Did you know that one of the top complaints of PC users to experts that sell electronics is the painstakingly slow performance of their PC? And if you’ve been a PC user for years, then you could probably attest to the fact that it happens even to the best of us – you wake up one day and realize that even the simplest tasks on your PC eats up so much time.

Of course, problems like these do not always go away in an instant. This isn’t one of those moments when all you have to do is reboot and have another go at it. This time, there’s so much more to be done to get your PC to speed up again.

 Check on running programs that use up so much resources.

A quick look at your Task Manager (accessible by hitting Ctrl + Shift + Esc) will immediately tell you if one of your programs has been dragging the entire CPU down. Although you may choose to click on ‘End Task’ to force these programs to close, you can also opt to close these programs the regular way. If you’re using Windows 8 and anything newer, you would also notice that the system automatically highlights the programs that eat up too much resources.

 Check your system tray programs.

Aside from the Task Manager, you could also check on your System Tray and look at the icons there. Is anything out of the ordinary? Is there a specific program that you see running even when it’s not supposed to? Those could be dragging the rest of your system down. Quit the programs as needed.

 Disable startup programs.

If you notice that your PC is already performing slowly right from the boot process, then there’s a huge chance that one of the startup programs is weighing it down. Disable startup programs that are not essential through your Task Manager.

 Reduce your animations.

Hit the Windows Key + X and look for System. Click on Advanced System Settings found on the left panel and look for the Setting button under Performance in the main panel. When you choose the option that says ‘adjust for best performance’, you automatically disable all animations that slow your system down.

 Make your web browser lighter.

If you have multiple extensions and add-ons on your browser, they could all cause your entire system to slow down. Choose only the ones that you need and disable the rest. You can easily see this through your browser’s settings under its add-ons and extensions manager.

 Free up some disk space.

You may also want to consider checking just how much junk you’ve accumulated over the entire course of time that you were using your PC. There’s sure to be a lot of stuff that you don’t need anymore, and it could be time to delete them. You can also backup your files using an external drive and other storage options to lighten up your PC’s load.

 Check your system for adware or malware.

If your PC contracted a malicious software through any of your downloads or links that you clicked on, then this could also be a culprit. Make use of your antivirus program and scan the entire system for any suspicious activity.

Once you’ve got all these bases covered, you would hopefully be able to speed things up a little bit.Otherwise, you may want to check on how long your PC has been with you. It may be telling you that it’s already looking for a replacement.