Why Is My Dell Laptop So Slow? 14 Important Factors & Fixes

If your Dell laptop has started slowing down lately, then you might find yourself asking the question, why is my dell laptop so slow? There can be a number of reasons for your slow dell laptop.

Laptops do tend to lose performance over time. This can be due to the accumulation of junk files in your storage drive, or just a general degradation of the OS over time.

You can speed up your Dell laptop by implementing some tips and tricks. But before we do that, we have to understand the reasons for the slow performance of your Dell laptop.

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Reasons for slow Dell laptop

The performance degradation can occur due to a lack of maintenance of both software and hardware. Following are some of the most common reasons for a Dell laptop slowing down.

• Lots of Resource-hungry programs
• Several Startup Applications
• Unnecessary Animations
• Viruses and Malware
• Outdated Device Drivers
• Lack of free storage space
• Unwanted programs
• Lots of Temporary/Junk files
• Low Virtual Memory
• Fragmented Storage Drives
• Corrupt Operating system files
• Laptop overheating
• Slow HDD
• Low amount of RAM

How to fix Dell laptops running slow?

If you want to restore your Dell laptop to its optimum performance, then you can try a number of fixes. Software fixes can often revive a Dell laptop running slow, but sometimes you might need hardware upgrades as well to see an impact.

Most of these fixes can be done by yourself without spending any money. You don’t even need to take your laptop to a tech expert or your manufacturer’s official tech support. Best of all, you don’t even lose any data while performing these fixes.

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Software fixes to Improve Dell laptop Performance

These fixes will help you restore your Dell laptop to its optimum performance level without changing any hardware components or spending any money.

Commonly, most of these fixes fall under regular maintenance and should be done frequently to keep your Windows 10 Dell laptop at its top performance.

Let’s get started with the software fixes.

Tune System Performance

The first fix is aimed directly at users running Dell laptops. You can use the Dell SupportAssist software to optimize your system performance.

SupportAssist is a Dell service that scans for driver updates and troubleshoots any performance issues in the hardware and software of your Dell laptop. Any Dell laptop running slow can be improved by this software.

It is super easy to use Dell SupportAssist. Here’s how.

1. On Windows 10, find the Dell SupportAssist application on your laptop by searching it in the Start search bar.
2. If your laptop does not have Dell SupportAssist, you can just download it from Dell’s website.
3. Open the application, and at its home page, click the DOWN arrow.
4. You will be in the Tools section of the program.
5. Click the Run Now option under Tune Performance.
6. The software will now perform system optimization.

This is a really good way to improve performance on a Dell laptop running slow.

Free up Disk Space

Another big cause of a Dell laptop slowing down can be the lack of free disk space. If you have too many programs, files, games, pictures, videos, movies, etc. then your disk space might be close to running out.

In addition to that, there might be lots of unnecessary files that are taking up precious space. Those should be removed to speed up the hard drive or SSD of your laptop.

You can do this process manually, or you can use automatic cleaning application for it. For manually cleaning up disk space, you should go through each drive partition and delete any unnecessary files, folders, documents, games, pictures, videos, movies, etc that you don’t require.

It is recommended, however, to use an automatic application for it.

1. Search for Disk Cleanup in the Start menu search box and open it.
2. In the window, select the system drive. Click OK.
3. You will see the disk space you can free up by deleting the files listed in the box.
4. Select the files you want to delete. It is recommended to remove:

• Windows Upgrade Log Files.
• Setup Log File.
• Downloaded Program Files.
• Temporary Internet Files.
• System archived/queued Windows Error Reporting.
• Delivery Optimization Files.
• Recycle Bin.
• Temporary Windows Installation Files.
• Previous Windows installation(s).

Confirm the popup box when it prompts you. You have cleaned up the hard drive successfully. You should now have plenty of free storage space.

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Scan and Remove Malware

Viruses and Malware can ruin your laptop experience and they can be dangerous to your security as well. If your laptop has been infected with viruses or malware, it can most definitely experience a loss in performance.

Windows Defender is the default Windows protection software but it can be bypassed by many viruses. The best antivirus software to use in this case is Malwarebytes which can safeguard your Dell laptop against both malware and spyware better than Windows Defender.

Here’s how to use Malwarebytes to remove viruses or malware.

1. Download Malwarebytes from their official website.
2. Run the application.
3. Run a full system scan. You should perform a deep scan at least once a month.
4. Wait for the scan to finish. This may take a while depending on the size of your drive and its health.
5. When finished, Malwarebytes will provide you with a list of all the found viruses and malware.
6. You can then choose to quarantine and delete those viruses with the click of a button.

There, you have successfully cleaned up viruses or malware from your Dell laptop.

Optimize Windows Startup

The Windows Startup system is responsible for starting up several applications as soon as Windows boots up. This means that your laptop can suffer from severe slowdowns in the first few minutes after Windows boots up.

In order to avoid this, and to improve the general smoothness of the boot process, you can disable startup programs. Here’s how to do that.

1. Open the task manager window by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete and then selecting Task Manager.
2. When the task manager opens, click on the Startup tab. The Startup programs are listed in the Startup tab.
3. You will now see multiple programs listed in the window below.
4. Click on any program you don’t want as a startup program, and then click Disable.
5. Be sure to disable any unfamiliar programs or programs with sketchy names, as they may be adware.

After successfully disabling startup programs, your windows system will boot up much faster and smoother.

Update Device Drivers

Dell laptop users might experience slow performance from their laptops if their device drivers are outdated. This is a common problem and it can be avoided with regular maintenance.

The fix is relatively simple. You can manually update outdated device drivers too, but it is a tedious process. Our recommendation is to use an automatic program such as DriverEasy.

Here’s how to use DriverEasy.

1. Download DriverEasy from their website.
2. Run DriverEasy after installing it.
3. Click on the Scan Now button.
4. After the scan is completed, DriverEasy will display a list of outdated device drivers.
5. Download the required drivers by clicking the Update button next to the device.
6. You can then install the driver (manually if you are on the Free version, or automatically if you have the Pro version).

Your laptop drivers have been updated.

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Disable Animations

While it is not a huge drag on performance, the visual animations of Windows 10 can be a bit heavy on your RAM.

If your laptop has 2GB or 4GB of RAM, then you might consider disabling these animations to speed up the Windows 10 operating system.

Here’s how to disable unnecessary animations on your Dell computer.

1. Search for “Optimize Visual Display” in the Windows 10 Start menu search bar.
2. Open the resulting application.
3. Scroll down and find the checkbox of “Turn off all unnecessary animations (when possible)”.
4. Check this box.
5. Click Apply and then OK.

Your Windows 10 Dell laptop should minimize these animations now.

Clean Temporary/Junk files

Over time, lots of temporary and junk files can collect in your operating system, which makes your laptop run slow. These files may be a result of internet browsing, general caching, programs, games, or other applications.

You can clean these temporary/junk files and speed up your slow computer. In Windows 10, you can either manually clean up these files, or you can use an automatic cleaning application.

We recommend the CCleaner application for Windows 10 which can clean your slow computer and improve its performance quite quickly.

Here’s how to use CCleaner in Windows 10.

1. Download and Install CCleaner from their website.
2. Run the application and click Analyze.
3. Click Clean All when prompted.

Your temporary and junk files have been removed successfully. You can also use CCleaner to remove other unnecessary programs or perform a disk cleanup.

Use Restore Feature

If you have backed up your Windows system at some point in the past, then you can use the Windows restore feature to improve computer performance.

This method can be used if none of the above methods work and the laptop continues to run slow. System Restore can help you revert your computer’s system files to a previously backed up state.

You can use the Windows 10 System Restore application to perform this process. This application can be accessed by searching for System Restore in the Start Menu and following on-screen instructions.

Upgrade your Dell laptop’s hardware

If you have performed all the above-mentioned steps, and your Dell laptop is still running slow then it might be a limitation of your hardware.

There are a couple of ways to improve the performance of your laptop by upgrading the hardware. Obviously, you cannot upgrade your laptop’s processor or GPU as they are soldered onto the motherboard itself.

In most laptops, only the hard drive (storage) and the RAM (memory) are upgradeable.

Install an SSD

If your laptop experience is slow and you have to wait a long time for programs to load and for searches to complete, then it might be time to switch from a hard drive to an SSD.

An SSD (or Solid State Drive) is a modern storage device that has no moving parts. It makes use of NAND Flash packets to store data and is thus completely digital in its operation. SSDs are exponentially faster than hard drives.

An SSD can be used as an external storage device as well. However, we are not concerned with external devices today.

SSDs are also quite a bit more expensive than hard drives of the same capacity, so you should keep this in mind. Here’s how to upgrade to an SSD.

1. Purchase an SSD of the storage size you prefer.
2. Locate the storage bay of your Dell laptop by searching for teardown instructions online for your specific laptop model.
3. Remove the hard drive installed in the storage bay.
4. Replace the hard drive with the SSD.
5. Re-install the Windows OS with a bootable USB.

The SSD should exponentially speed up your boot times, program loading times, search completion times, and general speed of operations. It should also help with virtual memory utilization.

Install more RAM

If your slow Windows 10 experience still persists, then you might want to upgrade your RAM as well. The RAM of your laptop is often upgradeable, but some laptop manufacturers might make it a fixed part. Do your research before taking this leap.

If your laptop has 2GB or 4GB of RAM, then chances are you will benefit from a RAM upgrade. 8GB RAM has become the bare minimum for everyday tasks nowadays.

You have to be careful about the RAM model that you buy. It is considered best practice not to mix and match RAM sticks. If your laptop already has one RAM stick, then you should buy an identical RAM stick for the other slot in order to double the RAM capacity. This should improve your slow Windows experience.

FAQs:

Will re-installing Windows Operating System speed up my laptop?

Re-installing Windows operating system can speed up your laptop if you completely remove all programs and perform a clean install. However, this will only work if the problem was with the slow Windows itself.

If there was a hardware problem slowing down your laptop, then re-installing Windows will not help. That’s why we recommend keeping this option as a last resort.

Should I use Antivirus to speed up my laptop?

An Antivirus can speed up your laptop by removing viruses and malware that may be infecting your Windows installation. However, these programs are not always helpful.

Many Antivirus programs are filled with bloatware and unnecessary functionality which actually slows down your system. They also run in the background all the time, engaging your storage device.

Therefore, it is only recommended to use an Antivirus when you suspect a virus in your system.

Will installing more RAM make my laptop faster?

Installing more RAM can make your laptop faster but only if the problem was the amount of RAM in the first place. If your laptop has 2GB or 4GB of RAM, then yes installing additional RAM will make it faster.

However, at a certain point, it does not matter if you install another RAM stick as the programs do not saturate the amount of RAM already present.

You should get to the root of your problem first, before buying extra RAM for your laptop.