Is your PC slow to start-up? Then it’s time to disable start-up apps

When you load up a PC in the morning/afternoon, one thing you should notice is that it loads quickly. The modern hardware we use – including Solid State Drive (SSD) installations for our operating systems – means that our PCs should be loaded up and ready to be used in a matter of seconds. However, one thing that we tend to notice is that over time our fresh and fast PCs can make loading up an act of lethargy. Are you noticing that your PC(s) won’t load up as fast as they once did?

Then it’s time to take action and do something about it. And while hardware upgrades and PC tune-ups might make obvious sense here, it’s not the only way to help boost performance. Instead, the ideal way to start making performance boosts is to look quite simply at how your PC starts up in the first place.

To start off with, how many apps are loading up on initiation of your PC that you don’t really need? For many of us, it’s too many. Thankfully, though, you can change what loads up with your PC in a few simple clicks. How?

Making your PC quicker by disabling start-up software

Start off by making sure that your PC is just freshly on – time how long it takes your PC to boot up from pressing the button to keying in your login password. You might find that if it takes anything more than 30-45 seconds that you could make some big changes quite quickly.

So, to start off with we want you to right-click on your start bar – anywhere without an app open will do. Do this, and click on the option which says Task Manager. Once this small box loads up, inside Task Manager you should see a tab that stays Startup. Click on this box, and you’ll be given the chance to look at the various tasks which are starting up with your PC.

Naturally, you need to know what you do and do not need it. For example, do you need your music player app like Spotify to start-up on logging in? Probably not. What you do need, though, are essential processes such as:

• Sound software, such as anything to do with the sound system your PC uses.
• Security tools, including firewalls (such as Windows Defender).
• System tools, such as anything to help your CPU run smoother.
• Key essentials such as business interface tools and logins for work.

However, you will probably notice a big chunk of apps that start-up on loading your PC up that to be honest you have no need to load up immediately. We recommend that you look to change as many of these from Enable to Disable as you can without hurting PC performance.

Trial and error is often the aim of the game here, but we recommend that you leave on anything that appears tied to running or securing your system. Apps and third-party tools that you use for pleasure or entertainment, though, should be shelved. Instead, you can simply load them on-demand.

Carry this out, and you should notice a steady improvement to system performance moving forward – including swifter, simpler loading times.