Windows 10 offers impressive boot times with SSDs. However, if your computer starts slow then check what is causing this problem with Windows 10. The reason for this could range from an increasing number of startup programs to malware or corrupted files. Thankfully, below are some ways to speed up Windows 10 startup.
Page Contents:
How to speed up Windows 10 startup, 7 methods
Before you begin, make sure you update your Windows 10 PC to the latest version available. The latest updates usually contain bug fixes. Next, you can read these 7 methods to make Windows 10 computer boot faster.
1. Disable Fast Startup
Contrary to its name, the Fast Startup feature could potentially increase the startup time of your Windows 10 PC. Disabling it can speed up Windows 10 startup for many. Here’s how to do it.
Step 1: Click on Start and type Control Panel in Windows Search and press Enter to open the Control Panel window. Select Power Options from the control panel.
Step 2: Go to “Choose what the power buttons do” from the left sidebar. Since you will need administrator permissions to disable fast startup, click on the text above that says “Change settings currently unavailable”.
Step 3: Finally, uncheck the “Enable fast startup (recommended)” box, followed by Save changes at the bottom.
By default, Fast Startup is enabled. After disabling the quick start option, try restarting your PC to see if this fixes the problem. If not, read on.
2. Disable programs at startup
Programs that start automatically when your PC starts up can slow down the startup of Windows 10. Therefore, it is recommended that you disable unwanted programs to speed up the startup of your Windows 10 PC.
Step 1: Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open the Task Manager window. Click the “More Details” button at the bottom and go to the Startup tab.
Step 2: Here you will find a list of programs that start automatically when your PC starts. Click on the unnecessary program and click the Disable button at the bottom.
NOTE: Avoid disabling programs you don’t recognize. Some of them may be an integral part of the Windows operating system. To be sure what that program does, right-click on it and click Search Online to find out more.
Keep repeating the same process to disable the automatic start of all unnecessary programs.
Once done, restart your PC to see that this method reduces the boot time.
3. Restore virtual memory
Windows 10 comes with a virtual memory feature that borrows memory space from your PC’s hard drive along with actual RAM to handle any unexpected load on your PC. Therefore, increasing the size of virtual memory allocated on your PC can help speed up Windows 10 startup. Here’s how.
Step 1: Click on Start, type advanced system settings in the search window and press Enter. On the Advanced tab, click Settings under Performance.
Step 2: Switch back to the Advanced tab and click Edit under “Virtual Memory”.
Step 3: Uncheck the “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives” option. Now select the main drive where your operating system is installed and choose “Custom size”.
Set the initial size to the recommended value seen below and the maximum size to 3 times the size of your RAM. If your PC has 4GB of RAM, for example (1GB = 1024MB), the maximum size should be 12,288MB. Then click OK.
4. Shut down the Linux terminal
In addition to the command prompt, Windows 10 also offers a Linux terminal. Surprisingly, it reportedly slows down the computers of many. Disabling it could fix slow startup problems.
Step 1: Press Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog box. Now type in the optional features and hit Enter.
Step 2: In the Windows Features window, scroll down and uncheck the “Windows Subsystem for Linux” box, then click OK.
Step 3: Wait for the feature to be disabled and click “Restart Now”.
As it restarts, check if the boot time is shortened or not.
5. Update video driver
If you are facing longer boot times on Windows followed by a black screen, there may be a problem with the video drivers installed on your PC. To fix it, you can try to update the video drivers by following the steps mentioned below.
Step 1: Press Windows key + X and select Device Manager from the list. Now expand “Display Cards” from the list. Then right click on the graphics card name and select “Update Driver”
Step 2: Select “Search for drivers automatically” and wait for the process to complete.
Now restart your PC to see if the problem is resolved. If not, try scanning your PC for malware or viruses.
6. Check for viruses
Doing a quick scan of your Windows PC for viruses and malware is always a good idea when your Windows PC starts slow or any other problem. If you already have an antivirus installed, use it to scan your computer. If not, you can count on built- in Windows Defender (now, Microsoft Defender) to do the job.
To run a quick scan on your PC using Windows Defender, go to Settings> Update & Security> Windows Security. Then click on “Virus and threat protection”. Right-click the “Quick Scan” button to scan your computer for viruses. When finished, restart your PC to see if the problem is resolved.
7. Reset your PC
If you’ve exhausted all your options and still haven’t been able to speed up Windows 10 startup, PC recovery may be the last option here. This will reinstall the Windows operating system and default Windows programs on your PC from scratch.
Step 1: To reset your PC, press Windows key + I to launch Settings. Then tap “Update & Security”.
Step 2: Select the Restore option on the left and under the “Restore this PC” option, click on the “Get Started” button.
Step 3: Now select the “Keep my files” option to begin the restore process without losing your files.
NOTE: PC reset will remove all third party applications, settings and utilities.
Need for speed
Slow Windows startup can be frustrating. Hopefully, one of the solutions listed above worked for you and is now back to normal startup speeds. To speed up the process further, you can try disabling the login password feature to access your desktop directly.
