Windows 8.1: How to speed up your system

Windows 8.1 is getting a little bit slower every day. You can speed up the system again by deleting old files and registry entries, cleaning up the startup folder and freeing up space on your hard drive.

Speed ​​up Windows 8.1: Clean up hard drive

The first thing you should do is uninstall programs that you no longer need and delete unnecessary files from your hard drive.

1. Open the Control Panel and click on "Programs and Features" or "Uninstall a program" if you are using the category view.
2. Now uninstall all programs that you no longer need. Click on the program for this and select "Uninstall" above.
3. Note: If you find entries whose origin you cannot assign, you should not delete them first. This could be important system data.
4. The free tool CCleaner helps you to clean up your hard drive. Install it on the computer and start it.
5. In the "Cleaner" area, click on "Analyze". The program now searches for files on your computer that are no longer required.
6. When the search is complete, click "Start CCleaner".

Check Windows 8.1 registry for errors

When you install and uninstall programs, registry entries are created. After a while the PC slows down because it has to filter out the current data between the old ones when accessing the information in the registry. The CCleaner finds entries that are no longer required and deletes them.

1. Start the CCleaner and change in the menu to the "Registry" area.
2. Click "Check for Errors" and wait for the search to finish.
3. Now go to "Troubleshoot". The entries are then removed.

Clean up startup folder in Windows 8.1

Some programs that you install create an entry in the Windows 8.1 Startup directory. The system then starts the programs each time the system is started and runs them in the background. This is often not only superfluous, it also slows down the computer.

1. Click on "Tools" in the CCleaner and select "Autostart" in the menu.
2. In the "Windows" tab you can see the programs that are started automatically.
3. Select the programs you know you don't need and click "Disable".
4. Usually less than five autostart entries are sufficient. It is important that you leave system-relevant programs activated. These include, for example, graphics card drivers, WLAN drivers and audio managers. You can usually recognize them by the name of the manufacturer (e.g. Realtek, Synaptics or Intel).

Windows 8.1: Defragment hard drive

Defragmentation will rearrange the data on your hard drive. The system can then work more efficiently again.

1. Open Explorer and click "This PC" on the left.
2. Right click on your hard drive and select "Properties".
3. Here you select the "Tools" tab and click on "Optimize". The process can take some time.

Disable virtual memory and visual effects in Windows 8.1

The system can optimize the virtual RAM if an SSD is installed in the computer. For classic hard drive (HDD) computers, you can disable virtual memory to speed up the system.

1. Right-click on "This PC" in Explorer and select "Properties".
2. Click on "Advanced System Settings" on the left and under "Performance" click on "Settings".
3. Now you can decide whether you prefer an optimal display, i.e. all visual effects or an optimal performance, and if you want to forego visual effects. You can switch individual effects on or off manually in the list.
4. In the "Advanced" tab, under "Virtual memory" click on "Change".
5. Uncheck "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives".
6. Further down, select the "No swap file" option and confirm your changes with "OK".

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In the next practical tip, we will show you how to completely reset Windows 8.1.