Description: Steps to clean your startup programs and services, disk files, registry files, and malware or virus’.

Is your Windows 8 running slow? Try these steps to speed it up!

If you notice a performance decrease in your windows 8, there are plenty of steps you can do to try to speed it up.

The steps we will be going through in this article are:

1. Clean up potentially unnecessary startup processes and services on your computer.
2. Run disk cleanup.
3. Run a computer cleaner program.
4. Scan for malware and viruses.

These steps can be done by any user that has an administrators account on the computer.

Step 1 - Clean up potentially unnecessary startup processes and services on your computer

1. Go to the Start screen.
2. Type in msconfig.
3. Click on msconfig.
4. Click on the Services tab.
5. Click the checkbox for Hide all Microsoft Services.
6. Start selecting services that you don't need (*it is important to understand what you do or do not need here - if in doubt, research first!)
   
   • Example services to look for - things that have to do with third party applications such as Google, Ask, Java, Adobe, games, etc. might not be necessary to load automatically at startup.
   • Services not to disable - Printer drive utilities (HP, Cannon, etc.), Anti-Virus monitoring (ESET, Norton, McAfee, etc.) - these are programs that you probably will not want to turn off at startup because you want them to rung at all times.
7. After removing each checkmark from the services you want to turn off click the Apply button.
8. Now let's move to the startup tab.
9. Click on the link Open Task Manager.
10. Select a startup process that you would like to disable and click the disable button.
    
    • Continue to select each startup process that you would like to disable until finished.
    • Remember - You do not want to disable anything that has to do with your anti-virus or printer drivers.

Note: You can always re-enable these processes again if something you use no longer works. Simply repeat the above process, and add the check mark(s) back in for the thing(s) that you want to re-enable. If you don't know what a service is you can always research it through reputable sources or search engines.

Step 2 - Run disk cleanup

1. Go to the Start screen.
2. Type in disk cleanup.
3. Click on Settings.
4. Click on Free up disk space by deleting unnecessary files.
5. Determine which files you want to cleanup - many people will check most or all boxes in this list.
6. Click the OK button.

Step 3 - Run a computer cleaner program

1. Go to your Internet explorer on your desktop (not on your start screen).
2. For example: download and install the program CCleaner
   
   • There are other reliable programs out there - make sure you choose a reputable program for this purpose.
3. Click yes for the program to intelligently scan for cookies to keep.
4. Click the Run Cleaner button.
5. Click the OK button.
6. Switch to the Registry tab.
7. Click the Scan for issues button.
8. Click the Fix selected issues button.
9. Click Yes to backup changes made to the registry and save them in the default folder.
10. Click the Fix All Selected Issues button.
11. You can now close out CCleaner.

Step 4 - Run an anti-malware program

1. Go to your Internet explorer on your desktop (not on your start screen).
2. For example: download and run the program RougeKiller
   
   • There are other reliable programs out there - make sure you choose a reputable program for this purpose.
3. Makes sure to save it to your desktop.
4. Right click on the RougeKiller icon and go to Run as administrator.
5. RougeKiller will immediately start scanning for processes that could be harmful to your computer.
6. Click Accept to the License Terms.
7. Click the Scan button.
8. After scanning click the Delete button.
9. Click the Fix Host button.
10. Click the Fix Proxy button.
11. Click the Fix DNS button.
12. You can now close RougeKiller.

Restart your computer and it should be running more smoothly now!