LAPTOP OPTIMIZATION & MAINTENANCE – WINDOWS POWER OPTIONS Type and search for Control Panel > Hardware and Sounds > Power Options > Balanced (Recommended). The Balanced option increases the CPU speed when the computer needs it and reduces the CPU speed when it doesn’t need it.
Click Balanced. Click “Balanced.”
ADJUST MINIMUM/MAXIMUM PROCESSOR STATE Adjusting the power management of the CPU to be lower can help save power.
Step 1
Type and search “Edit Power Plan” in the Windows search bar.
Step 2
Click “Change advanced power settings.”
Step 3
Click “On battery” and “Plugged in” and
change percentage from 5 to 0.
ADJUST TRANSPARENCY SETTING Transparency effects require a lot of work on Windows’ part and by disabling the effect you can help speed up your computer. Step 1
Type and search “Themes and related settings” in the Windows search bar.
Step 2
Click Colors, scroll down and toggle the Transparency
effects button to show “Off.”
ENABLE STORAGE SENSE Storage Sense can remove some unnecessary files automatically.
Step 1
Type and search “Storage settings” in the Windows search bar.
Step 2
Toggle the Storage Sense button to show
“On.” Click “Configure Storage Sense or run it now.”
2904814842105629048148421056 Step 3
Turn Storage Sense “On.”
Step 4 Adjust the recycle bin setting to 14 days, for example.
Step 5
Click “Clean now.”
DISABLE UNNECESSARY NOTIFICATIONS Disabling notifications can help speed up your computer or laptop.
Step 1
Type and search “Notifications & actions settings” in the Windows search bar.
Step 2
Uncheck the box that says “Get tips, tricks, and
suggestions as you use Windows.”
REMOVE UNUSED APPLICATIONS Type and search Add or Remove Programs. Click and uninstall an application that is unused or takes up space.
Click and Uninstall.
DISABLE UNWANTED STARTUP PROGRAMS Right click on the Taskbar at the bottom of your desktop. Click Task Manager and then Startup. Disable any (High startup impact) programs that are unused by right clicking a program and clicking Disable. These startup programs can potentially slow down your devices boot time.
Right click on the task bar STEP 1 (Area in square) and click Task manager
STEP 2
Right click on program and click Disable.
DEFRAGMENT AND OPTIMIZE DRIVES Type and search for Defragment and Optimize Drives > System Drive (C: Drive). Click on your C: drive and then click Optimize. Be patient because this process might go through multiple phases.
Click “Optimize.”
DELETE UNNECESSARY TEMPORARY FILES Type and search Run. Type %temp%, highlight and delete all the files that show up on this window. Repeat these steps for temp and prefetch. The files within the %temp% folder are temporary Windows OS files that are not necessary for everyday use. The temp folder is where temporary application based files are stored. The prefetch folder is where temporary files are stored for those applications that are run for the first time.
STEP 1
TypeType and and enter enter %temp% “%temp%.. ”
STEP 2
Type and enter “temp.”
STEP 3
Type and enter “prefetch.”
STEP 4
Highlight (Ctrl + A) and delete all files.
CLEAN UP MEMORY Go to File Explorer > C-Drive > Properties > Disk Cleanup > Clean System Files
STEP 1
Right click the C- drive.
STEP 2
Click “Disk Cleanup.”
STEP 3
Click all the boxes, click “clean up system files” and press OK.
REDUCE RUN TIME SERVICE
Type and search Run > msconfig > Services > Hide All Microsoft Services. Click OK. The next time you restart your computer only the essentials services will boot.
Click “Services” STEP 1 tab.
STEP 2 Click “Hide all Microsoft services” and then press OK.
REGISTRY TWEAKS Type and search Run > type regedit > HKEY_CURRENT USER > Mouse > MouseHoverTime. Modify the Value Data to 10.
STEP 1
OpenOpen the the Run Run prompt prompt and and typetype “regedit regedit.”
STEP 2
STEP 3 Change the Value data to 10.
Click the Desktop folder and click MenuShowDelay. Change the Value data from 400 to 10 as well.
STEP 4 STEP 5
Change the Value data to 10.
ADJUST OR DISABLE GRAPHICS/ANIMATIONS Type and search Control panel > System and Security > System > Advanced System Settings. Click Performance > Settings > Adjust for best performance.
STEP 1
Click System and Security.
STEP 2
Click System.
STEP 3 Click Advanced system settings.
STEP 4
Click Settings.
STEP 5
Extra Tips RAM In addition to all the steps above, consider looking into upgrading your RAM (random access memory). RAM is volatile storage and its sole purpose is to temporarily hold bits of data when an application is run. RAM is an integral part of your computer and the more RAM that you have installed (assuming it is compatible with the computer) will speed up operations and provide a smoother user experience.
SOLID STATE DRIVE Consider investing in a solid-state drive (SSD) to replace a hard disk drive (HDD) if your device isn’t already equipped with SSD. Hard drives are different from RAM in that hard drives are nonvolatile. Data files and information are stored on it even when the power is shut off. SSD is faster, more energy efficient and makes little to no noise in comparison to HDD. The only main drawback to with SSD is that it is more costly.
MAC REMOVE UNUSED APPLICATIONS Click the Finder > Applications, right click on an unused application and move to Trash.
Right click the application and click “Move to Trash.”
RESTART YOUR MAC We often forget to restart our device but by doing so, your Mac will close applications and delete any data caches that could potentially slow down your Mac.
Click the Apple logo and click “Restart.”
CHECK YOUR PREFERENCE PANE Click System Preferences and delete any preferences that you don’t use. Enter your Finder, click on Finder Preferences, enter the General tab and choose Documents instead of All My Files. All My Files will require your Mac to load up thumbnail previews of all your files.
STEP 1
STEPStep 2
Step 2
Change “Recents” to “Documents.”
CLEAR SAFARI CACHES Clearing out caches of data and information on your Safari browser can increase the speed of your Mac. Click Safari preferences > Advanced > Show Develop Menu > Develop > Empty Caches.
STEP 1
Step 2
Step 2
Click Empty
Caches.
DECREASE MAC ANIMATIONS Reducing the number of animations can greatly increase the “snappy” feel of your device and speed up overall navigation. Click on the system preferences, click Dock, uncheck Magnification, check off the first and last boxes, and lastly change the Genie effect to Scale Effect if not already done. STEP 1
STEP 2