Many of us, who have installed Windows 10 on their laptop/ desktop, face some kind of performance issues. Even though we all know that Windows 10 is going through an evolutionary phase, these performance issues bother us significantly for the time being.
Many people claim that their Windows 10 installation got slower after the Anniversary Update. Here are some tips for you in order to speed up your Windows 10 installation.
Check for Viruses
Just like all the previous Windows versions, Windows 10 is susceptible to virus/ malware attacks. However, Windows 10 is backed up an Anti-Virus software, namely Windows Defender, which is rated as amongst the top notch antivirus solutions available today (visit https://www.av-comparatives.org for more info). Alternatively, you can use your favorite third-Party AV software to guard against any malware on your PC.
Look for the “intensive” startup apps
There can be some applications which load at bootup, which cause slow down in Windows bootup. You can view them on the Task Manager, under the Startup tab.
If you sort the entries by the Startup Impact column, you’ll see what applications cause Windows to take ages to bootup.
Check for the applications with High impact on the startup and disable the unwanted applications. For instance, if you don’t need OneDrive to run at the startup, you can simply disable it.
It’s noteworthy to mention that many of the driver related software such as AMD and Nvidia aren’t required to be started at the bootup, and disabling them will not affect the performance of the hardware.
Turn on Fast Startup
Fast Startup is a hybrid form of Cold Shutdown and Hibernation. It allows the computer to use a “fresh” login which has the Windows Kernel already loaded up, as the hibernation image. Since this will avoid loading the Windows 10 Kernel every time you boot up the PC, this will decrease the startup time significantly.
In order to enable Fast Startup:
- Open Power Options from Control Panel.
- Click Choose what the power buttons do on the left pane.
- Now click on Change settings that are currently unavailable. This will allow for the settings at the bottom of the page to be edited.
- Under Shutdown settings, enable Turn on fast startup.
If you can’t enable that option (in case it is greyed out), you may need to enable Hibernate on your PC. You can do it via the Control Panel or by simply entering the following command in the Command Prompt (Admin mode). Search for Command Prompt in the start menu and then right-click it and select Run as administrator.
Then you’ll be allowed to enable the Fast Startup feature.
You can read more on Fast Startup from the following article:
https://www.howtogeek.com/243901/the-pros-and-cons-of-windows-10s-fast-startup-mode/.
Disable Unwanted Services
There can be services that load at bootup, which cause your PC slow to start. You can go to Services and see which services take a lot of time to load.
- On the Desktop, hit Windows Key + R to bring up the Run command. Type services.msc and press Enter.
- Then wait for your PC to settle down, while inspecting the time it takes for the status of the process to become Running.
- Then you’ll see the services which cause your PC to take years to load.
- Double-click one of such services and mark it as Automatic (Delayed Start).
On a side note, many users have claimed that the Windows Search service is making Windows 10 considerably slow. If you’re also facing the same issue, you can Disable it by using the same Services window. Please note that Windows Search is a background process which runs all the time and it might actually cause your PC to lag. Hence, marking it as Automatic (Delayed Start) won’t help you.
If you can spend a bit of money, it’s always better to add an SSD for your PC and install Windows 10 on it. That way you’ll notice a significant improvement in your PC’s startup and performance.
If you still think Windows 10 is quite slow at boot up, seek help on Windows forum and/or join Windows Insider program to obtain updates with more improvements.
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Raza Ali Kazmi works as an editor and technology content writer at Sorcim Technologies (Pvt) Ltd. He loves to pen down articles on a wide array of technology related topics and has also been diligently testing software solutions on Windows & Mac platforms. If you have any question about the content, you can message me or the company's support team.