How to Make a Slow Acer Laptop Run Faster

All new computers will slow down over time, your Acer laptop is no exception.

Whether you’re using an Aspire netbook or a high-end laptop, it doesn’t matter.

With the passage of time, your Acer hard drive will have more files, more installed programs, more Internet browsing history, and likely more Windows registry issues.

Eventually, it will run slower than it used to. However, if your laptop slows down to a point that affects your work productivity — for example, it keeps freezing, runs super slow to start up, you’d better watch out because it might end up with a more serious issue.

There are many reasons why an Acer laptop can be running slow.

In this article, we are going to explore possible causes and show you how to fix it in order to make your PC faster again.

1. Viruses and Malware

Even today, virus, spyware, and other types of malware are still common causes of computer problems, including making your PC run slower.

What can you do to check whether your Acer laptop is caught? The best way is to use security software to run a full scan.

We recommend Bitdefender Antivirus Plus, which is widely viewed as the best antimalware program as of this writing.

It can thoroughly scan your laptop to find any possible threats and eliminate them.

Pro tip: when you complete the scan, it’s recommended that you turn off the real-time monitoring function as the feature usually tends to consume a decent amount of system resources.

2. Too Many Programs Running at Once

Sometimes, your Acer laptop runs slowly because you’ve got too many programs running at the same time.

If your Acer is slow at startup, chances are there are quite some auto-runs joining the fun when you boot up the computer.

What to do? Use Task Manager to manage startup items.

Task Manager is a built-in tool provided by Windows 10 that can help you pinpoint the background “culprits” — applications or processes that are consuming lots of system resources such as CPU, RAM (random access memory), etc.

By disabling or force quitting those suspicious programs/services, your Acer laptop will run faster for sure.

3. Cluttered Hard Drive

A cluttered or almost full hard drive can seriously slow down any computer. There is no evidence about what percent of available storage space you should maintain, the more the better.

If your Acer hard drive has been used up 80% or higher, it’s time for clean up.

What’s the best way to clean it up? Try this lightweight program called CleanMyPC — a handy utility that can do a number of cleanup tasks for you, such as disabling auto-runs, removing system junks, uninstalling applications, etc.

Our team has been using CleanMyPC to optimize our PCs that are based on Windows 10 and we are quite happy with the performance it brings.

4. Windows 10 Registry Issues

If you heavily use your Acer laptop for testing different programs, chances are there are some registry issues.

The Windows Registry is a huge database that includes configuration settings for third-party applications running on your Acer.

Each time you download and install a program, its values and keys are embedded in the registry.

When the registry isn’t maintained correctly, registry errors can occur, causing system and application problems in Windows 10.

When that happens, you’ll notice your Acer laptop to be more sluggish.

How to fix it? It’s not easy to do that manually (though you could if you are a computer person), but there is a freeware called CCleaner that can fix those registry issues.

5. Outdated Hardware

If your Acer laptop is more than 4 years old and you don’t want to let it retire, yet.

It’s time to upgrade hardware, for example, add an extra RAM or replace the hard drive with a speedy SSD (solid-state drive) — yes, SSDs are much faster and more reliable than traditional HDDs (hard disk drives).

But you get what you pay for.

Your Acer laptop performance would be night and day if you replace the hard drive with a new SSD.

Pro tip: Before you start installing any new parts, be sure to check this YouTube video or this iFixit guide for more information.

That’s all we want to share about how to make an Acer laptop run faster.

Let us know what other techniques you discovered, or do you have any questions about the tips introduced above, either way, leave a comment below.