If you have been using your PC or laptop for several years, it may become slow. Over the years you may have installed many programs that you no longer use. Even though you may have uninstalled the software, there are often remnants left over and that could be one of the reasons your PC or laptop is slowing down. That's why it pays to clean your computer every once in a while. We're going to clean your PC by removing bloatware, doing scans and more.
Tip 01: Clear Bloatware
As soon as you buy a new computer or laptop, it usually contains all kinds of pre-installed applications. To make matters worse, they often start up simultaneously with Windows, which means that your PC has to do extra calculations. Think, for example, of (a trial version of) a virus scanner, burning program, toolbar or auxiliary tool for energy management. This unsolicited junk is also known as bloatware. In practice, such programs remain on the computer for years to come. In Windows 10 you can easily see which programs you have not added yourself and which you might want to delete. From the Start menu, open the item Institutions. Go to System / Apps & Features and choose Sort by installation date. The programs that have been on your PC the longest can be found at the bottom. Select a program you want to delete and choose twice remove. By the way, only delete applications of which you know the meaning.
Create restore point
Especially when you use utilities to uninstall software packages, it is wise to create a restore point beforehand. If the system no longer works properly after a (too) thorough cleanup, you can easily return to the old situation. Open the search function in Windows 10 and type the keyword Restore point. Then choose in the overview Anrestore pointto make. If necessary, click successively Configure and System Securityswitch. Then confirm with OK. Through To make add a description to the restore point. Finally, confirm with To make.
Is something bloatware or not? The Should I Remove It program can tell you in great detail Tip 02: Should I Remove It?
Sometimes it is difficult to estimate the extent to which you are dealing with unnecessary bloatware. For the same money, for example, you delete an important driver, so that certain hardware may no longer function. It is therefore important to know whether you can erase the program without any worries. The free program Should I Remove It? (the name says it all!) answers such questions. You download the program here. After installation, start the program immediately. An overview of all available programs appears on the screen. You can see exactly what percentage of users label a particular application as unwanted bloatware. You can more or less blindly remove the programs with a red marking. Click on it and confirm with Uninstall. If you want to know more information first, choose what is it?. Your browser opens with a web page explaining the function of the program. This information is, however, in English.
Tip 03: BCU installer
If you want to clear a lot of large programs, it's quite a time-consuming job. In addition, all kinds of residues often remain on the system disk and in the registry. The BCUinstaller program can delete several applications at the same time and checks afterwards whether all remnants have disappeared. Surf here to download the program. You can choose from a standard installation and a portable version. The latter option is useful, for example, for use on a USB stick. In any case, it does not matter for the operation. Make a choice and click Next. After you accept the license terms, go through the remaining steps. Then start BCUinstaller. An introduction wizard appears on the screen. The standard language is English, but you can also select another world language. Choose Continue and put a check in the next step Select using checkboxes, so that you can select multiple programs in the next step. You don't need to change anything in the remaining steps. Press . each time Continue and close the dialog with Finishsetup.
Tip 04: Thorough wipe
BCUinstaller displays a list of all installed applications. For example, the standard apps from Windows 10 are available in the overview, including 3D Builder, Movies & TV and Xbox. By selecting the options on the left Show protected items and Show Windows features by selecting it, further programs and features will appear in the overview. Your task is to check all unwanted programs. However, it applies that you only designate the applications whose meaning you know. So if necessary, search for information via Google if you have an unknown program on the grain. After you have selected everything, choose at the top for Uninstallquietly. You will first be asked to create a restore point, so take care of that if necessary. Usually, BCUinstaller performs the uninstall process fully automatically. Isn't that the case with you? The cleaning program then shows an overview of programs that have not yet been completely erased. Furthermore, BCUinstaller asks if it should look for remnants of uninstalled programs. Confirm with yes. You can remove found remnants with deleteselected definitively from the system.
Thorough erase, both automatic and manual, can be done with BCUinstaller Tip 05: Clear Manually
If you are unable to delete an application automatically, there is no other option than to remove it manually. Since the Windows 10 system settings do not display all installed programs, you are better off with BCUinstaller for this job. Right click on the name of a program and choose Uninstall. You will again be prompted to create a restore point. Make a choice and try to remove the software package from the system. Through yes If desired, BCUinstaller will still search for remnants.
Tip 06: Startup items
Some programs and services start automatically with Windows. These startup items usually cause a significant delay. Especially when you do not use an application on a daily basis, automatic startup is a waste. BCUinstaller shows a clear overview of startup items. In the menu go to Tools / Open Startup Manager. On most systems, the list is quite large. To disable a startup item, right-click on a title. Then confirm with delete and Remove. By the way, you don't necessarily need a utility to disable startup items. Open the utility from the Windows 10 Start menu task management. Through the tabs Startup and Services view which startup items are all active, disabling them one by one if you wish.
Tip 07: Find leftovers
There is a good chance that the system still has remnants of programs that you have previously uninstalled. Especially the Program Files folder on the C drive often turns out to be a dump of software developers in practice. To prevent the remnants from being left on the system forever, BCUinstaller will track them down for you. Click in the menu on Tools / Clean up 'Program Files' folders and see which software remnants are still on the computer. Put – at your own risk! – check marks for the remnants you would like to remove and then choose deleteselected.
Windows Refresh Tool
Have you bought a new PC or laptop, but don't like all that pre-installed junk? Then use the new Windows Refresh Tool. This will refresh the machine with Windows 10 including all updates. Applications that Microsoft does not include as standard with Windows 10 can be removed quickly and easily with this utility. You also have the option to keep your personal files. Surf here and click at the bottom Download utility now. Then start the program via RefreshWindowsTool.exe. After you agree to the license terms, you decide in the next screen whether you want to keep personal files. Finally confirm with Start to refresh Windows 10 permanently.
Tip 08: Disk Cleanup
Most computer users know where to find Disk Cleanup by now, but unfortunately not everyone uses all the possibilities of this utility. You can also use this tool in a roundabout way to clean up system files, such as remnants of Windows Defender and copies of drivers. From the Start menu, open the Disk Cleanup application and select the drive you want to clean. Usually that is the C drive. Confirm with OK and wait for Disk Cleanup to finish the analysis. You then choose System Filesclean up, after which you point to the correct disk drive again. Finally, tick the files you want to delete and confirm with OK / Delete files.
You can clean up your disk in several ways. Do it, because you can win a lot of space with it Tip 09: Bleach Bit
Since the popular cleaner program CCleaner has an increasingly commercial policy, it's good to look further. BleachBit is a great alternative to clean up leftover data from all kinds of programs, including redundant data from Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Office. The result is a much cleaner drive. Visit www.bleachbit.org to download the program. In addition to a Windows version, there is also an edition for Linux available. For Windows you can choose between a standard installation and a portable version. As soon as you start BleachBit for the first time, you enter a somewhat basic user environment. Although the freeware is available in Dutch, the difficulty level is slightly higher compared to CCleaner.
Make sure to create a restore point beforehand. In the left column, tick all the parts you want to clean. With some options, a warning appears that this action will take a lot of time or will remove passwords. As soon as you click Example, BleachBit shows you which files are eligible for deletion. In addition, you can also see how much disk space the tool frees up. click on Clean / Delete to complete the task.
Tip 10: Shred files
Deleting a file from the system often doesn't permanently remove it from the drive. For example, you can recover the file from the Recycle Bin or use a recovery program like Recuva. Data is only really gone from a hard drive when you overwrite it with other data. BleachBit is capable of pulverizing files permanently, so you don't have to worry about them showing up somewhere. Go to File / Shred Files and select one or more files on your hard drive. Confirm with To open and give with remove indicate that you want to permanently delete the data.
Tip 11: Visual effects
If you've gone through all the previous tips in this article, the system is expected to respond significantly faster. Isn't that the case on your computer yet? You can relieve the machine by (partially) turning off the visual effects. This leaves more computing power for other tasks. From the Start menu, open the Control Panel. Through System and Security / System choose on the left for Advanced System Settings. At the part Performance then click on the button Institutions. Then choose Best performance and confirm with To apply. In the list you can optionally choose to leave some effects enabled.
Clean your smartphone or tablet
Not only PCs and laptops can slow down if you don't brush them every now and then, but smartphones and tablets also become stiff after a few years. It is therefore important that you also clean mobile devices, but for that you need a different method than the ones discussed in this article. In this article, we'll explain how to clean up unnecessary clutter from any mobile device.
