Top 6 Ways for Speeding up a Slow Laptop

Why is my laptop running so slow?

It is inevitable for a PC to become slow over time. As software becomes more resource-intensive, the way your PC responds to these developments becomes a key factor affecting its overall performance. Additionally, the specific operating system used and the decision to transition to Windows 10 can have a significant impact on this result.

Before speeding up a slow laptop, learn several common issues that can cause your laptop to slow down:
▶ The dust has accumulated inside the laptop.
▶ Hard drive performance degrades.
▶ Storage space on disk has been exhausted.
▶ The presence of antivirus software may adversely affect the speed of Lenovo laptops.
▶ Implementing updates in the Windows 10 ecosystem can also lead to poor PC performance.

How to fix slow laptop step by step - 6 ways

Since there are so many potential factors that can cause a laptop to experience slow performance on Windows 10, we've curated a list of tried and tested ways to speed it up. These strategies have been rigorously tested before being presented here to ensure their effectiveness.

Method 1. Uninstall some programs

There is no doubt that the accumulation of too many programs on the computer will inevitably increase its operating burden. To mitigate this, redundant software must be removed, thereby improving overall system performance.

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to fix slow laptop by uninstalling unnecessary programs:

Step 1. Press the "Windows" and "R" keys simultaneously. Then, type "control" and press "Enter".

Step 2. In the Control Panel, navigate to the "Programs" section and select the "Uninstall a program" option.

Step 3. Find unused apps, right-click on them, and go ahead and select Uninstall. This process helps improve system efficiency.

Method 2. Disable the hibernation

Hibernate files contain compressed content after Windows goes to sleep. This compression helps restore operations quickly when the PC is reactivated. However, the presence of these files results in considerable storage consumption.

In situations where free space becomes scarce, hibernation can be deactivated and the hibernation file subsequently deleted without any adverse effect on the functionality of the PC. Please follow the steps below to achieve speeding up a slow laptop:

Step 1. Press the "Windows" key to start the process. Type "cmd" in the search box and select "Run as administrator".

Step 3. After accessing the command prompt, enter the command "powercfg.exe /hibernate off" and press "Enter" to execute it. This action disables hibernation.

Step 4. As a result, hibernation files will be eliminated, reclaiming valuable storage space.

Method 3. Run Disk Cleanup

Generating unwanted junk files on your PC is an inevitable result of regular usage. Although some files are automatically deleted by the Windows operating system, some of them remain in disk space. Effective troubleshooting steps include specifically deleting junk files from the C drive, which may resolve the underlying “my laptop is very slow and hanging” issue. Here is a comprehensive guide to performing this task:

Step 1. Type "Disk Cleanup" in the search box and press "Enter" key to start the process.

Step 2. Proceed to select the desired drive and confirm your selection using the OK button. Subsequently, mark the files for deletion and start the cleaning process by clicking OK. This operation can effectively clean the identified junk files from the specified hard drive.

Method 4. Extend C drive

Running out of free space on the C: drive can significantly affect the performance of your laptop. The C drive is almost full and may slow things down. As a solution, consider the option of extending the system partition, which can help increase the speed of your laptop.

While Windows Disk Management does offer the ability to extend the system partition, it's worth noting that the "Extend Volume" feature may not be accessible if the unallocated space is not contiguous with the C drive.

This limitation highlights the usefulness of AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, a partition management tool. The software allows to allocate free space from one hard drive to another, thus facilitating direct expansion of system partitions with free space from other partitions. This method has proven to be especially useful when speeding up a slow laptop.

Here is a comprehensive walkthrough to extend C: drive with AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional:

Step 1. Start AOMEI Partition Assistant Pro first. Right-click on the D: drive (alternatively, you can choose another hard drive that has free disk space). From the context menu, choose Allocate Free Space.

Step 2. In the subsequent window, select the C: drive as the recipient of the allocated free space originating from the D: drive. After making your selection, click OK.

Step 3. After returning to the main interface, the C drive will be significantly expanded. Click Apply to continue, then select Continue to start the operation.

Method 5. Defragment the hard drive

Excessive file fragmentation in the system drive can seriously affect the running speed of Windows 10. This is due to the fact that the system repeatedly searches for scattered files during operation, which inevitably leads to a significant drop in reading efficiency. However, no need to worry, AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional provides a solution by enabling system hard drive defragmentation.

Here's how to fix slow laptop by defragmenting the hard drive:

Step 1. In AOMEI Partition Assistant Pro, the interface shows all drives and their respective partitions. Right-click the target disk and select "Defragment Disk".

Step 2. Then, click on "Schedule" in the window that appears.

Step 3. Select the C drive and set the desired frequency of defragmentation. You can also optionally specify the criteria for defragmentation.

Step 4. Additionally, you can choose to start the defragmentation process at system startup or when you log into the computer.

Method 6. Upgrade HDD to SSD

Solid-state drives (SSDs) outperform traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) for faster read and write speeds. If you're experiencing slow performance on a Windows 10 computer using an HDD and defragmentation provides limited improvement, consider upgrading to an SSD. This shift can bring benefits such as accelerated boot times, faster file access, and overall enhanced system responsiveness.

In order to facilitate HDD to SSD upgrade, AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional provides an efficient solution to clone the entire HDD to SSD. The tool offers two cloning methods: "Quick Clone Disk" and "Sector-by-Sector Clone". The former copies used space selectively, while the latter copies every sector. Here's a step-by-step guide on speeding up a slow laptop:

Step 1. Run AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Click Clone > Clone Disk on the main interface.

Step 2. Select your preferred copy method and click Next to continue.

Step 3. Select the target disk and check the "Optimize SSD Performance" checkbox. Then, click Next.

Step 4. Customize the partition size on the SSD as needed and click "Next" to continue.

Step 5. Review the provided guide for booting from the target disk and click Finish to complete the process.

Step 6. In the main interface, click Apply and then click Continue to perform the cloning process.

Conclusion

Why is my laptop running so slow? This article provides a comprehensive exploration of these issues and provides solutions for various scenarios.It is worth noting that AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional becomes a key tool in speeding up a slow laptop.

In addition to the previously explained techniques, other strategies can be employed such as moving folders from the C drive to the D drive, deleting larger files, performing a selective migration of the operating system to the SSD, and other methods.