If your laptop feels sluggish, you don’t need to be a technician or buy a new machine to fix it. In many cases, the biggest slowdowns come from a handful of settings, background apps, and storage issues that quietly pile up over time. The good news: you can improve laptop speed in about 15 minutes with a few targeted tweaks that deliver immediate results. This guide walks you through nine smart, safe changes—most of them built into Windows or macOS—so you can get faster startup times, snappier app launches, and smoother multitasking. Set a timer, follow along in order, and you’ll notice the difference before your coffee gets cold.
Minute 0–3: Cut the “hidden” background load
A laptop that feels slow is often doing too much behind the scenes. The fastest win for laptop speed is to reduce what launches automatically and what constantly runs in the background.
Tweak 1: Disable unnecessary startup apps (biggest quick win)
Every extra startup program competes for CPU, memory, and disk access. Disabling a few non-essential items can noticeably improve boot time and overall responsiveness.
On Windows 10/11:
1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
2. Click Startup apps (or the Startup tab).
3. Sort by “Startup impact.”
4. Right-click and Disable anything you don’t need at boot (examples: game launchers, chat clients you rarely use, update schedulers from third-party tools).
On macOS:
1. Go to System Settings (or System Preferences).
2. Open General – Login Items.
3. Remove items you don’t need to open automatically.
Good candidates to disable:
– Spotify/Steam/Epic launchers (unless you use them daily)
– Adobe/creative cloud helpers if you don’t need constant syncing
– Manufacturer “helper” utilities you never open
– Meeting apps that auto-launch (Teams, Zoom) if you prefer opening manually
Tip: Don’t disable security software or drivers (audio, touchpad, graphics). When in doubt, leave it enabled.
Tweak 2: Stop high-usage background apps and browser tabs
If your fan is loud, your laptop is warm, or everything stutters, check what’s consuming resources right now.
On Windows:
1. Open Task Manager – Processes.
2. Click CPU, Memory, or Disk to sort.
3. Close apps you recognize that you’re not actively using.
On macOS:
1. Open Activity Monitor.
2. Sort by CPU or Memory.
3. Quit resource hogs you don’t need.
Quick browser cleanup (often overlooked):
– Close unused tabs (especially video, maps, social feeds, web apps)
– Remove or disable suspicious/unneeded extensions
– Restart the browser after heavy use
A useful rule of thumb: If your browser has 30+ tabs and multiple extensions, it can act like a second operating system. Reducing that load often restores laptop speed instantly.
Minute 3–6: Reclaim RAM and reduce visual overhead
You don’t need to turn your laptop into a “basic mode” machine, but a couple of adjustments can make it feel faster—especially on older systems with 8GB RAM or less.
Tweak 3: Turn off heavy visual effects (Windows) or reduce motion (macOS)
Visual effects look nice, but they can add subtle lag on limited hardware.
Windows 10/11:
1. Press Windows key and search “Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows.”
2. Choose Adjust for best performance, or manually uncheck:
– Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
– Animations in the taskbar
– Fade or slide menus into view
– Shadows under windows (optional)
macOS:
1. System Settings – Accessibility – Display
2. Enable Reduce motion and (optionally) Reduce transparency
These changes won’t transform a modern high-end laptop, but they can noticeably sharpen responsiveness on midrange or aging machines, improving perceived laptop speed.
Tweak 4: Restart (properly) and use Sleep strategically
It sounds simple, but many “slow laptop” complaints come from weeks of uptime. Memory leaks, background processes, and driver hiccups accumulate.
Do this:
– Save your work and restart (not just Sleep)
– After restart, wait 60–90 seconds before opening everything (let background services finish)
Best practice:
– Sleep for short breaks during the day
– Restart every few days (or daily if your laptop is under heavy load)
If you want a quick metric: after restart, your RAM usage at idle should typically be much lower than after days of use. That lower baseline helps laptop speed under real multitasking.
Minute 6–10: Free up storage and speed up disk access
Storage affects more than file saving. When your disk is nearly full, updates slow down, temporary files can’t be handled efficiently, and virtual memory (paging) becomes less effective—hurting laptop speed.
Tweak 5: Clear temporary files and system junk safely
Windows:
1. Settings – System – Storage
2. Open Temporary files
3. Select safe items (commonly OK):
– Temporary files
– Delivery Optimization Files
– Recycle Bin (confirm you don’t need it)
– Thumbnails
4. Click Remove files
You can also use Microsoft’s guidance on Storage Sense: https://support.microsoft.com/windows/free-up-drive-space-in-windows-85529ccb-c365-490d-b548-831022bc9b32
macOS:
1. System Settings – General – Storage
2. Review recommendations (store in iCloud, empty trash automatically, reduce clutter)
3. Delete large unused files and old installers
Targets that often waste gigabytes:
– Old downloads (duplicate installers, ZIPs)
– Unused screen recordings
– Large video exports
– Phone backups you no longer need
Aim to keep at least 15–20% of your drive free. That headroom helps the system breathe and improves laptop speed in everyday tasks.
Tweak 6: Uninstall programs you no longer use
Unused apps don’t just occupy disk space; many add background services and update tasks.
Windows:
– Settings – Apps – Installed apps – Sort by size
– Uninstall what you haven’t used in months
macOS:
– Remove unused apps from Applications
– For apps with helpers, use the app’s uninstaller if provided
Examples of “silent slowdown” apps:
– Old VPN clients with always-on services
– Printer/scanner suites for devices you don’t own anymore
– Bundled manufacturer utilities that duplicate built-in features
If you’re unsure, search the app name plus “startup impact” or “background service” before removing.
Minute 10–13: Optimize power and performance settings
Many laptops default to balanced or power-saving modes to extend battery life. That’s great on the go, but if you’re plugged in and want better laptop speed, switch to a performance-oriented setting.
Tweak 7: Set the right power mode (Windows) or Low Power Mode (macOS)
Windows 11:
1. Settings – System – Power & battery
2. Under Power mode, choose Best performance (when plugged in)
Windows 10:
1. Settings – System – Power & sleep – Additional power settings
2. Choose High performance (if available) or adjust the slider toward performance
macOS:
1. System Settings – Battery
2. Turn off Low Power Mode when plugged in (or set it to Only on Battery)
Note: Performance modes can increase fan noise and reduce battery life. The best compromise is performance while plugged in, balanced on battery.
Tweak 8: Check for updates that fix performance bugs (not just features)
Updates aren’t only about new features—they often include driver fixes, memory optimizations, and stability improvements that affect laptop speed.
Do a quick update sweep:
– Windows Update (including optional driver updates if they’re from reputable sources)
– macOS Software Update
– Browser update (Chrome/Edge/Firefox)
– Graphics driver (especially for gaming, creative work, external monitors)
A practical approach:
– Update OS and browser first (highest impact, lowest risk)
– Only update drivers from Windows Update, your laptop manufacturer, or the GPU maker (Intel/NVIDIA/AMD)
If your laptop became slow after a recent update, check the update history and search for known issues before rolling anything back.
Minute 13–15: Prevent heat throttling and confirm results
Even if everything else is perfect, heat can crush performance. When temperatures rise, the CPU/GPU may “throttle” to protect hardware—making your system feel inexplicably slow.
Tweak 9: Improve airflow and reduce dust-related throttling
In two minutes, you can often reduce heat enough to stabilize performance:
– Place the laptop on a hard, flat surface (not a bed, blanket, or couch)
– Ensure vents aren’t blocked (especially on the bottom and sides)
– If you have compressed air, do a quick external vent blow-out (short bursts, angled, with the laptop powered off)
Quick signs you’re heat-limited:
– Fans running loudly during simple tasks
– Sudden dips in performance after 5–10 minutes of use
– Hot keyboard deck or underside
If overheating is frequent, consider a laptop stand or cooling pad. It’s one of the simplest long-term investments for consistent laptop speed.
Quick check: Verify the speed boost in 60 seconds
Confirm the improvements so you know what worked:
– Reboot time: Is the desktop usable faster?
– App launch: Open your browser and a common app (Word, Photoshop, Slack). Do they open quicker?
– Multitasking: Try a few tabs plus a video call test
– Resource baseline: Check Task Manager/Activity Monitor at idle; CPU should be low and disk activity calmer
If you still feel lag:
– You may be limited by hardware (older HDD, low RAM) or a deeper software issue
– Consider scanning for malware, upgrading to an SSD, or adding RAM if your model supports it
If you want a reputable malware scan option, Microsoft provides guidance for Windows Security here: https://support.microsoft.com/windows/stay-protected-with-windows-security-2ae0363d-0ada-c064-8b56-6a39afb6a963
Now you’ve got nine practical tweaks that can improve laptop speed quickly: trimming startup apps, closing background hogs, reducing visual overhead, restarting strategically, clearing storage clutter, uninstalling unused programs, choosing the right power mode, staying updated, and preventing thermal throttling. The best part is that these steps compound—each one reduces friction so the next one matters more.
Set a reminder to repeat the storage cleanup and startup review once a month, and your laptop will stay fast longer. If you’d like a personalized checklist based on your exact laptop model and how you use it (work, school, gaming, creative), reach out at khmuhtadin.com and I’ll help you pinpoint the highest-impact upgrades and settings.
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