Any you think of Windows 8 (at MakeUseOf, our opinions are mixed), it'south certainly speedy. Windows 8 boots faster than previous versions of Windows, has lower memory usage, and has a desktop that feels nice and snappy. Like all versions of Windows, Windows viii has a variety of settings yous tin can tweak to speed things up and make it fifty-fifty faster. Yous can learn a whole lot about tweaking the Os in our Windows 8 guide.

Some of the tips here also apply to previous versions of Windows, simply Windows 8 has some new tricks up its sleeve. Every bit always, there are merchandise-offs when using some of the beneath tricks – there's no magic "Become Faster" button.

Disable Time-Wasting Animations

Windows 8 (and Windows 7) display animations when you minimize, maximize, open, or close application windows. The animations are slick eye-candy, but they do introduce a filibuster. Y'all can disable the animations and window transitions will happen instantly, eliminating the delay.

To disable the animations, press the Windows key, type SystemPerformanceProperties, and printing Enter. Uncheck the Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing pick. You may also want to disable some of the other animations, such as the Fade or slide menus into view and Fade or slide ToolTips into view. This will brand menus and tooltips snap to attention instead of fading in with an animation.

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Pinpoint Apps Using Lots of Resources

Windows 8's new task manager allows you to easily pinpoint the programs slowing down your computer. To open up the Chore Manager, correct-click the desktop taskbar and select Chore Manager.  Click the More details option if you don't see the total interface.

Applications using a lot of resources will be highlighted, making it easy to see which programs are using up your computer'due south resources. This list also shows a simplified listing of applications, which is easier to understand and skim than the sometime-style processes listing (if y'all adopt the old-style process list, it'south even so available on the Details tab).

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Manage Your Startup Programs

The Windows Task Manager now allows you to easily disable programs that start with your computer. Click the Startup tab in the Task Manager to access these options.

Windows also analyzes how long each program takes to start and displays this data in the Startup impact column. Select a programme and click Disable to forestall it from starting with Windows, speeding upwards your startup process.

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Employ Included Security Programs

Instead of installing 3rd-party security suites that often slow down your estimator, try using the included security applications. Windows at present includes an antivirus – while it's named Windows Defender, it's basically the same as the pop Microsoft Security Essentials application.

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Windows viii also includes a SmartScreen feature, which analyzes how trustworthy programs you download are. As in previous versions of Windows, Windows also includes a firewall that blocks incoming connections. If y'all want more settings and options, you may desire to install a third-political party security suite – just most users will observe that Windows 8'southward included security programs are finally complete enough to rely on.

Change Power Settings

Windows 8 uses power plans to determine whether bombardment life or performance should be prioritized, merely equally previous versions of Windows practise. To view your power programme settings, printing the Windows fundamental, type Ability Plan, click Settings, and press Enter.

In the default Balanced style, Windows automatically reduces your CPU's speed when maximize speed isn't needed. This saves power. To squeeze all the performance you tin out of your hardware, you may want to try High performance instead. In High functioning mode, your CPU'due south speed is never reduced. It runs at full speed all the fourth dimension.

Even so, this isn't necessarily a good matter. Even high-performance gaming PCs are used for web browsing some of the time and it doesn't make sense to run the CPU at full throttle while browsing the spider web. This just wastes power and generates boosted heat.

Whichever plan you lot choose, make sure you aren't using Power saver. This is only useful if y'all want to clasp every bit much battery life out of your laptop every bit possible.

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Put Your Estimator to Sleep

One of Windows 8'southward most controversial aspects is the mode information technology buries the Shut Down option in a hidden menu. Microsoft wants to encourage you to use Sleep style instead of shutting down your computer. When you use Sleep, your reckoner goes into a very low-ability state that uses only enough power to keep your programs and open up files active in your figurer's RAM. When you lot come up back to your computer, it volition resume from slumber virtually immediately. Using Sleep instead of Shut Downwardly can dramatically speed things up when y'all sit downwards at your estimator.

You'll observe a Sleep selection under the ability button in the Settings charm. (Press Windows Key+C, click Settings, click Power, and select Sleep). Your computer's power push button may as well be configured to employ Sleep automatically. You tin can change this choice by clicking the Choose what the power buttons exercise option in the Power Options window mentioned to a higher place.

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Optimize Your Difficult Drives

Windows 8 includes the standard Disk Defragmenter, now named the Optimize Drives tool. To admission it, printing the Windows key, blazon Defragment, click Settings, and press Enter. Note that Windows 8 automatically optimizes (defragments) your drive once per week past default. However, if you move a lot of files effectually, you may want to optimize your drives sooner.

Equally on previous versions of Windows, click the Clarify push button to run into exactly how fragmented your file systems are.

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Control Windows Indexing

The Windows indexing service automatically scans the files on your reckoner and monitors them for changes, allowing you to quickly search for files without waiting. Indexing uses some CPU time (and uses more CPU time if you ofttimes change a lot of files) then disabling information technology tin aid you reduce CPU usage.

Behave in listen that indexing speeds upward searches. If you lot regularly use the Files search feature on the Start screen or the search feature inside Windows Explorer, you won't desire to disable indexing. You should merely disable indexing if you don't use the search characteristic.

To disable Windows Search, press Beginning, type services.msc, and printing Enter. Roll down in the list, locate the Windows Search service, correct-click information technology and select Properties.

windows-search-service

Set the Startup type box to Disabled, click the Finish button to terminate the service, and click OK.

windows-search-service-properties

Instead of disabling the indexing service entirely, y'all may too want to control which folders Windows Search indexes. By default, information technology indexes your Users folders. if yous take some folders full of files y'all don't want to search, especially ones that oft change, y'all may want to exclude these folders from beingness indexed. To control these settings, printing the Windows key, type Indexing, click Settings, and printing Enter.

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For more information about Windows 8, be sure to download our free guide to Windows 8.

Do you have any other tips for improving Windows eight'south functioning? Exit a comment and share them!

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