DEV Community

Cover image for Can’t work or code continuously because of slow laptop or PC? Try these steps
Erica
Erica

Posted on • Edited on

Can’t work or code continuously because of slow laptop or PC? Try these steps

We hate slow laptop or PC, who doesn’t?

Maybe you’re a student who can’t study properly, finish online quizzes, or attend online classes on time because your PC slows you down or someone working from home with a PC that lags every time who doesn’t know how to troubleshoot because you’re not much of a tech person.

We all know, upgrade isn’t the first option because of budget.

But the steps below will surely somehow improve your experience with your device. However, do not expect your device to work twice faster than before, because these are just fixes, not totally an upgrade.

  1. Temp Files 📁

These files are accumulated from all the software you installed in your device. These are safe to delete.

1.Press the Windows key + R to open the Run window
2.Type %TEMP% in the field
3. Click OK to open the Temp folder
4. Press CTRL + A to select all files
5. Delete the contents of this folder
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Note: Not all files and folders may be deleted, because some of them are still in use

  1. System Configuration 🔧

Press the Windows key, type and click System Configuration
fix slow laptop
Boot

1. Go to the Boot tab
2. Set the Timeout to 3 seconds
3. Open the advance options
4. Set the number of processors to the highest number (e.g. 4 or 8)
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Services

1. Go to the Services tab
2. Check the Hide all Microsoft services
3. Uncheck all the services you don’t need (e.g. in my case, Google Update Service, VirtualBox system service…)
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Startup

1. Go to the Startup tab
2. Open Task manager
3. Disabled all the app you don’t need in startup (e.g. Spotify, Viber, Google Drive Sync, Creative Cloud…)
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
  1. Turn Live Off 📷

    1. Press the Windows key to open Start
    2. Right click on tiles such as games, Photos, Netflix and others…
    3. Choose Turn Life Tile off

You can go to advance setting by opening Control Panel>System and Security>System

  1. Remove unwanted programs 🖥️

    1. Press the Windows key
    2. Go to Add or remove programs
    3. Uninstall what you don’t use
  2. Windows Advance Setting ⚙️

You can go to advance setting by opening Control Panel>System and Security>System

Or

1. Open File Explorer
2. Right click on This PC and go to Properties
3. Open Advance system setting
4. Go to Advance tab
5. On the Performance, click Settings
6. Choose Adjust for best performance
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Note: I suggest you check Smooth edges of screen font

  1. Disk Cleanup 💿

    1. Open File Explorer
    2. Right click on the disk you want to clean and go to Properties
    3. Click Disk Cleanup
    4. Choose which you want to delete
  2. Disk De-fragment 🖴

Lastly, if you have done everything above, and if your PC or laptop still works the same, maybe you finally need to defragment your disk

1. Open File Explorer
2. Right click on the disk you want to defragment and go to Properties
3. Go to Tools tab
4. On the Optimize and defragment drive, click Optimize
5. Optimize the drive you want
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Hope these will help you with your PC or laptop going slow issues. Tell us about below if you noticed some changes on your device’s speed or if you did not.

Top comments (1)

Collapse
 
moopet profile image
Info Comment hidden by post author - thread only accessible via permalink
Ben Sinclair

the limitation of going outside

There's a much greater availability of laptops and PCs online than you'll find in any store. This was true before the pandemic, too. Why would not being able to visit malls hinder anyone getting a computer?

Some comments have been hidden by the post's author - find out more