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How to Speed Up a Slow Windows PC (Step by Step)

Eight checks, in the order we'd do them, from the free five-minute fixes to the one upgrade that helps older laptops most.

Line drawing of a computer monitor with a speed gauge, next to a small chart with a rising line.

A slow PC is rarely one problem. It's usually a pile of small ones, and fixing them in the right order saves you from buying a new computer too early.

Start with what runs at startup

Open Task Manager with Ctrl, Shift and Esc, go to Startup apps, and disable anything you don't need the moment Windows starts. Chat apps, updaters and game launchers are the usual suspects.

Then check the disk

If your PC still has a spinning hard drive, replacing it with an SSD is the single biggest upgrade you can make. It costs less than a day out and makes a five-year-old laptop feel new.

Filed under How-to. Written and reviewed by the SoftwarePivot Editorial Team. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.