It is always unpleasant when a laptop starts to “get tired”: it takes longer to boot, and it works slower. This can happen to any laptop, new or old, running Windows or macOS. First, you need to figure out – why does the laptop slow down and what to do?
Most Common Causes Of Laptop Lag
Laptop performance is affected by many different factors. The causes of freezing can be divided into two broad categories: software and hardware. The following common problems are associated with the software:
- Hard drive full
- Too many applications in the background
- Incorrect entries in the Windows registry
- Missing or incorrect drivers
- The presence of viruses or other malware
Often the laptop slows down for hardware-related reasons:
- The hardware is outdated or damaged
- Not enough RAM
- Overheat
Let’s take a closer look at some of the problems that affect the speed of the laptop.
Overflowing Storage
For system performance, you need free space on your system drive. Free disk space is used to store temporary system files and various applications. It is also used to create a system swap file and fragment files.
When there is critically little space left on the system disk, the speed of the laptop is noticeably reduced. For correct operation, it is recommended to leave at least 15% free on the HDD and about 10-25% on the SSD. It does not matter if you have a laptop with high storage, such as the Huawei d14 i5, you should not overload it with useless applications.
System Problems
Drivers are responsible for the correct operation of the laptop. These are programs that control various hardware components of the device. The lack of performance may be due to the use of outdated driver versions.
The reverse situation also happens – sometimes, after updating the driver, they start to work incorrectly. For example, if the system automatically selects and installs not “native”, but simply compatible drivers. This situation happens more often with Windows 7, and much less often with Windows 8 or 10. This can lead to a variety of violations of the stable operation of the laptop.
Viruses
Malicious software is a real scourge for Windows users. macOS is also not completely immune from a virus attack, but the likelihood of such an event is still much lower. Virus programs “eat off” resources and disrupt the system.
The system may “freeze” because of the antivirus. More precisely, because two simultaneously installed anti-virus programs that conflict with each other. An exception may be the built-in Windows 10 Defender, which peacefully coexists with other antiviruses.
Do-It-Yourself Troubleshooting Tips
Here are some DIY tips:
- Free up some space: Software-related performance issues are usually easy to fix on your own. The easiest way to deal with the lack of free space. If personal data is stored on the system drive, it should be reviewed regularly. If possible, some of the information should be transferred to other media – for example, external drives or cloud storage.
- Remove unused programs: In order not to lose precious gigabytes, you should regularly remove unused programs. And from time to time it is necessary to clean the disk from temporary and unnecessary files.
- Check Drivers: To check the drivers, Windows users need to go to the “Computer Management” – “Device Manager” section. In the list of equipment, you can find the component of interest, find out the version of its driver, and make sure that it is working properly.
- Know About Installation Features: Before performing any actions with drivers, you should learn more about their purpose and installation features. An inexperienced user runs the risk of making an error during installation or accidentally removing the required driver. And this threatens the loss of system performance.
- Install Antivirus Program: One of the most popular answers is to check the system for viruses. In many cases, the strange behavior of the system is due to the action of malware. The solution is to install a reliable antivirus and regularly update the antivirus database.
