PC slow? With these tips, the laptop will be afloat again

You can use the SD card or a USB stick to check whether you can activate the ReadyBoost function. The storage space of the removable disk is used to expand the cache of the hard disk. This is especially beneficial for systems that have little memory. In addition, you can only use ReadyBoost if your laptop uses a mechanical hard drive (HDD).

In order to use ReadyBoost, the removable disk must have at least 500 megabytes of storage capacity. To activate the function, proceed as follows:

• Insert the USB stick or memory card into the computer.
• Open the file explorer. To do this, right-click on the Windows icon at the bottom left and select “Explorer“.
• Find the removable disk in the list on the left, click on the icon with the right mouse button and select “Property“.
• Click on the tab “ReadyBoost“. If you are able to use the function, follow the instructions on the screen.

Windows 10 offers the option to automatically free up disk space. As a result, users no longer have to empty the trash themselves or manually delete temporary files, for example. Activate the option “Storage optimization“. This can be found in the settings. To enter the function, press the Windows key and type “Storage optimization” a. The menu should now appear for calling. Otherwise, proceed as follows:

• Press the Windows key or click on the Windows icon in the taskbar (usually at the bottom left).
• Press the gear icon, which opens the Windows settings.
• Click on “System“.
• Find the menu “Memory“. Click on it.
• Here Windows offers the option “Storage optimization“. Activate the setting.

In the menu “Change the automatic release of storage space” you can set which files Windows should delete and when.

Alternatively, you can click on “Free up storage space now“, have certain files deleted immediately. Caution: There may be files of the previous version of Windows. These can occupy several gigabytes of memory. Windows keeps these files for some time so that users can return to the previous version. Delete these files only if you want to keep the current version of Windows.

To reduce the access time to files, it helps to defragment the hard drive. The system rearranges data blocks. This leads to the fact that contiguous, but fragmented files are ordered together again. The computer finds the files in one place and not spread over several – this reduces the access time.

However, defragmenting a drive is only advisable for HDDs. With so-called SSDs, you should avoid it. Read more about SSDs here. To defragment your drive on Windows 10, do the following:

• Press the Windows key or click on the Windows icon in the taskbar (usually at the bottom left).
• Press the gear icon, which opens the Windows settings.
• Enter in the search above “Defragment” a. The option appears:”Defragment and optimize drives“. Click on it.
• The system now shows all connected drives. The type (HDD or SSD) is also visible. With the option “Optimize“, you can defragment it immediately. In Settings, you can also specify whether and how often a drive should be “optimized”.

Another option: reduce graphical effects of Windows. This can help if the system reacts slowly – for example, if you click on something or move a window. This is reported by “heise online”. To reduce the visual effects, proceed as follows:

• Press the “Windows Key” and “R“.
• The window opens “Run“. Type the command here “Sysdm.cpl” a.
• The window opens “System properties“. Click on the tab “Expands“.
• Under the point “Performance” click “Setting“.

Windows offers the options to optimize the visual effects for display or performance. You can also turn the effects on or off yourself.