Five ways to make your Windows PC run faster

1. Install a Solid State Drive (SSD)

The very best way to improve your computers performance is to upgrade your hard drives to SSD's. And now that SSDs have fallen so much in price it's definitely the best upgrade you can do to improve your PC's responsiveness.

Even if you cannot afford to have all your storage upgraded to SSD, moving your Operating System and Applications to an SSD can result in huge performance boosts.

2. Fit more PC Memory (RAM)

RAM always used to be at the top of the list of PC add-ons, but now the cost of doing this has got too expensive. In any case most new Windows computers come with about 2GB or even 4GB of RAM, and upgrading from 4GB to 8GB or more is nowhere near as impressive as upgrading from 1GB to 2GB. In fact, the more RAM you have the less of a performance boost it generally gives.

However, for anything above 4GB of total system RAM, a 64-bit operating system is required.

If you're thinking of upgrading beyond 4GB then bear in mind that what you get out of the upgrade will depend on the quality of the rest of the hardware on your PC. There's no point maxing out the RAM on a cheap PC because you'll just encounter a bottleneck somewhere else.

if you still want to add more memory and also check what memory upgrades you may be able to make, visit Crucial’s website and let Crucial scan your computer.

3. Reinstall Windows

This is a free way to boost performance by getting rid of all the junk that's accumulated on a system. Just make sure that you have backups of your data and copies of all the applications you regularly use.

And there's even better news for those of you running Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 - Microsoft have made this easy for you by including settings that will refresh your system.

4. Remove Bloatware and Programs you do not need

It is surprising just how much bloatware and useless free trial programs can be on a new computer direct from a manufacturer. Rather than try to remove this manually try some of these removal tools.

PC Decrapifier is one of the best tools to remove unneeded programs from brand-new and used PCs - https://download.cnet.com/PC-Decrapifier/3000-2096_4-10636481.html

For systems that have adware on them these two tools are very useful.

Malwarebytes AdwCleaner - https://www.malwarebytes.com/adwcleaner/
Bitdefender Adware Removal Tool for PC - https://bitdefender-adware-removal-tool-for-pc.en.softonic.com/

5. Manage Power Settings

Have you ever noticed that your laptop is faster when it's connected to a charger than it is when it's running off the battery? That's because Windows manages the performance to give you better battery life. However, if you would rather have the extra performance and are not worried about how long your battery will last, then you can tweak them.

You can manage your systems power plan settings by using Power Options in Control Panel. To find these settings in Windows 10 type Power Options in the search box which takes you to the Power & Sleep screen. Now click Additional Power Settings. There you will normally find three power options:

(a) Balanced (recommended)

(b) High performance

(c) Power saver

You can place your PC's cursor over the different power settings to see a pop-up description of what the setting is for. Once you decide what power setting you need just select it.

So, that is just five ways you can make you Windows PC feel more responsive.