Why your PC is so slow... and how you can speed it up

 Why is my computer slow?

Your operating system has to manage the resources of your computer (memory, drive space, processing power) between all the programs that are running on it. There’s a huge number of things that may be reducing your computer’s performance, but they usually boil down to your PC’s resources being used inefficiently.


Here are some of the things that slow down your computer:


  • Running out of RAM (Random Access Memory)

  • Running out of disk drive space (HDD or SSD)

  • Old or fragmented hard drive

  • Too many background programs

  • Too many startup programs

  • Falling behind on Windows or driver updates

  • Malware or viruses

  • Special effects and visual features

If your computer is running slow, read on for ways to fix each of these issues.

How to make your computer faster

Restart your computer


If your computer speed is not what it should be, the first thing to try is restarting your computer.


Your operating system allocates space in RAM for programs as they run on your computer. Your RAM will eventually fill up, which will slow down your computer as your operating system starts using the swap file instead.


The swap file is a file on your disk drive that your operating system uses for data that is currently being used by programs, when your RAM, which is normally used for that purpose, runs out of space. Since hard drives and even the much faster SSD’s are slower than RAM, your computer will slow down significantly when it resorts to using the swap file.


Simply closing programs that are running on your computer helps, but restarting your computer allows it to be refreshed in a number of other ways as well. It ensures programs won’t keep running on the background (scroll down for more about background programs), allows Windows updates to be installed, and can fix a number of bugs that you might be suffering from, such as memory leaks, which cause programs to eat up much more RAM than they should.


If you notice applications starting up automatically after you have restarted your computer, your PC performance might be suffering from startup programs. Scroll down to the startup program section of this guide to learn more about them and how you can stop them from slowing down your computer.


Clean your hard drive


When your hard drive memory is full, it slows down your computer because the operating system doesn’t have enough free space to work adequately. Your OS needs space to use the swap file, prevent fragmentation, and to create temporary files (more on these later).


To make sure that your computer isn’t slow because of a full hard drive, ensure that there is at least 500MB (megabytes) of disk space available. You can check how much free space you have by opening File Explorer and clicking ‘This PC’ on the left navigation bar. Your main drive will normally be called ‘Windows (C:)’, but if you have other drives you can also see how much space they have from this screen.

Even if you have multiple drives it’s best to make sure that each individual drive has a buffer of 500MB to help the operating system manage the files on the drive better.


Here are some tips for doing a disk cleanup and increasing the performance of your PC:


  • Empty your Recycle Bin. Files build up in the recycle bin when you use your PC, so clearing it occasionally will help you keep up the performance of your computer. Double-click the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop, right-click anywhere and select ‘Empty Recycle Bin’. You can also right-click on the Recycle Bin icon itself.

  • Remove unwanted programs. Programs that you don’t want or need may be taking up hard drive space and slowing down your PC. To remove them, open Control Panel through the Windows search bar (accessible via the Windows icon in the bottom-left of your screen) and click ‘Uninstall a program’ under the Programs header. Use the window that opens up to uninstall programs that you don’t need.

Any third-party programs like bundled games and camera apps will normally be safe to remove. But if something has Microsoft or ‘driver’ in the name it might be a good idea to Google the program and check what it does before removing it, so you won’t accidentally remove something that your operating system needs to function.


  • Clean your Downloads folder. Open File Explorer and select Downloads from the Quick Access bar to the left. Move the files that you still need to the appropriate folders, such as Documents, and simply delete the rest. If you don’t regularly clean this folder, the files you download from the internet will accumulate, taking up space on your hard drive and slowing down your PC.

  • Find and delete temporary files. These are files that programs and your operating system use to store temporary data, such as files that programs download when installing updates. Over time temp files can build up to take a lot of space on your hard drive. Temporary files can be quite tricky to find as they are mostly in hidden folders, and it’s hard to know what is safe to remove. You can access your main temporary file folder by exiting all open programs, pressing the Windows key + R, typing in %TMP% and clicking ‘OK.’ This will bring up a folder that contains most of the temporary files on your computer, however it may include files that programs are still using and shouldn’t be removed.

To safely remove temporary files that your computer doesn’t need anymore, it’s best to use a program like CCleaner, which can do it for you in one click.


  • Clear the cache and cookies on your web browser. The cache (webpages your browser saves to improve browsing speed) and cookies (data stored on your computer by websites you visit) build up as you browse the web, and unless you clear them regularly they can take up a large amount of space on your drive. Most browsers have the option to clear these somewhere in their settings menu. For more about cookies and the cache and instructions on how to clear them on each browser, head over to our articles ‘How to clear your browser cookies’ and ‘What is my cache and why does it need clearing.’

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