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Optimize the Performance of Your Windows 10 System

How to boost the performance of your computer by tweaking various settings in Windows 10.

Improve the Performance of Your Machine

Tone down various visual features to make your system run faster.

Windows 10 has all sorts of cool visual effects that make the system look really pretty. However, all these features can slow down weaker and/or older machines. In fact, they can even slow down powerful systems, which is why it's a good idea to tone down those aesthetic features, especially if you're having issues. The following steps will help you do just that:

  1. Open the Start Menu and type SystemPropertiesAdvanced in the Search box. Click on the icon that appears in the results. You can also access this panel by going Control Panel → System and Security → System → Advanced System Settings.
  2. Select the Performance Section then Settings to open a dialog box.
  3. The following options have the highest impact on performance and should be disabled:
    • Animate Controls and Elements Inside Windows
    • Animate Windows When Minimizing and Maximizing
    • Animations in the Taskbar
    • Fade or Slide Menus Into View
    • Fade or Slide ToolTips Into View
    • Fade Out Menu After Clicking
    • Slide Open Combo Box
  4. Click OK.

Improve Performance for Gaming Purposes

Maximize the power of your system for gaming.

If you are a gamer and would like to maximize the power of your system to make sure games run well, then here are a few tips and tricks to help you do just that:

Tip: Improve Speed By Disabling Fancy Visuals
You don't need any of the fancy visuals Windows 10 comes with, especially since they can slow your system down. So, open the Start Menu and type SystemPropertiesAdvanced in the Search box. Click on the icon that appears in the results. Under Performance, click on Settings, then choose Adjust for best performance, which will improve your system's gaming performance by as much as 50%.

Tip: Install Your Games on the SSD Drive
If you have a solid state drive (SSD), then install your games on this drive because it has much faster access times than a regular HDD, which will improve gaming performance quite a bit.

Tip: Disable Startup Apps
Startup apps don't only slow your system down when it starts up, but they can affect gaming performance because they remain on in the background. To disable startup apps, press the Windows key and R to open the Run box. Type "taskmgr/o/startup", which will open up a dialog with a list of apps that start up when Windows opens. Choose the apps you want to remove and click Disable.

Tip: Use Game Booster Software
Some programs automatically optimize your system to get the best out of it for games. There are a variety of options available but some of the best include:

  • IObit's Game Booster
  • Razer Game Booster
  • Wise Game Booster
  • ToolWiz Game Boost
  • Actual Booster

Tip: Update Your Graphics Card Drivers
Normally, graphics card drivers should update automatically, but if you can't remember when yours last updated, then you should perform a manual update. To do this, go through the following steps:

  1. Find your Graphics Card Model by going to Control Panel → Hardware and Sound → Devices and Printers → Device Manager → Display adapter. You'll find the information you need.
  2. Go to the manufacturer's website and download the latest drivers.
  3. Install them.

Tuning Virtual Memory

Increase the size of your machine's virtual memory for improved operation. Windows stores the system, applications and data in physical memory or RAM so the processor can quickly access them. However, when the RAM fills up, Windows will save the data in virtual memory, which is found on the hard drive. If you have too many apps running at a time, this virtual memory fills up too, which will make your system sluggish or stop it from operating altogether. If this happens frequently, you'll need to increase the virtual memory.

  1. Go to Control Panel → System and Security → System → Advanced System Settings. Type in your password if it is requested.
  2. Go to Performance → Advanced → Settings.
  3. Select the Advanced Tab and click the Change button under Virtual Memory.
  4. Remove the checkmark next to Automatically manage paging file size for all drives
  5. Select the drive where you want the virtual memory to be located
  6. Select Custom Size and enter new values in the Initial Size and Maximum Size boxes. Click Set and OK.

Keep Your System Clean

Remove old and unwanted data to improve system performance.

Deleting temporary files and unneeded files is essential if you want to keep your system running smoothly. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the Start menu and type Disk Cleanup in the Search box. Open the program that shows up in the list of results.
  2. Select the drive to be cleaned and hit OK.
  3. Disk Cleanup will work out how much space it can free up and present you with a dialog box with various options.
  4. Select the files you want to get rid of and click OK.

Another way of optimizing disk space is through defragmentation, which sorts files to make it easier for the system to access them, thereby making it faster.

To defragment, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the Start Menu, enter Defragment and Optimize Drives in the Search box and open the program that appears.
  2. Select the drive you want to defragment.
  3. Click Analyze disk to see if the drive needs to be defragmented.
  4. If fragmentation exceeds 10%, then click Defragment disk.