How do you find out what is slowing down my PC? There are many reasons to slow down your PC, like file fragmentation, low disk space, etc. In this article, we will propose effective solutions for different reasons.
Recently, my computer is running slow on Windows 10. It would take minutes to start up, minutes to open simple applications including but not limited to Google Chrome, Discord, and Steam. It becomes really frustrating. Why is my computer so slow? Can you help me find out what is slowing down my PC? Thanks for your reply.
- Question from Tom's Hardware
As a common computer problem, slow computer speed will always appear in the public's field of view in different forms, but many users are ambiguous about its incentives. In our daily life, we often suffer from the problem of slow computer running due to the following reasons:
โ Excessive file fragmentation: File fragmentation refers to the scattered files saved in different sectors on the disk. Excessive file fragments will slow down the computer’s speed, because the hard disk needs to jump between multiple fragments when reading files.
โ Too many apps downloaded: Too many installed apps on your PC can use up its space. In addition, some dodgy apps are automatically run in the background, which will undoubtedly slow down your computer.
โ Malware or virus: Sometimes, malware or virus invades the computer system in various ways, infecting the system with network vulnerabilities to make your computer unable to run normally.
โ Too many junk files: We often ignore the junk files generated during using the computer. Over time, they will occupy a lot of free space on the computer and slow down it.
โ Current HDD is aged or damaged: When the current HDD is aged or damaged, the speed of the computer will be significantly reduced, because the aged or damaged HDD can not meet the needs of the new system and application software.
After solving the question of how to find out what is slowing down my PC on Windows 10, what should we do to deal with them? Next, you can find the answer you are looking for.
When there are too many file fragments in your PC, you need to defrag them in time. Otherwise the computer will slow down, and in severe cases, the computer freezes will appear.
Step 1. In the Windows 10 start search bar, enter "defrag". Click "Best Match" and "Defragment and Optimize Drives" in turn.
Step 2. Select "Change Settings" in the Optimize Drive window.
Step 3. You can set the defragmentation frequency and the target drive, don't forget to tick the option "Increase task priority" and click "OK" to save the changes.
It is necessary to uninstall some installed apps that are not commonly used to free up PC space. Please refer to the following steps to uninstall some applications.
Step 1. Press "Window" and "R" at the same time, then type "control" and hit "Enter" in the popped up Run window.
Step 2. Click "Uninstall a Program" under the "Program" option.
Step 3. Right-click the target applications you decide to uninstalled and click "Uninstall".
Tip: You can also open the Task Manager (type "task" in the Start task bar and click "Open".) to view information about all installed applications on your computer. Click "Startup" to find out all the applications that are opened at the startup of your PC.
If malware or a virus invades your computer, it can have a terrible impact on it: not only does it slow down, but can also cause major problems such as PC crashes. Therefore, you need to use an antivirus program to find out and clesn up viruses that could harm your computer.
As for how to deal with junk files and HDD aging, here, I would be more inclined to recommend a multi-functional and powerful disk management expert-AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, who can relieve your worries.
When there are a lot of junk files, you can use the "Delete Large Files" feature to comprehensively scan all large files, including junk files on the computer. Similarly, when encountering an aged or damaged HDD, it can also help you safely migrate the Windows system to HDD/SSD without reinstalling.
In addition, you can face the following challenges alone:
โ Move programs to another drive without reinstalling. โ Thoroughly clean up all junk files on your computer. โ Allocate free space from one partition to another to extend the target partition. โ Transfer the whole disk to another one. •••
When there're many junk files on your computer, you can follow the steps below to find out and delete them:
Step 1. Download and open the demo of this tool, click "Free up" and "Delete Large Files".
Step 2. You can see all partitions of your PC, tick the partition you want to free up and click "Start Scan".
Step 3. All the recognized large files will be showed on the interface, please pay attention to the files marked to red. Select the target large files and click "Delete".
Step 4. There's some information about the chose large files, you can see the approximate space you can get if delete them. Click "Delete Now" to free up your PC space.
If your current HDD fails, you can use this powerful disk mover to safely migrate OS to a new SSD, detailed steps are as follows:
Step 1. Connecting the new disk to the computer, then open this disk migrating tool. In the top of the main interface, click "Clone"> "Migrate OS".
Step 2. Select disk space and tick the note "I want to delete all partitions on this disk 2 to migrate system to the disk", click "Next".
Step 3. Drag the double arrow to set the size of the system partition according to your need.
Step 4. Read the "Note" about booting OS in the new SSD.
Step 5. Click "Apply" and "Proceed" to execute the migrating task.
Tips: To boot Windows from the new drive, don't forget to change the boot drive.
How do you find out what is slowing down my PC? In this article, we found the main reasons why your computer runs slow and propose the targeted solutions. In addition, AOMEI Partition Assistant, an all-around computer manager, is also recommended to speed up your computer more intuitively.
By the way, we offer Windows Server users the Server Version. Please turn to the Unlimited Edition if you want the whole company to benefit from AOMEI Partition Assistant.