We are independent & ad-supported. We may earn a commission for purchases made through our links.
Advertiser Disclosure
Our website is an independent, advertising-supported platform. We provide our content free of charge to our readers, and to keep it that way, we rely on revenue generated through advertisements and affiliate partnerships. This means that when you click on certain links on our site and make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn more.
How We Make Money
We sustain our operations through affiliate commissions and advertising. If you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may receive a commission from the merchant at no additional cost to you. We also display advertisements on our website, which help generate revenue to support our work and keep our content free for readers. Our editorial team operates independently of our advertising and affiliate partnerships to ensure that our content remains unbiased and focused on providing you with the best information and recommendations based on thorough research and honest evaluations. To remain transparent, we’ve provided a list of our current affiliate partners here.
Hardware

Our Promise to you

Founded in 2002, our company has been a trusted resource for readers seeking informative and engaging content. Our dedication to quality remains unwavering—and will never change. We follow a strict editorial policy, ensuring that our content is authored by highly qualified professionals and edited by subject matter experts. This guarantees that everything we publish is objective, accurate, and trustworthy.

Over the years, we've refined our approach to cover a wide range of topics, providing readers with reliable and practical advice to enhance their knowledge and skills. That's why millions of readers turn to us each year. Join us in celebrating the joy of learning, guided by standards you can trust.

How Do I Increase Computer Speed?

By Amanda R. Bell
Updated: May 16, 2024
Views: 7,075
Share

There are several ways that you can increase computer speed, most of which require very little time or money. One of the easiest and often overlooked options is defragmenting your hard drive, which, when done regularly, will usually take less than ten minutes. Keeping your virus software up-to-date and scanning on a regular basis will help to prevent malware or other unwanted programs from slowing your computer down. If these options do not give you the increase in speed that you need or want, you can also upgrade your graphics card, hard drive, or install additional memory.

Running the disk defragmenting program, which is usually located in your system tools, is one of the best ways to increase computer speed quickly and easily. Oftentimes, a slow computer is caused by fragmented files, which are created when programs are installed, updated, or uninstalled. Although a newly-installed program is given its own space on the hard drive, any additions to that program are also given their own spot, which is usually not in the same place as the original file. Defragmenting your hard drive can increase computer speed by forcing your computer to gather up all of the files for one program and put them in the same space, drastically shortening the amount of time that it takes to load or run a program.

Updating your virus software and scanning your computer for threats on a weekly basis can help to protect it from malware and spyware that can damage it and slow it down. Even with the best virus software available, your system is still vulnerable if you do not regularly update the program. New threats are created every single day, often with the goal of being just different enough from other programs to make it past antivirus software. Regular updates improve your chances that these harmful programs don’t make it into your system. In addition to this, scanning your system on a weekly basis will help to catch any threats that make it through your antivirus software and remove any spyware that could be slowing your system down.

Everything on your computer is made up of pictures, which are all handled by your graphics card, sometimes referred to as a video card. If it is too slow, your programs will take longer to load and appear on your screen, even if everything else is running perfectly. To determine what kind of card will work best for you, talk to an expert and let him or her know exactly for what you use your computer and the type of programs that you run. If this isn’t an option, look at the graphics requirement for the largest program on your computer and choose a card in that range.

As you add programs and files to your computer, it slowly begins to run out of space and memory, both of which it needs to run efficiently. If you’ve tried all of the other options and your computer is still slower than you would like, you can typically upgrade your hard drive or increase the memory on your computer. To upgrade your hard drive, you can either uninstall your current one and install a new, larger one, or add a second hard drive to your computer to increase its capacity. For systems that have limited memory, you can typically install additional random access memory (RAM), which can help to increase computer speed drastically. While these two options are something that you can do yourself with some experience and computer knowledge, a professional technician can also help you to increase computer speed.

Share
EasyTechJunkie is dedicated to providing accurate and trustworthy information. We carefully select reputable sources and employ a rigorous fact-checking process to maintain the highest standards. To learn more about our commitment to accuracy, read our editorial process.
Discussion Comments
By RoyalSpyder — On Feb 11, 2014

@Viranty - So your computer essentially crashed when you download a lot of online games? I've never had that happen to me, but that's pretty intense. Although, I wonder - did your PC crash because of that reason, or was it because of the way the hardware was built? I don't want to sound cynical, but sometimes, when materials are produced, the manufacturers end up "cutting" corners on the products, as a way to save money. That means the product doesn't last as long as it should. Always be careful with what products you buy in store, and always look for the best prices.

By Viranty — On Feb 10, 2014

@Chmander - You make some very excellent points. In my case however, I've learned that downloading too many unneeded files can also speed up your computer, for the worse. During my freshman year at college, I bought my first laptop, and I became completely careless with it. I downloaded a lot of video games onto my hard drive, and I watched a lot of movies. However, little did I know that day by day, I was slowly wearing out my hard drive. One day, it died on me. From this day forward, I'm definitely more careful with my hardware. Overall, though it's always a good idea to increase computer speed, but it really depends on several factors, and there are always exceptions.

By Chmander — On Feb 09, 2014

@RoyalSpyder - I agree with you. Too often in the past, I have had viruses on my computer, and instead of slowing my PC down, they've actually sped it up, almost to the point where I had to get a new hard drive. Honestly though, it was my fault because I didn't have any anti-virus software at the time. If there's one thing I've learned in the past few years, it's that anti-virus software is not an option. When viruses speed up your hardware, it only causes your computer to work faster and faster, until it's completely worn down.

By RoyalSpyder — On Feb 09, 2014

As the article indirectly states, computer viruses can really slow down your computer. In order to increase computer speed, make sure you get rid of anything that's affecting your computer. I'm surprised that the article doesn't mention this, but you don't always want your computer speed to increase. Sometimes, it may be the cause of a damaged computer, or Trojans on your PC.

Share
https://www.easytechjunkie.com/how-do-i-increase-computer-speed.htm
Copy this link
EasyTechJunkie, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.

EasyTechJunkie, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.