-in tool called the Performance Monitor, which youll rely on to determine how your machine performs.

To access this monitor, youll need to open RUN and PERFMON. Once you click OK, youll go to Data Collector Sets and then Systems. On the next dialog box, click on system performance, then start.

The computer will collect the required information within 60 seconds, after which youll check the System Performance tab for results. This diagnostic tool will offer comprehensive information on how or why your Alienware device is slow.

Reason : Misaligned Partitions On Ssd

SSDs boast much better performance than HDDs, but this should be on the basis that partitions are aligned correctly. In other words, when the partitions on the SSD are misaligned, your computer will run slow.

If you operate partitions on SSD frequently or partitions on the SSD come from other disks via copying, they may become misaligned.

Don’t Miss: Reboot Hp Laptop

Fix 1: Cool Your Computer Down

If your computer is overheating, it will definitely slow down. But unless you track your PCs temperature with a program like CAM, it can be difficult to tell if its overheating. Here are some typical warning signs:

• your computers internal fan gets louder
• your mouse and keyboard stop responding as well as usual
• you get a blue screen of death error, and a sudden restart.

To reduce the temperature of your computer, you can:

• reduce the temperature of the room
• check if the computers ventilation is clear and clean it may be clogged by dust and fluff
• check if your cooling fans are working properly if theyre not spinning fast and freely, or theyre making loud noises, you may need to replace them

Once youve done your best to reduce the temperature of your computer, check to see if your computer is still running slow.

Note that overheating can also be caused by a damaged or faulty RAM stick, processor or graphics card. If you believe your PC is still running too hot after youve done the above, you may need to consult your PC retailer or manufacturer, or your local computer repair shop.

Reasons Why Your Computer Is Running Slow And How To Fix It

All the reasons that we will discuss boil down to one thing: how you use the machine. When installing extensions, browsing the web, downloading apps, creating different types of files, and downloading all your movies and music, your computer will inevitably build up virtual detritus that eventually affects its performance.

Here are some issues that might make your computer slow.

Recommended Reading: How To Change Msi Keyboard Color

Solution 13 Perform A Clean Windows 10 Installation

If the above tricks cannot help fix the issue of Windows 10 very slow and unresponsive, you can choose to perform a clean Windows 10 installation.

Before reinstalling the operating system, please back up all your personal files. Then read the post to Detailed Steps and Instructions to Reinstall Windows 10 to learn how to perform a clean Windows 10 installation.

Fix Slow Computer Problems

There are many reasons why your computer might be running slow. Over time, regular use of your computer builds up unneeded files and may fragment your hard disk. You may also notice a performance degrade if your computer is infected.

Select one or more of these solutions to improve the performance of your computer.

Read Also: Windows Vista Factory Reset Hp

Scan For Malware And Adware

RELATED:What’s the Best Antivirus for Windows 10?

To be extra safe, scan your computer with an antivirus program. You should also scan it with Malwarebytes, which catches a lot of potentially unwanted programs that most antivirus programs tend to ignore. These programs try to sneak onto your computer when you install other software, and you almost certainly dont want them.

Optimize Your Boot Volume

Optimization of your boot volume maximizes the usable free space by rearranging file fragments into adjacent and contiguous clusters. When the drive head of your hard disk accesses all the file data in one location, the file is read into the memory faster.

You May Like: Mirror Iphone To Hp Laptop

Fix : Disable Programs

How to Disable Startup Programs

Another way to remove a program from Windows Startup folder:

Bonus Tip: 4 Easy Ways to Open Task Manager

• 1st way: right click on the taskbar located at the bottom of your laptop screen -> select Task Manager from the context menu.
• 2nd way: click Start in the lower left corner -> scroll down to find Windows System folder -> expand it and select Task Manager.
• 3rd way: press Window + R to open run -> type taskmgr -> click OK or hit Enter.
• 4th way: press Ctrl + Alt + Delete -> select Task Manager. You can also open it directly by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc.

Find Programs That Eat Up Resources

If you find that your computer is suddenly running significantly slower, chances are there is a particular program to blame. One way to identify the culprit is to go into your task manager and find out whats eating up your resources.

Right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager. Click More details to find out information about the programs that are currently running on your computer. It should show you the Processes tab by default.

You can click each header to sort the list according to which applications are using the most of that particular resource. If you need to close something, try closing the actual application first. If it wont close, come back to the Task Manager screen, right-click the application, and hit End task.

Windows 7: Instead of accessing Task Manager, youll need to search for System Configuration.

Recommended Reading: How To Clear Storage On Laptop

Reason : System Sources Running Out

When RAM and other resources are running out, the computer will run slow. Well, why do system resources run out? There are three main causes:

Long time use without a reboot: running the computer for a long time without a reboot will generate lots of junk files, like caches and RAM, which furtherly makes it harder for the operating system to locate needed files, and you feel that your computer runs slow.

Lots of startup apps: with lots of startup apps, your computer will take a long time to boot since all these programs need time to start. In addition, most programs will continue to run after the computer starts successfully, which may eat up your RAM or other resources to run your computer with great effort.

Too many antiviruses programs: you may pay more and more attention to data security. In order to furthest prevent your private or important data from being attacked by viruses or malware, you may choose to install more than one anti-virus software or anti-malware. Nevertheless, this kind of program is always taking up lots of memory especially when it is working or updating.

Stop Onedrive From Syncing

Microsofts cloud-based OneDrive file storage, built into Windows 10, keeps files synced and up to date on all of your PCs. Its also a useful backup tool so that if your PC or its hard disk dies, you still have all your files intact, waiting for you to restore them.

IDG

Heres how to turn off OneDrive syncing temporarily, to see if that boosts system performance.

It does this by constantly syncing files between your PC and cloud storage something that can also slow down your PC. That’s why one way to speed up your PC is to stop the syncing. Before you turn it off permanently, though, youll want to check whether it is actually slowing down your PC.

To do so, right-click the OneDrive icon in the notification area on the right side of the taskbar, then click the More button at the bottom of the screen. From the popup screen that appears, click Pause syncing and select either 2 hours, 8 hours or 24 hours, depending upon how long you want it paused. During that time, gauge whether you’re seeing a noticeable speed boost.

If so, and you decide you do indeed want to turn off syncing, right-click the OneDrive icon, and from the popup, select Settings > Account. Click Unlink this PC, and then from the screen that appears, click Unlink account. When you do that, youll still be able to save your files to your local OneDrive folder, but it wont sync with the cloud.

Read Also: Can You Ship A Laptop Through Usps

Too Many Background Programs Running

The most common reason that can slow down your computer, if having too many programs running at the same time. Even you might not know there are a bunch of programs running on the background, eating up system resources and result windows 10 slow performance.

Disable background apps

• Go to settings using keyboard shortcut Windows + I
• Under Background Apps, turn off the toggle Let apps run in the background

To prevent an individual app from running background,

Tips: How To Recover Data From Laptop

You should follow the steps below to recover data from laptop hard drive ASAP because: 1. above methods may lead to data loss 2. your data may disappear suddenly if your hard drive is failing.

Step 1: download the setup program and save it to your laptop hard drive or an external disk.

Step 2: double click on the setup program and follow the on-screen instructions to finish installing it. Then, click on the Start Now button to launch the software.

Step 3: select This PC in the left pane and choose the drive on which the lost files are stored.

Step 4: double click on the drive or click on the Scan button in the lower right corner to start a full scan. Then, wait for the scan.

Step 5: more and more files will be found during the scan. You can wait for the full scan to finish or browse the found items during the scan by expanding the partitions and folders.

Step 6: add a checkmark into the square box in from of the files you need and click on the Save button to bring up the Select a directory to save files window.

Step 7: select another drive as the target file storage location and click on the OK button to confirm your selection. Then, you should wait for the recovery to finish.

A window will pop up at the end of the recovery to inform you that all the selected files are recovered to the path you specified.

Don’t Miss: How To Record Your Screen On Dell Laptop

Reason : Lots Of Fragments On Hdd

If the disk is with a lot of fragments, it will do much extra work to seek data, which definitely slows the speed of your computer. So, the fifth reason for my computer runs slow is that there are too many fragments on your hard drive.

What causes these fragments? Writing and deleting data on hard disk frequently will cause fragments easily to emerge.

Getting Rid Of Bloatware

A typical picture that emerges in most of these mass manufactured laptops is that they are littered with unnecessary additional software or even harmful , also referred to as bloatware. You want to clear out everything that is not essential, usually this makes a difference like night and day, and it shouldnt take more than 30 minutes of your time.

In Windows 10, you can just press the Windows Key and Type Add or Remove Programs to see everything thats installed on your computer. If you are not sure what programs to get rid of, simply enter the name on Google and see if it is something important or just a program installed on your computer by the manufacturer.

Sometimes youll easily be able to uninstall unwanted programs. We have a guide on removing junk files in our guide on how to make Sims 4 run faster. However, some manufacturers dont allow you to get rid of their native programs. In that case, you can go ahead and download Bulk Crap Uninstaller or PC Decrapifier to get the job done. Make sure to do some research upfront to ensure that youre not getting rid of an essential program.

Read Also: How To Connect Airpod Pros To Laptop

Fix 3 Erase Computer And Start Over

If none of the above solutions resolves your issues, another option is to either reinstall Windows or erase everything and then start over.

Note: Do remember to back up data before you take action to erase data.

Erasing everything and starting over can increase performance by getting rid of old software or drivers that may be on the computer and causing the computer to be slow. Installing a fresh copy of Windows, software programs, and the latest drivers help verify there are no software related issues causing your computer to be slow.

Reason : Browser Issues

Situation 1: there are too many tabs opening in your browser or there are too many browsers running on your laptop. Each time you open a new browser tab, it will be saved in RAM so your laptop may become very slow if you have little RAM left but too many tabs opening in the browser.

Situation 2: the browser you are using has too many add-ons. Users web experience could be greatly improved by browser add-ons . But too many add-ons can also eat up too much of your processing power so as to slow down your laptop.

You May Like: How To Put Phone Screen On Laptop

Disable Unnecessary Startup Programs

When you turn on your PC, some programs start automatically and run in the background. You can disable these programs so they dont run when your PC starts.

Many programs are designed to start automatically when Windows does. You dont realize they’re running, but they’ll open quickly when you go to use them. This is helpful for programs you use a lot, but not for programs you dont use often because it increases the time it takes Windows to start.

Find the programs that start automatically

Sometimes you can determine which programs start automatically by looking at the program icons in the notification area on the far right of the taskbar. Check there first to see if there are any programs running that you dont want to start automatically. To try to find out the name of the program, point to the icon with your mouse pointer. Make sure you select Show hidden icons , so you dont miss any programs.

Even after you check the notification area, you might still miss some programs that run automatically at startup. Heres how you can find all the programs that start automatically, and stop the ones that you dont want to start automatically when Windows starts.

To stop a program from starting automatically

Your Hard Drive Is 95% Full

When your hard drive gets to 95 percent full, computers can slow down by 50 percent, Schoeffler estimates. At this point, there is no space to save the temporary files required for operating programs, so its as if the OS doesnt know how to run properly anymore, he says.

Hard drive space is taken up by programs, updates to programs, and downloads, as well as temporary files and associated files of deleted programs, so you may be able to clear a good amount of space just by emptying your trash. Check your hard drive situation by clicking the apple and selecting About this Mac, or hitting Start / Computer and right clicking the primary hard drive , then go to Properties.

Also Check: Can You Fix A Cracked Laptop Screen

How To Fix: Windows 10 Not Running At Full Cpu Speed

Important: Before you continue to the methods below, first install all available Windows updates and then check if the problem persists.

Method 5. Increase CPU performance using ThrottleStop.

Method 1. Set the CPU Power Options to Maximum.

The first method to resolve the low CPU speed in Windows 10, is to set the processor performance state to maximum. To do that:

1. At the search box type control panel and press Enter.

2. Change the View By to Small icons and then click Power Options.

3. Click Change Plan Settings.

4. Click Change Advanced power settings.

5. At ‘Processor power management’ options, set in Maximum processor state to 100% and click OK.

6. Then expand the System cooling policy settings and make sure that is set to Active, in order to avoid overheating.

7. Now check your CPU Speed, and if the problem persists continue to next method.

Method 2. Perform a Clean Boot.

The next method to troubleshoot CPU performance problems, is to start Windows 10 in a Clean Boot State. To do that:

1. Simultaneously press the Windows + R keys to open the Run command box.2. In run command box, type msconfig press Enter to open the System Configuration utility.

3. At Services tab, check the Hide all Microsoft services checkbox.

4. Then press the Disable all button, to disable all non Windows services that start with Windows. *

* Note: If you own a Samsung laptop then just disable the ‘Easy Launcher’ service and skip the rest steps.

• cd drivers

• ren intelppm.sys intelppm.sys.bak