If you’ve read “How to Fix a Slow Computer 101” you can be confident your computer is virus-free. But what do you do if your computer is still slow? In the second part of our ‘How to Fix a Slow Computer’ series, we’ll show you slow computer fixes for a slow, cluttered computer.

To read the other parts of our slow computer series, click the links below!

Slow Computer 101 – Speeding up a Virus-Clogged Computer
Slow Computer 303 – Operating System Slowing You Down?

Is your computer slow to start up, or has a slower performance in general? It might be caused by an excessive number of computer files and programs! Here are some ways you can cut out the digital clutter to speed up your slow computer.

How Can Digital Clutter Cause a Slow Computer?

Digital clutter comes in many forms, but most commonly they’re the files and programs you install on your computer’s hard drive. Over time they can become corrupted or overloaded and slow down your computer significantly.

Some computers come pre-installed with bloatware, which are applications that you may not use but are on your computer anyway because the manufacturer put them there.

Corrupted data and files can also cause a computer to slow down. This could be the result of bugs in your operating system, corrupted RAM data, and power surges.

Besides digital clutter, outdated hardware can also slow down your computer’s performance. With software getting more powerful each day, you’ll need respective hardware to match and run new software.

Slow Computer Fix 1 – Reduce Clutter

Similar to how you’d clear clutter from your living space, your digital space also requires a deep clean every once in a while.

Below are some ways you can get rid of unwanted digital files and programs as a slow computer fix.

Disk Cleanup

We recommend doing a disk cleanup as the first step. This function is built-in on most Windows computers and is also known as a Check Disk or chkdsk for computer coders.

When you run a disk cleanup, you are essentially scanning your entire hard drive to find and fix errors on it. It’s important to note that a disk cleanup takes a while to complete but can help prevent problems with data loss and slow computer issues in the long run.

Check out our article for instructions on how to run a disk cleanup on computers with Windows XP through Windows 10!

Getting Rid of Excess Programs

Unwanted programs can take up precious space making a computer slow to start up. Often, these unwanted programs come pre-installed onto your computer by the manufacturer.

You can uninstall these unwanted programs easily. Check out this short 2-minute video for a quick tutorial on how you can uninstall programs on Windows 10 to speed up a slow computer.

Similarly, you can also delete any excess or unused files from your computer by simply dragging them into your recycling bin and then emptying out the recycling bin afterward.

But what happens if you don’t want to remove any files or programs? No problem! We suggest moving less-used data, like your tax programs and other less-used files, into cloud storage or onto an external hard drive, similar to how you’d back them up.

That way, you can remove them from your computer so they don’t take up valuable space when they are not needed. You’ll only need to take them out of the cloud or external storage when you need to access them, like during tax season.

Slow Computer Fix 2 – Defrag Your Hard Drive

Defrag is short for de-fragmenting which is a process that helps your computer run faster. When you use your computer, the hard drive gets fragmented over time, meaning your files and programs are scattered around different places on the hard drive.

When this happens, it will take longer for your computer to retrieve a file or program because it needs to locate each piece of the information first.

When you defrag your hard drive, all the different parts of your files are put back together, making it faster for your computer to access them. You need to defrag your hard drive periodically as part of your computer’s maintenance procedures. You can do this by following Microsoft’s helpful guide here.

However, do note that if you have recently upgraded your hard drive to the faster SSD version, you generally do not need to defrag it. But if you would still like to, check out this article for more information.

Slow Computer Fix 3 -Use a Cleanup Software

For those not as tech-savvy, we recommend automating this defragmenting and clean-up process with software such as System Mechanic.

On older hard drives, System Mechanic can defrag the hard drive to speed things up. On the new SSD drives, use System Mechanic’s SSD Accelerator tool to help maintain your SSD drive’s speedy performance and speed up a slow computer!

FixMeTip – System Mechanic is a one-click software that has tons of built-in tools to clean out the clutter on your computer, free up extra RAM, and remove excess startup programs to speed up your computer and keep it stable and clutter-free.

We love System Mechanic because it’s an easy way to stop frustrating errors, crashes, and freezes by clearing junk from your PC to make it work noticeably better. Use System Mechanic once a month on all your home PCs with our one-year license!

For a limited time receive an exclusive discount on System Mechanic because you’re a FixMeStick subscriber. Restore your PC’s speed and love your computer again — CLICK HERE!

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What are some things that you do to prevent clutter from slowing down your computer? Share your tips with us in the comment section below.