Maintenance  

 If your system is running slow, there are things you can do that may help speed your system up

CAUTION: Some of the procedures listed is not designed to harm your system or cause issues. However because of hardware or software issues that you may have, it can amplify the issue. For example, if your hard drive is failing, you may still be able to access your files. When you run the hard drive diagnostics, the drive may completely fail and you won't be able to access your files then. That is because the test puts a heavier load on the drive to test it. Please back up your important files before running these steps. For information on backing up, click here.

Do the following to check your system

1. Update and run your anti-virus software

2. Run Malwarebytes

3. Check motherboard for swollen caps

4. Check amount of memory

   1. If you do not have enough memory, it can slow the system down. Here is information on memory

5. Check amount of free space on hard drive

   1. If you are low on free space, it can make your system run slow

6. Run Defrag

7. Run CHKDSK /R

8. Run Disk Cleanup

9. Limit MSCONFIG

10. Run Hard Drive Diagnostics

11. Run Windows Update

12. Check for newer drivers for your hardware

If you are still having issues, you may need to erase and reinstall your operating system. If you do this step, be sure to back up your files (on a different device than your hard drive)