Eventually, the more you use your laptop, the more files and programs it accumulates. In time, this will start slowing down the response time and speed of your laptop, which reduces your productivity and routine processes now take much longer than they should.
Regular maintenance of your machine can address this slowing down, as you do things like run Windows utilities for your hard drive or by freeing up space on the disk itself. Also, you can stop unnecessary programs from even launching at startup, or boost performance with more RAM.
Below are some recommendations made by our friends at Hove Laptop Repairs to resolve these problems:
1. Open up the virus scanner on your laptop. Update it, and then run it. This should remove any spyware or viruses your system might have picked up. All sorts of malware can eat up the resources of your laptop CPU, slowing down the whole system.
2. Click on your Start button. Then, type the word ‘msconfig‘ into the query space before pressing your Enter key. This opens the screen for System Configuration. Here, you can navigate up to the tab labelled Start Up. Once there, uncheck any box for items you don’t want to have operating all the time. Once you reboot, only your chosen programs will boot. This frees up a lot of machine resources for other processes that actually need it.
3. Another route through the start button is when you type in the phrase ‘add or remove programs’. Press your Enter key to start up the screen for Add or Remove Programs. Check the programs you don’t need and click on the Uninstall option. This frees up crucial space on the hard drive of your laptop.
4. A third thing to do with the Start button option is typing in the phrase ‘disk cleanup‘ and then hitting Enter. This brings up the utility known as Disk Cleanup. Put check-marks in boxes related to items you wish to delete. Click on the OK button to free up more hard drive space.
5. One final route through the Start button will have you type in ‘disk defragmenter‘ before pressing the Enter key. This brings up the defragmenter utility in Windows. Choose the hard drive and then click on the option for Defragment Disk. This will consolidate files rather than delete them, but it reduces response times on your hard drive since all the files are closer together on the platter.
6. Install more RAM. If the CPU is the brain of your laptop, the RAM memory is the muscle and attention span. More RAM means more speed and better ability to run multiple programs simultaneously.
This option can make a huge difference to the speed of your laptop and makes the experience much more enjoyable when using your laptop.
Pro Tip
Back up your crucial folders and files before doing any of this. You want to prevent data loss with older laptops or machines known to have crashes or operating system errors.
If you try all of the above steps and still feel that your laptop is not functioning as well as it should, then it’s best to take it to your local laptop repair service to have them check it out because it could also be a sign of something deeper that needs assessing.
Always search for laptop repair services with good reviews and have an established track record of quality service.