Believe it or not, your settings alone can affect how your PC performs as a whole whether it be startup or performance under load. Let’s start with the basics.
The Task Manager is Your Friend
I cannot stress this enough. The task manager will show you what processes running on your device are slowing it down. It is also a place where you can manage your startup Items. Other than Steam I have most startup items disabled as I don’t usually need those items at boot anyway.
Your Browser is Holding You Back
Yes it is true, the modern web browser is often a major weight on your system, especially Google Chrome. I love the look and feel of Google Chrome, but it can be such a RAM hog, with all the background processes I have seen it consume nearly 2.5 GB. Now for me that isn’t a big issue as I have 32GB of RAM, but for other users that is a huge issue.
As far as mainstream browsers go there aren’t a whole lot of options as each of them have their downsides and for users who need a lot of features you may just have to deal with it for now.
Although the above infographic isn’t entirely true. There are other options that range from feature rich to barebones basic.
If you are looking for a fast browser that still has all the features you need then Midori is the way to go. As an added bonus Midori is also open-source, and if you have read some of my previous articles then you know this writer is all about open-source.
On the opposite end of the spectrum you have Lynx. Lynx is a text-based web browser, which means, well it is all text.
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There are other options out there that you can find pretty easily with a little bit or searching, but if you just can’t give up your old browser, I might be able to help you tame the beast in a future Spring Cleaning article.
Antivirus Slows You Down
As I have expressed before, antivirus is a waste. Even the better antivirus software are still taxing on your machine, not to mention they can’t stop all threats. As a matter of fact, as long as you keep your machine up to date and practice safe browsing habits, Windows Defender does a great job of warding off threats.
Bonus: OS Options
For the past few years Windows has reigned supreme in the world of desktops for both business and home use. This has caused them to get a bit lazy in terms of system optimization. Over the years Windows has become quite bloated for a number of reasons that I won’t be going into depth at this time. There are other options out there that take up less disc space and use much less system resources. I am talking about Linux of course.
Now I am not trying to convert all of you to Linux. I myself am a gamer and a Linux user, and Linux is growing quite quickly in the gaming community.
If there is a large enough interest I will write an article about the pros and cons of using Linux when it comes to gaming. Let me know what you think in the comments below.
Side Note: I’m considering branching Spring Cleaning into two groups. One group will be classic Spring Cleaning where I tell you guys/gals ways to clean up your existing install to run more efficiently. The other I will do monthly where I advise different upgrades for your PCs and tutorials for installations like RAID. Let me know what you think.
Matt Followell is another contributing author here at DSOGaming. A long time fan of PC Gaming and a huge supporter of the open source and homebrew movement. You’ll see him interacting with the community from time to time going by the user-name of Radapples.
Contact: Email