Gadgetory

what's up guys welcome back to the channel the topic we're discussing today caters mostly to the mainstream Windows PC users so while it may be common knowledge to some of you if not most of you I feel like this video needs to be made because there are so many people out there who buy a snappy new desktop or notebook and still wonder why it runs like a potato one year later so assuming your hardware isn't the bottleneck assuming it's a newish computer that leaves your software as the main culprit behind these sluggish woes viruses and other malware may be the first offenders that come to mind and they certainly can be but to be honest most of the slow computers I've encountered over the years are plagued less by malicious code than they are with bundled software antivirus programs and other trusted applications so let's talk about why this happens how to fix it and how to prevent it from happening in the future so kicking things off it's no surprise that the age-old problem of malware has led to the mass appeal of antivirus programs for decades however depending on the software these protective applications can actually bring your system to a crawl just like the viruses they attack by periodically scanning and updating in the background antivirus programs can significantly drain your system resources causing slowdowns when you're busy doing other tasks for optimal performance it's generally a good idea to schedule your scans late at night or during a time when you won't be using your PC if your software lacks a scheduling feature you may consider upgrading to a paid version that allows it or finding a different program altogether a seemingly audacious alternative is to not have an AV program at all I know it sounds like crazy talk to have your system quote-unquote unprotected but simple safe browsing habits are the best defense against contracting a virus red flags to avoid include untrusted downloads links and unknown emails and pop-up advertisements keeping your distance from these is relatively easy to do and that's what's kept my own personal computer infection free for nearly two years without the aid of any security software so with an AV program no longer slowing you down you may still have additional software running in the background impeding performance typically when you boot up a new computer for the very first time only a few essential programs and process are running to keep your system functioning properly as you install more and more programs over time however some of them continue running invisibly in the background 24/7 even after restarting your computer and eventually you could have dozens of them running simultaneously which will eat away at your system memory and bog down the overall snappiness of your PC the first step to curbing this is to do a little spring cleaning and uninstall any unwanted programs that you can live without if applicable this also includes bloatware programs that come pre-loaded on your computer by the manufacturer that are more often than not heaping piles of ram eating garbage since some bloat ware is protected from conventional uninstallation methods you may or may not need to Google the program in search for bloat where removal guides for your specific model of PC to remove most other applications Windows 7 users can start by accessing the control panel through the Start menu or from searching for it in the search box windows 8 and 10 users can hit the windows and X keys together and select control panel from the pop up menu from the control panel window select uninstall a program to open the list of your installed applications now before you get trigger-happy there are certain programs you should not uninstall or else your PC may not work properly these include applications from companies such as Microsoft Intel AMD and NVIDIA you can click publisher at the top of the publisher column to make these vital programs easier to spot when ready left-click the app you wish to remove click uninstall and follow the prompt until the application has been removed successfully repeating this process for all other unwanted programs now that you've cleaned up your software list there's still a fair chance that some of your remaining programs have elected themselves to start up automatically whenever you turn on your computer so next you'll have to disable these startup programs manually in Windows 7 click the start button and type MS config.php in the search box and hit enter once the system configuration window opens select the startup tab and uncheck all the boxes next to the programs you wish to prevent starting up with Windows do this for as many applications as you see fit and think logically do you really need Skype or Spotify to start every time you boot your computer probably not if you're on the fence about disabling something you don't recognize Google what it does and decide for yourself click OK once you're satisfied with your selection and restart your system for the changes to take effect or click exit without restart if you're not ready to reboot in Windows 8 and 10 the list of startup applications is found in your task manager which you can bring up by hitting ctrl shift escape after clicking the startup tab you can disable an app from starting with Windows by right-clicking it and selecting disable once you've trimmed down your number of startup programs close the task manager window and your changes will take effect the next time you restart your system so by now your PC should feel a bit quicker on its toes depending on how many resources you just freed up but unless you start changing the way you install programs from here on out you will inevitably fall back into the same slow nightmare before you know it and not having the information I'm about to share with you in my opinion is the number one cause of why Windows users report slowdowns on their relatively new PCs so here's the deal many of the programs that we all download these days are completely free to turn a profit the developers of these programs often bundle their software with third-party programs that pay them for a chance to be installed on your computer rarely ever these bundled programs needed to make your desired software run properly and in fact they can even take the form of spyware or adware collecting and sending your private information to an untrusted source these applications sneakily hide in the Installer of the parent program you actually want so if you've ever noticed an application running that you don't recall installing or a strange new toolbar on your web browser it's likely that in the flurry of clicking through some installer in the past you actually agreed to have that put on your computer so the next time you install a program refrain from blindly clicking next agree or accept at every turn and instead take your time to check each page for any bundled software these can be hard to spot and some installers can contain multiple intrusive programs when you're given the option to climb the offer or uncheck the box to keep it off your system and if you're unsure if the app in question is vital to making your program run properly google it a minute or two of research can save you hours of frustration later on and to be frank following the steps and advice in this video is by no means a magic bullet to making your system run like it did on day one that's when a clean install of Windows may be in order but hopefully following this guide will leave you with more so resources at your disposal and a greater awareness on how to prevent software from hampering your user experience moving forward so if you found this video helpful don't forget to toss me a like down below and feel free to subscribe to the channel for more tech stuff if you haven't already as always I'm Kyla bed with thank you all for watching and I'll see you guys in the next video