How to Fix Your Slow Laptop Without Buying a New One

Remember when you first got your laptop? That magical moment when everything loaded instantly, programs snapped open, and you could run multiple apps without hearing the fan desperately gasping for air? Then one day you realize your once-zippy machine now takes 5 minutes just to open Chrome. And now, you’re wondering how to fix your slow laptop and make it as fast as it was.

Laptops slow down. All of them. Even expensive ones. But that doesn’t mean you need to drop another thousand bucks on a replacement just yet. Most sluggish performance issues can be fixed without any technical wizardry or expensive parts.

How to Fix Your Slow Laptop? Restart Your Computer Properly

OK so this sounds ridiculously simple. But seriously, when was the last time you actually turned your laptop completely off? Most people just close the lid and put it to sleep for weeks on end.

Modern operating systems accumulate all kinds of digital crud over time. Memory leaks pile up. Background processes multiply. Temporary files grow not-so-temporary.

Don’t just restart—do a complete shutdown. On Windows, hold Shift while clicking Shutdown to ensure a full clean boot rather than the hybrid shutdown that Windows uses by default (which doesn’t fully clear everything).

For Macs, go to Apple menu → Restart rather than just closing the lid. This clears out RAM and terminated runaway processes that might be hogging resources.

Try this first before anything else. You’d be shocked how often this five-minute fix solves performance issues that seemed serious enough to warrant a new computer purchase.

Clean Up Your Startup Programs

Your laptop might be plenty powerful—it’s just busy doing too many things you don’t need. Every program that automatically launches when you turn on your computer steals resources and slows boot time. Here is hoe to fix your slow laptop.

On Windows:

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager
2. Click the “Startup” tab
3. Look at the “Startup impact” column
4. Disable anything marked “High” that you don’t absolutely need

On Mac:

1. Apple menu → System Preferences → Users & Groups
2. Click your username, then “Login Items”
3. Select programs you don’t need running automatically and click the minus button

The worst offenders? Adobe Creative Cloud, Spotify, Steam, and basically anything that puts an icon in your system tray or menu bar. Most of these programs don’t need to run constantly—just open them when you actually need them.

You don’t need to uninstall these programs. Just stop them from launching automatically every time you boot up. This alone can cut startup times in half.

Free Up Storage Space (The 70% Rule)

Hard drives and SSDs dramatically slow down when they get too full. The magic number? Keep at least 30% of your storage space free at all times. This is a very key step on how to fix your slow laptop.

First, find what’s eating your space:

On Windows:

1. Settings → System → Storage
2. Click on the main drive (usually C:)
3. Look for the biggest space hogs

On Mac:

1. Apple menu → About This Mac → Storage → Manage
2. Review the recommendations and categories

The usual suspects hogging your storage:

• Downloaded files you’ve forgotten about
• Movies, TV shows, and huge video files
• Photos (especially if automatically synced from phones)
• Games you no longer play
• Old backups and installation files

Don’t just delete everything though—move photos, videos, and important documents to external storage or cloud services. For truly important files, follow the 3-2-1 backup rule: 3 copies, 2 different media types, 1 offsite.

Once you’ve cleared space, run your built-in disk cleanup tools:

• Windows: Search for “Disk Cleanup”
• Mac: Apple menu → About This Mac → Storage → Manage → Recommendations

Check What’s Secretly Running (And Hogging Resources)

Something is probably eating your CPU, memory, or disk resources right now without you realizing it. Knowing what it is will show you how to fix your slow laptop.

On Windows:

1. Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager
2. Click “More details” if in simple view
3. Sort by CPU, Memory, or Disk usage
4. Look for anything using high percentages

On Mac:

1. Open Activity Monitor (find in Applications → Utilities)
2. Look at the CPU, Memory, and Disk tabs
3. Sort by % CPU or Memory used

Common resource hogs include:

• Chrome or other browsers with too many tabs open
• Antivirus programs during scans
• Synchronization tools (Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.)
• Background updaters
• Search indexing
• Bloated security suites

For browsers specifically, extensions can cause major slowdowns. Review and remove any you don’t absolutely need. Each active extension uses memory even when you’re not directly using it.

Update, Update, Update (But Carefully)

Outdated drivers and operating systems cause performance problems, weird glitches, and compatibility issues. BUT—and this is important—don’t just blindly update everything at once.