Are you running Windows 10 on a brand-new PC? Or did you upgrade one that's eight years old? Maybe something in between?
Whatever your PC's origin story, there are ways to make it faster. And I don't mean faster at crunching complex spreadsheets or processing mammoth Photoshop edits; I'm talking about speedier startup, shutdown and Start-menu access. You know, the things that matter day-to-day.
Give me five minutes, and I'll save you precious seconds. (Wait, that sounds like a bad trade. But you'll get those minutes back, and then some.)
1. Faster startup
Why, oh why, does Microsoft continue to demand that we provide a password every time Windows boots up? Right, right, security -- but shouldn't users get to decide if they want to password-protect their PCs?
You'd think. But based on the hoops you have to jump through to disable the startup password, Microsoft obviously feels pretty strongly about it. And even if you're a fast typist, stopping to enter that password costs you at least a few seconds per boot.
There's a detailed post devoted to eliminating this password pitstop, but I can give you the steps right here:
Step 1: Click inside the Search field, type netplwiz and press Enter.
Step 2: Uncheck the box next to Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer. Then click Apply and enter your password to approve the change.
Done. Buh-bye, startup password!
2. Faster shutdown
If you're old-school like me, you still shut down your computer every night -- or every time you throw it into your laptop bag and hit the road.
Alas, in Windows 10, the shutdown process still requires three clicks and a menu. Come on!
In my post, 'How to quickly shut down Windows 10,' I outline three faster options. My favorite: the shutdown shortcut, which adds an actual shutdown icon to the desktop.
Just right-click any open space on the desktop, then click New > Shortcut. In the Location field that appears, paste in the following:
%windir%System32shutdown.exe /s /t 0
Then click Next and finish the shortcut setup.
3. Faster Start menu
If your machine is a few years old (or older), you may have noticed that Windows 10's spiffy new Start menu is slow to appear. That could be because it's animated, and animation consumes horsepower.
Thankfully, you can turn off that animation for speedier access to Start. Here's how:
Step 1: Click in the Search field, type sysdm.cpl and press Enter.
Step 2: Click the Advanced tab, then the Settings button in the Performance section.
Step 3: Uncheck the box for Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing, then click Apply.
And that's it! Now the Start menu should snap to life a bit quicker. Same goes for all your windows, in fact, because now those won't be animated either.
Have you found other ways to give Windows 10 a little kick in the pants? Share your tips in the comments!
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On a desktop PC, you can easily improve game graphics by swapping out your old graphics card. But in most laptops, the graphics chipset is integrated into the system board and can't be removed or replaced. So newer PC games may not run smoothly on your laptop, and you may experience choppy graphics.
However, there are many ways to make games run faster on a laptop. Instead of spending your hard-earned money on a new notebook, try the tips below to improve gaming performance.
1. Adjust 3D Graphics Settings
Most notebooks allow users to manage and tweak 3D settings via a separate graphics control panel.
You can access 3D settings on your AMD or Nvidia-powered notebook by right-clicking on your Windows desktop and choosing Graphic Properties.
Intel’s Graphics and Media control panel, on my Acer laptop, lets me adjust 3D settings by moving a slider between 'Performance' and 'Quality.' Click on '3D' and 'Global Settings' to find the slider. Moving the selector toward 'Quality' improves 3D graphics, but may lead to slower frame rates and choppy performance; moving it towards 'Performance' will enhance gaming performance. I always choose 'Performance' over 'Quality' to ensure a stutter-free gaming experience.
This Intel HD Graphics and Media Control Panel has custom settings as well as preset options. Below, I show my laptop’s 3D settings to explain each custom setting. You may apply these settings to your own graphics panel for a smoother gaming experience.
Custom settings are commonly found in all graphics panels, including Intel HD or NvIdia/AMD. Common options include texture quality, vertical sync, and anisotropic filtering. You can tweak these settings or leave them as they are. Here are some tips:
1. Texture Quality: Tweaking this option will sharpen pixels in a texture (texels). On my Intel HD Graphics control panel, I had to choose the “Performance” preset option to lower texture quality. This greatly improved graphics performance, although it resulted into blurry visuals. You can keep it in 'Balance' mode if you don’t wish to tinker with this option.
2. Anisotropic Filtering: Adjusting this graphics setting will improve the sharpness and clarity of textured objects in a game. But I always keep it under “Application settings” and prefer not to change it. Keep it as it is.
3. V-Sync: When playing graphics-intensive games, you may be experiencing screen stuttering and tearing, especially when playing a first-person shooter game. This normally happens when the frame-per-second rate in a video game is higher than your laptop’s refresh rate. To avoid stutters, turn on V-Sync via the graphic cards control panel when the frame-per-second rate is higher than the refresh rate, and turn it off when it is less. Enable V-Sync when playing games like Crysis 2.
2. Tweak In-Game Settings
Adjusting in-game settings is one of the best ways to make PC games run faster on your laptop. You can get access to these settings by pressing the ESC button while playing. Some games let you adjust display settings via a separate launcher at the start of play.
Adjusting display settings improves gaming performance, but may reduce texture quality.
The screenshot above shows the display settings of Batman: Arkham City. Almost all options are configured to provide a smooth, stutter-free gaming experience.
I have set Detail Level and anti-aliasing to low, enabled V-sync to improve frame rate, and turned off options such as motion blur, ambient occlusion and dynamic shadows. Also notice the resolution. If you have a low-end notebook, then set the resolution to the lowest (640 x 480) and play it in windowed mode. While this may not provide the most visually satisfying gaming experience, it will improve performance.
3. Consider Third-Party Game-Boosting Programs
Game-boosting programs are an option if the above tips don’t work, or you are scared to tweak settings manually. These third-party applications tweak graphics settings, disable processes, defrag your system, and even over-clock your CPU to improve performance.
Essentially, these programs offer way to tune up all settings automatically at the click of a mouse, instead of manually tweaking every setting.
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Warning: While game-boosting apps have the potential to improve frames per second by tweaking key settings, they can be risky because changes in settings may affect the registry. Use them at your own risk.
IObit’s Razer Game Booster improves game performance by disabling non-essential processes and services on your laptop. Game Booster’s single-click boosting feature makes it easier to use even for non-computer savvy people. The listed processes can be disabled all at once, or selected one by one. Developers claim that the app cleans up RAM and enhances CPU performance.
When I enabled Game Booster, I noticed a slight difference in frame rate per second, a +2 increase.
Razer Game Booster is a good program that lets you shut down unwanted processes, but for the best overall game performance, you will still have to tweak the in-game settings as well as graphics control panel settings. Endless space 2 depletion points.
After I closed the game, I had to restart my laptop to turn back to normal settings after closing the game. I even had to manually switch back to my laptop's power previous settings.
An application called Game Gain also makes gaming performance faster and smoother on your PC and laptop. Game Booster is free, but Game Gain costs money. You can try out the trial version first, and then buy the full version if you are satisfied with its performance.
Additional Tips to Improve Gaming Performance
- Update graphic drivers regularly. For AMD and Nvidia-powered notebooks, new drivers are available at the official websites. If your laptop is powered by Intel, you can search for new driver versions via Device Manager > Display Adapters > Intel HD Graphics > Update.
- Use programs like CCleaner to get rid of unwanted registry items and disable unnecessary startup items. With this program you can also get rid of memory dumps. Using such programs optimizes PC performance, which ultimately leads to smoother gaming, but make sure you are aware of the implications of disabling key startup items. Do a Google search to find out which items can be safely disabled.
- Use anti-virus programs that have a built-in gaming mode. While playing, most users turn of antivirus programs to ensure smoother performance, because these programs hog resources, especially on older systems. However, programs like Avast Antivirus and ESET Nod/Smart Security do not take up resources on your laptop, are lightweight, and have a nifty gaming/silent mode that lets you play your game while the program silently runs in the background.
These are some tweaking tips to improve gaming performance. Do you know any other trick to make games run faster on a laptop? Share your tips and suggestions via the comment box.
- If your game is lagging, just start task manager CLRT+ALT+DLT ( control, alt, delete) and look at what processes are using a lot of memory and end them. I find gameboosters to be the same thing but sometimes annoying. Take caution when ending processes that says User - System. Just end things you don't need to use. If you don't know what a process or service name is or what it does, literally just google the name you're looking at and you'll find a page or thread that will give you an answer. Don't end anything if you have no idea what it does. Research always before you do something, if you don't know
- Nice one,i didn't use more software.For me using small memory taking software.I using it Soft Cleaner software.Its giving healthy performance while regular doing.
- Interesting tricks! Wizard of oz torrent eng. I have never heard of the Razer Game Booster software. I have installed the software in my laptop and its supported the game to run fast and smoother.
- Good article. My current machine's too weak to do much more than FB but will keep in mind when I buy my next.
- I have found it hard playing recently released games on my old laptop computer. However, I found that a few process were consuming resources yet I did not have the slightest hint. Thanks for the enlightenment
- Great advice! I have never heard of the Razer Game Booster software. I'll have to give it a try.
- You could always get an SSD drive if you have that kind of money. Voted up!
- Interesting tricks although I guess for the most part you're suggesting tweaks to in-game information rather than actually making your PC run at a relatively faster FPS. Have you tried IObits with success?
- Control Panel, performance information tools, adjust visual effects, adjust for best performance.
- Alternately, you can use your flash drive to use it as a RAM booster. It can be used to Readyboost your PC's performance in Windows7 and Windows8.
If your laptop takes its sweet time booting up, then here are some things you can do to put a little pep back in its startup step.
Get an SSD
You can breathe new life and faster boot times into old laptops by replacing spinning hard drives (HDD) with a new solid-state drive (SSD).
Without needing to physically spin a disk to locate the data you've requested, SSDs are substantially faster than traditional HDDs. After installing an SSD, the first thing you'll notice is the speed improvement it causes when you boot up your laptop.
You'll have to open your laptop and perform a bit of surgery, but it's a basic procedure. In a nutshell, you will need to gather a few tools, clone your hard drive to the new drive, open your laptop, remove its old hard drive and then add in a SSD in its place. Here's how to upgrade your MacBook Pro with an SSD.
Note: Be sure to check with your laptop vendor or in laptop forums to make sure the SSD you choose is compatible with your laptop model. You may sacrifice some storage capacity when you move to an SSD, but prices have dropped precipitously in recent years so you may be able to afford a larger SSD than you think.
Reduce startup items
Sometimes the applications you install go ahead and include themselves among the applications that your laptop loads when it starts up. The longer that list of applications, the longer it takes to start up. Thankfully, both Windows and OS X both let you choose which applications make this list.
If you are unwilling to purchase or install an SSD, then you'll like this move because its free and easy. And if your laptop already has an SSD, then you can further shorten its boot time.
On OS X El Capitan, open System Preferences and select Users & Groups. Click on your username in the left panel and then click the Login Items tab in the right panel. To remove a program from this list, click on it and the click the '-' button.
On Windows 10, search for Task Manager and open it. Click the Startup tab and you'll see a list of programs that start automatically when Windows 10 boots. Look for programs you don't need at startup, particularly if they are listed as having a high startup impact in the right column. To stop a program from automatically running when you start Windows 10, right-click it and click Disable.
Windows: Fast startup
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For Windows 10 laptops, there's a setting called fast startup. It cuts down on startup time by creating a state between shutdown and hibernation where your system state is saved as a hibernation file, which is then loaded when you start up your laptop again. It saves Windows the trouble of reloading the kernel, drivers, and your settings. Unlike hibernation mode though, your open folders and applications are not saved with fast startup.
Fast startup is enabled by default on Windows 10, but it's worth checking to make sure it's on.
- Go to Control Panel > Hardware & Sound > Power Options.
- Click Choose what the power buttons do from the left panel.
- Click Change settings that are currently unavailable at the top of the window and scroll down to the bottom and make sure the box is checked for Turn on fast startup (recommended).
For more, read what is Window 10's fast startup?
OS X: Automatic login
This last tip is for Mac owners who have more than one user account set up. With automatic login, you bypass the login screen and log right into one of your accounts to speed the startup process along. Because this setting lets you log into OS X without needing to enter your password, automatic login is not advisable if you carry your laptop with you everywhere you go and are prone to leaving it unattended in public places. If your laptop spends most of the time safely at home, here's how to enable it.
- Open System Preferences and click Users & Groups.
- Click the lock button in the lower-left corner and enter your account password.
- Click Login Options in the left panel.
- Choose an account from from the Automatic login pull-down menu and enter the password for that account.
For more, here are 5 tips to speed up your Mac and 6 easy ways to speed up Windows 10.
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It's not just about the speed of the processor, memory, and the use of a fast Solid-State Drive on your computer that makes Windows 10 a snappy operating system. Windows 10 also relies on features and different techniques to work fast and provide quick boot times.
Fast Startup is one of the features initially made available with Windows 8.x, that combines techniques in hibernation and in the shutdown process to enable the operating system to reduce the boot time significantly.
The feature comes enabled by default on new installations. However, if you have been wondering why you're experiencing slow boot times in your Windows 10 PC. The reason could be that you have upgraded from Windows 8.1, and Fast Startup was previously turned off, or the operating system just didn't enable it during installation. Now to make your computer boot fast again, we'll show you in this Windows 10 guide the steps to enable Fast Startup on your computer.
Enabling Fast Startup in Windows 10
Follow the steps below to enable (or disable) Fast Startup in your computer running Windows 10:
- Right-click the Start button and select Power Options.
- From the left pane, click the Require a password on wakeup to access the System Settings of Power Options.
- Click the Change settings that are currently unavailable link to modify the Shutdown settings.
Note: If you see the Turn on fast startup (recommended) option is unchecked under Shutdown settings, then the feature is not enabled in your computer. - To enable Fast Startup, check the Turn on fast startup (recommended) option, and click the Save changes button to commit the changes.
Making available the Fast Startup feature
As you can see in the screenshot below, there is a chance that after following the above steps, you will find out that the Fast Startup option is not available to you, which also indicates that the feature is not enabled on your computer.
The reason is likely to be that hibernation is disabled in your Windows 10 computer, but you can enable this feature using the steps below:
- Right-click the Start button and select Command Prompt (Admin).
- Type the following command: powercfg /hibernate on and press Enter. This command will enable the hibernate feature in your computer, which is an important component of fast startup.
- Now you should be able to see the Turn on fast startup (recommended) option in the Shutdown settings.
That's all there is to it folks.
Although, Fast Startup is a great feature to make Windows 10 boot significantly faster than Windows 7, it's important to note that fast is not always a good thing depending on your system configuration and sometimes you may want to keep it turned off.
For example, Fast Startup could be the root of boot issues. It's also not recommended to enable the feature on systems with very limited hard drive space, as it may not work correctly. And if you create a data partition on a dual-boot setup running Windows 10 (or Windows 8.1), data that you try to save using another version of Windows or from another platform won't save to the partition. This setup could cause data loss as Fast Startup will try to protect the file structure of your primary system from being changed.
More resources
For more tips and tricks on Windows 10, and get the latest news, you can visit the following resources: