My PC is slow, so what should I do?

1) Find and remove malware

First, it is important to check whether your computer is infected with viruses or malware. These can significantly slow down your PC's performance by consuming a significant portion of RAM and CPU.

To detect them, you can use a quality antivirus software, whether free or paid. It is important to regularly schedule scans of your computer to detect potential threats and maintain the security of your system.

2) Remove the dust

Dust accumulation can be a major cause of computer slowness. Dust can clog the air vents, which can cause the system to overheat. This can force the processor to automatically slow down to prevent damage to the computer's internal components.

To eliminate this problem, it is advisable to gently clean the inside of the computer. To do this, you can follow these steps:

• Shut down your computer completely and unplug all cables.
• Open the computer case by removing the screws or locking clips.
• Use a handheld vacuum or soft brush to remove dust from fans, heat sinks, and air vents.
  
• Also clean the dust accumulated on the internal components such as the motherboard, processor, RAMs and hard drives.
• Close the computer case and replace the screws or locking clips.
• Turn on your computer and reconnect the cables.

It is important not to use compressed air to clean the inside of your computer because it can propel dust inside certain components, which can damage your computer or increase the risk of overheating. It is also advisable to do regular dust cleaning to maintain the performance of your computer.

3) Updates Windows and updated drivers

When you check for updates, your PC will also check for the latest device drivers.

4) Use ReadyBoost to improve performance

ReadyBoost is a feature of Windows which helps improve system performance by using additional RAM in the form of a removable storage device such as a USB stick or SD memory card.

To take full advantage of this feature, it is important to have a storage device with at least 500 MB of available storage space and a high data transfer rate.

Here are the steps to follow to use ReadyBoost:

Insert the storage device (USB flash drive or memory card) into an available USB port on your computer.

• First, select the USB drive you want to use for ReadyBoost.
• Then right-click and select Properties.
• Now, click on the “ReadyBoost” tab.
  
• Select the “Use this device” option and choose the amount of storage space you want to allocate to ReadyBoost. It is recommended to use between 1 and 2 GB of space for optimal performance.
• Click “Apply” then “OK”.

5) Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows

The visual effects of Windows may look nice, but they can slow down older PCs. Disabling these effects can give your computer a facelift.

To access the visual effects, you can use the Start menu search box, by typing performances and selecting Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows.

In the first tab, Visual effects, make sure that the “ Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing them » is not checked. You can also check “ Adjust for the best performance » to turn off all effects.

Don't forget to click Apply before validating the changes by clicking on OK.

6) Defrag and clean your hard drives

Another common cause of computer slowness is the accumulation of unnecessary and temporary files on hard drives. It's important to clean hard drives regularly using software such as CCleaner, which allows delete temporary files, cookies, logs and other unnecessary data.

After cleaning, you can defragment hard drives to improve computer performance. Defragmentation works by combining fragmented files into a single block, which can significantly speed up disk read and write times.

You can defragment your hard drive by following these simple steps:

• Click the Start button and type Defragment and optimize drives in the search bar.
  
• Select the hard drive you want to defragment and click Analyze.
• If the disk needs defragmentation, click Optimize their campaigns.
  

• Let the defragmentation process complete.

However, it is important to note that defragmentation is only effective when hard drives have enough free space (at least 15%). Before defragmenting the disks, it is therefore important to clean up and free up disk space. Additionally, it is advisable to schedule defragmentation regularly to maintain computer performance.

7) Uninstall unwanted programs

To improve the performance of your computer, it may be useful to uninstall programs that are no longer needed or which can slow down your PC.

Uninstalling these programs can free up storage space and improve the overall performance of your computer.

Here's how to do it:

1. Click the Start button and open Control Panel.
2. Click on Uninstall a program.
   
3. Select the program you want to uninstall and click uninstall.
   
4. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the uninstallation process.

8) Increase virtual memory space

Another solution to make your PC fast is to increase virtual memory space. Virtual memory is a form of extra memory used by your computer to handle applications that require more RAM than the system has available.

Here are the steps to follow to increase virtual memory space on your PC:

• Go to the Start menu and choose the icon Settings.
  
• In the settings, select System.
• In the section System select System information.
  
  
• Find the Related Links section and click Advanced system settings.
  

• In the section performances click on Settings.
• In the tab Advanced click on Settings in the section Virtual memory.
  
• uncheck Automatically manage paging file sizes for all drives.
• Select option Custom size and specify the initial and maximum size of the page file in megabytes. It is recommended to leave the minimum size and the maximum size at the same value.
  

9) Disable programs that slow down Windows when the engine starts

When many programs launch when your PC starts up Windows, this can cause a significant slowdown. This problem is common when you install new software on your computer, some of which are set to run automatically when the computer starts. Windows.

To optimize your computer's startup, you can control which programs launch automatically. There is a built-in feature Windows that allows you to do that.

Here are the steps to follow:

• First, click the Start button and type msconfig in the search bar.
• Next, click on the msconfig application to launch System Configuration Manager.
• Click the Startup tab to access the list of all programs that run automatically at startup.
• Uncheck the boxes in front of the programs you don't want to run automatically at startup.

  

• Finally, click OK to save the changes and restart your computer to see the improvement in startup speed.

10) Replace Windows by a lightweight operating system

Unfortunately, if despite all this, you still have problems with PC slowness, you will have to replace Windows by a lighter operating system.

Choosing an operating system can have a significant impact on your computer's performance. Popular operating systems, such as Windows, consume more system resources. And with each new version of Windows, resource requirements increase, which may cause slower performance on older computers.

This is one of the advantages of lightweight operating systems: they consume fewer resources and are therefore faster. If you are currently using Windows and you notice that your computer's performance is slow, it might be a good idea to replace Windows by a lightweight operating system for increased performance.

Here is a list of lightweight operating systems that you could install on your PC easily:

• Lubuntu
• Xubuntu
• Puppy Linux
• Slax
• MX Linux.