A slow PC is a problem most users jostle with, even though they may have purchased the most powerful configuration sometime back. This happens, not always because the configuration has become outdated quickly, but because of the clutter that has accumulated within the PC. Also, there are certain settings, which when tweaked, make a lot of difference to the overall performance of the laptop.

Here is a lowdown of 10 things you can do to boost the laptop’s performance.

1. Clean the drive: Over a period of time, a lot of files get accumulated in our PC. Be it temporary files from the web browsing, or the temp files made by the system after a period of time. For this, we suggest you use the free software called CCleaner. Download and install this nifty little software, and allow it to scan for all the accumulated files which are slowing down the system. Then delete them in one go! In practice, delete temp files once a week to prevent the accumulation to reach very high levels.

2. Defrag the drive: Once the temporary files have been deleted, it is a good idea to defragment the drive. Essentially, defragmenting re-arranges the files within the hard drive partition, to make access quicker. There are times when the same file is scattered across the drive in multiple fragments. This makes access to that file slower and loads the system as it makes the effort to combine all fragments. Use the built-in defragment utility in Windows. Run the defragment on the primary as well as any secondary partitions you may have. In practice, defrag the drive once a month, while the system is not being used. 

3. Delete non - essential software: Over a period of time, a lot of software is installed on the Notebooks, and some of them are not even used anymore. We all tend to do it, no finger pointing here! While these installed programs may appear to be harmlessly sitting in one corner not disturbing anyone, in reality that may not always be true. Some of the software still keeps loading the system, via any services which may have been installed at the time of the software arriving on the PC.  The best way to deal with these is to uninstall them completely.

4. Clean up the registry: Even after a complete uninstall, a lot of software leave behind registry entries, which for all purposes are broken. But this just makes the registry fatter than it should be, and the system takes that much extra time scanning the registry while accessing and opening a program. Deleting these incomplete and broken entries makes program access quicker. The CCleaner app we have mentioned earlier also has a registry cleaner. Run the cleaner a couple of times to clean up the unused entries.

5. The spyware scan: While most people believe that a virus is the only threat to the data on the PC, this is strictly not true. There is something known as spywares, which is out to do pretty much the same thing- steal data from your PC. Spyware usually walk into the PC via the web browsers, as tracking cookies, bots and data miners. Scanning and deleting them is extremely essential, not only because of the security threat they pose, but also the performance impact they have. We suggest you download and install the free anti-spyware utility- Spybot- search & destroy. Update this with the latest definitions, and run a full system scan. Delete all spyware it detects. Most may not be very harmful, but they keep using system resources, anyway!

6. Delete the daddy of malware: Yes, we are talking about the good old virus. The pesky old enemy still finds its way on to millions of Laptops globally. Some users are just plain unlucky, while others do not have any preventive software installed. The virus not only is a huge threat to the security of the data on your PC, but also a major resource hog.  The virus, in the background, runs its own agenda in the garb of tasks. This slows down the PC to a crawl. Download any of the free antivirus solutions out there- AVG Free or Avast Home Edition, and give the PC a thorough scan.

7. The RAM dilemma: How much RAM is enough RAM? This is a question almost every laptop buyer asks. In our opinion, 3GB or 4GB RAM is more than enough for most basic and moderately heavy tasks. If your laptop has less than 3GB of RAM, we suggest you upgrade this to 4GB at the earliest. The performance boost will be tremendous, and the load on the hard drive will also be reduced.

8. A solid state affair: If your laptop has a slot for an extra hard drive, or you are willing to shift, get a Solid State Drive (SSD). While they are slightly on the expensive side and the storage capacities are relatively less when compared to a standard HDD, the performance boost is unbelievable. Install the Windows operating system on the SSD, and the system will boot and be ready for use in under 20 seconds.

9. Windows Updates: Yes, these are extremely important. Most users neglect these updates, either due to the lack of knowledge or the un-willingness to do it. However, Microsoft does push performance and reliability updates for Windows, along with the usual security patches. Installing these regularly (once a month, let’s say) will help the system in running smoothly.

10. Drive the updates: All hardware components installed in the laptop communicate with the operating system via a software code, simply known as drivers. These drivers dictate the performance, features and how the hardware device communicates with the OS. Hardware manufacturers regularly push out driver updates for the hardware, which include performance, reliability and feature updates. Updating these drivers regularly improve performance quite a bit. The most vivid case in point is the graphics drivers. We suggest you head to the laptop manufacturer’s website once a month and check for any updated drivers.