Why is my laptop so slow?

Question

I have a laptop that is only about a year old, but I’m finding it to be unbearably slow. Everyone is just telling me to buy a new one, but considering how much this one cost me, I feel like I should get more than one year of use out of it. But honestly, it’s currently so slow I just can’t use it for work or for studying, which makes it more or less useless. Please help! Why is my laptop so slow?

Answer 1

You buy a new laptop and everything is fantastic. You’re so excited about its many functions, the multiple ways it can make your life easier, the gleaming potential you hold in your hands…and then one day you realize that the honeymoon is well and truly over. “Why is my laptop so slow?” you find yourself asking. But, did you know that there are ways you can make your laptop faster again? One of the first things you should do is check for unnecessary programs that could be running in the background and delete anything you don’t actually need. Be ruthless! Remember to use the ‘Uninstall’ feature as well; don’t just delete the shortcut from your desktop.

Once you’ve deleted all the junk, another way to make your laptop faster is to make sure you have installed up-to-date anti-virus software that is scheduled to run regular virus checks (deleting any nasty bugs that may have infiltrated your system).

Finally, if your Desktop looks cluttered, then it could be the reason why your laptop is slow – items saved on the Desktop create more work for your laptop, so move all non-essential items into a separate file.

Answer 2

It may sound strange, but cosmetic options could be one of the things slowing your computer down. If you’re wondering “why is my laptop so slow?”, then try disabling a function known as Windows Aero. Most people won’t be familiar with Aero, but it is responsible for smoothing out the edges of your screen (making them fade away into semi-transparent-ness). Aero looks good, but if your system is already a bit sluggish then Aero will be needlessly slowing it down even further. To disable Aero just right click on the Desktop and select either ‘Properties’ (for older laptops) or ‘Personalize’. Then change your computer theme back to ‘Windows Classic’. For the record, Microsoft stopped using Aero as the default setting from Windows 8 onwards, so this information would only apply to Windows 7 or Vista.