Have you been having a slow computer recently? Have you been waiting for a lifetime for one application to load? In that case you’ve probably been quite frustrated with your computer. Lets go through some ways you can boost your computer speed!

Clear up your RAM

Are you someone who has a million chrome tabs open at once?

Or are you someone who has all their applications open at once?

Well, your computer has something known as RAM which knows what applications are open and what you are doing on those applications, and if enough applications are open at the same time major slowdowns will occur. So, after you finish working on a draft for your report or finished surfing the web, close the tabs and windows open and shut the apps to let your computer breathe a sigh of relief.

Clean up your computer’s storage

Are you like me? Someone who just downloads tons and tons of random apps and games from the internet but totally forgets to clean them up when I’m done?

Well this practice might be slowing down your computer! A full hard drive leaves no space for the operating system to cache its data after it has filled up its memory (this is even more apparent on lower end systems which have a smaller hard drive and lower memory).

1. Start looking inside your downloads folder and documents folder to check which files have the largest file size. Make sure to delete the files from your recycle bin as well!
2. Check your temp folder (In your search bar in file explorer type %temp%, you should be greeted with a lot of files). Last time I checked my temp folder was 30 gb!

3. If you are still unable to shake off that extra weight, try going into settings and uninstalling some unimportant apps. You never know how much space some apps take!
4. Use an app like daisydisk (mac) or windirstat (windows) to show you a graphical representation of which files are taking up the most space. (If you’re not confident that a file is a system file then don’t delete it. But if it is taking up too much space, a quick google search might give you your answer!)

Lower Your Computer’s Performance

Sometimes its possible that your computer may not be able to handle the unnecessary graphics effects that windows throws on us along with its operating system. So lets turn them off!

1. Press the Windows key + R to open a small box that looks like this:

• Type “sysdm.cpl” in the box

• Go to the advanced pane in the tab that opens

• Click on settings

• Select custom and uncheck the options you don’t need

Use Linux

Linux is the best operating system if you need some extra oomph. Its highly customizable and best for older and lower end systems.

The best flavor of linux would be ubuntu since it is very easy for beginners and similar to windows and mac operating systems.

To install it just visit the website and follow the steps from there!

Upgrade your Computer

If none of the steps above work for you, try looking for some new hardware. Now this might seem obvious at first but buying a newer laptop or desktop can seriously speed up your workflow.

Think about getting some relatively newer hardware (Ryzen 3 3300, Ryzen 5 5600, intel i3 12300, intel i5 12400/12500). This bump up in hardware will net you some serious gains!

So that was how you should be able to speed up your PC and reach new heights in productivity! Did any of these tips work for you? Let me know in the comments below!