How to Speed Up Windows 7

Even though Windows 7 is a relatively old version of the Windows operating system, a lot of people still use it as it works flawlessly on their machines. The only downside, as reported by some users, is that their machines sometimes run slow. If you are that user and your PC runs slower, the following is how you speed up your Windows 7 computer.

From the physical components to the apps you have installed on your machine, anything could be possibly a reason as to why your computer has slowed down. The following guide covers the reasons that cause your PC to slow down and offers methods to speed up your computer that runs Windows 7.

Reasons Why Your Windows 7 PC is Slow

In this section, you are going to find out the reasons why your computer runs slow. Your computer may have a few or all of these as the reasons for slow down.

Reason 1. PC Used for Crypto Mining

There are many websites that install certain scripts on your computer for crypto mining. These scripts often slow down your computer as most of your resources are utilized towards mining of cryptocurrency.

Reason 2. Large Number of Startup Apps

If you have set a large number of apps to launch when you boot-up your machine, it could be causing your PC to slow down as your PC needs to launch each of these apps when you start your machine.

Reason 3. Multiple Apps Running At the Same Time

Multitasking is good but if you keep a large number of apps open at the same time on your computer and your computer does not have the capability to run them, your machine will slow down and will perform everything slowly.

Reason 4. Multiple Browser Tabs Open At the Same Time

If you happen to be the user who keeps a number of tabs open in your browser, you are causing your system to slow down as each tab uses a lot of resources available on your machine.

Reason 5. Low Memory Space on Your Hard Drive

Low memory often creates slowdowns and it could be a possible reason as to why your PC is slow.

Reason 6. Virus Infection

Viruses are known for causing computers to run at slower speeds and if yours is infected, that virus is the reason why your computer is slow.

How to Speed Up Windows 7 [10 Tips]

With the possible reasons of slowdown out of the way, let’s check out how you can speed up your Windows 7 based computer.

Method 1. Remove the Preloaded Apps

When you install an operating system on your computer, the OS brings with it a number of apps that it thinks are essential for you. However, that is not the case as many users just ignore the built-in apps but these apps continue to use your memory space.

Therefore, if you are not using the apps that have come preloaded on your computer, you may want to remove them to free-up the memory space they occupy on your system.

Method 2. Remove Apps from Startup List

Startup list is where all the apps that are to launch at the boot-up of your computer are located. If you find any apps that you do not want to launch at the start-up of your machine, you may want to remove them from the list so your computer does not use its resources towards those unwanted apps.

Method 3. Disable Search Indexing

Search indexing is what powers the search feature on your computer. At the same time, it uses a lot of your resources to build up various indexes. If you are facing a real slowdown on your computer, you may want to temporarily disable the search indexing feature on your computer.

Method 4. Get an SSD Drive

If you still happen to use an HDD drive on your computer, you may want to replace it with a faster SSD drive. SSD drives are much faster and convenient to use than the old-style HDD drives. These SSDs cost a little bit more than the normal HDD, however, they are worth every penny.

Method 5. Increase the RAM Amount

If you use any apps that utilize a large amount of RAM on your computer, you should consider adding more RAM to your machine. It will give your computer some extra room to store temporary files to be supplied to the CPU.

Method 6. Disable Animation Effects

From the boot-up to the shutdown, you have likely seen a lot of animations playing on your screen. All of these animation effects utilize your resources and therefore you should have control over what animations to play and what animations to put a hold on.

You can disable all the animation effects on your system and it will likely improve the performance of your Windows 7 PC.

Method 7. Change the Desktop Background

Many users prefer to use high-resolution and crystal clear images as their desktop backgrounds. While it is good to use these images, they put a burden on your hard drive as well as on your RAM and could possibly cause your PC to slow down.

Therefore, if possible, you are suggested to use a solid color as the background of your desktop.

Method 8. Defrag Drives

Regularly defragging drives keep your computer healthy and maintains the performance. If you have not done that for a long time, you may want to do it to speed up your Windows 7 computer. You can either use the built-in defrag tool or you can use a third-party app to do the task.

Method 9. Run a Full Virus Check

If you think a virus is causing your computer to become slower, you may want to run an antivirus app and perform a full scan of your computer to detect and remove any viruses your computer may have.

Method 10. Remove Junk Files

Many times the apps that you uninstall leave behind many files and these often cause your computer to slow down. These files also occupy your memory space and you should get rid of them as soon as possible to speed up the performance of your system.

While manually finding and removing junk files is a really time-consuming task, you are suggested to use a third-party app to get the task done. One such app is Ashampoo WinOptimizer that allows you to quickly find and get rid of any junk files from your computer.

Here’s why you may want to use it for your computer cleanup:

• Optimize your system with a single click.
• Defrag the drives on your computer.
• Get rid of junk files with a couple of clicks.
• Remove unwanted Internet files to lessen clutter.

If that sounds good to you, here is how you use the app to clean up your system:

Step 1: Head over to the official website of Ashampoo WinOptimizer and download and install the app on your Windows 7 computer.

Step 2: Launch the app when it is installed on your computer. Select the option that says Maintain system from the left sidebar and click on Drive Cleaner in the right panel.

Step 3: On the following screen, the app will show the file types it will delete from your system. Review the list and then click on the Delete now button located in the bottom-right corner of your screen.

Step 4: When the app has finished cleaning your machine, you will see the following success message on your screen.

That’s all there is to it. Your computer has been successfully cleaned of any junk files.

The Bottom Line

If your computer is running slow on Windows 7 and you have no idea why it is happening, the above guide will let you know the possible reasons as well as the methods that you can use to speed up your Windows 7 computer.