How to speed up Windows 8 on a laptop

The most important thing for people who are somehow connected to the Internet is its speed. Every PC user sooner or later thinks about how to increase it so that everything works faster. This is especially true for those people who use low-speed networks. This article will discuss all the options for increasing Internet speed on a computer running Windows 7.

Speed ​​Options

You must immediately find out all the speed capabilities of your network, since it will not be possible to increase them if your provider is not designed for this. The established maximum speed limit is the limit that you will never be able to jump over. All additional programs and tools that promise you to increase this limit are simply a waste of time. Such changes can only be made if you switch to a different tariff or change operator. Despite this, it is your system that can in some way influence the speed of the Internet. Incorrect initial settings can impair your network's ability to perform as promised by your chosen provider.

Next, we will describe how to fix this problem and make sure that your computer uses the extremely high Internet speed provided by your tariff. The described options are designed both to correct problems in the operating system itself and to help certain utilities.

Method 1: TCP Optimizer

Today, you can find a huge number of different utilities that help increase Internet speed. This happens by organizing the network connection settings. The following will describe how to use one of these programs, TCP Optimizer.


Method 2: NameBench program

This utility differs from its competitors in that it does not organize your PC settings, but finds DNS servers, thanks to which the network speed increases. The program replaces them with those that it considers more suitable.

  1. Open the installation file and press the button "Extract".

  2. When unpacking is complete, in the column "Query Data Source" The verification browser that was selected by the application will appear. If you are not satisfied with it, you can mark any other one from the list. Next press the key "Start Benchmark".

  3. Now a search for DNS servers will be performed, which can last about an hour.

  4. As soon as the process is completed, a browser will open, in which, in the section "Recommended configuration" Several servers that are desirable for use will appear.

  5. Minimize the browser window and click on "Start" to enter the "Control Panel".

  6. In field "Network and Internet" select line "View task network status".

  7. When a new tab has opened, find, on the right side, the section "Connect or disconnect" and below click on your network name.

  8. Next click "Properties" and from the proposed list select the item "TCP/IPv4". After that click "Properties".
  9. In the column "Are common" put a full stop on the point "Use the following DNS server addresses". Write down all the information that is in the activated fields. If you fail to complete this operation because of your operator, you can return everything to its original state. In the first field "Preferred DNS Server" enter the information that is indicated in the browser under the section "Primary Server", and in the second field "Alternate DNS server" write the address indicated under the section "Secondary Server". Confirm your actions with the key "OK".

Now you can enjoy faster internet speed. But if attempts to access the network are unsuccessful, you need to return the original settings that were installed earlier.

Method 3: Changing Package Scheduler Settings

To try this option you need to do the following:

  1. Press a combination of buttons "Win+R" and in the context menu type gpedit.msc to open the Local Group Policy Editor and press the key "OK" for confirmation.

  2. In the left part of the window that opens, expand the line "Computer Configuration" and select the folder called "Administrative Templates".

  3. On the right, find the block called "Net" and open it.

  4. Select the next folder called "QoS Packet Scheduler".

  5. Now click on the section "Limit reserved bandwidth".

  6. On the left side of the tab, place a dot on the item "Turn on". Enter the value below in the left column «0» . To confirm your actions, click the button "Apply" and after that "OK".

  7. Now open the tab "State", as was done above, and press the key "Properties".
  8. In the window that appears, check that next to the line "QoS Packet Scheduler" there was a tick. If it is not there, install it, then close the tab by clicking "OK".

Now your Internet speed will increase noticeably.

Method 4: network card

After configuring the network card settings, you can significantly increase the speed of the Internet.

  1. Open "Start" and go to "Control Panel". Now go to "System and safety".

  2. In chapter "System" click on the last line "Device Manager".

  3. From the list that appears, select "Network adapters".

  4. You will see a list of network adapters existing on your PC. If there is more than one device in the list, then all the steps described below will need to be done with each of them.

  5. Select a card and go to the section "Power Management".
  6. Go through all the points indicated in the tab that opens and uncheck all the checkboxes. Confirm your actions with the “Ok” button.
  7. Repeat these steps with all existing network adapters on your PC.

Please note that in the case of laptops, after disabling these functions, several unpleasant consequences may occur. Because the battery will drain faster, you will have less time to use your laptop without a charger. Accordingly, you will have to choose between long-term wireless operation of the laptop or speeding up the Internet.

Method 5: Setting the Power Supply

It is also possible to eliminate low Internet connection speed by making changes to the power plan.


This is necessary because energy saving mode places a limit on the transfer of electricity to your network card. After completing the above steps, the performance of your ISP will increase. Unfortunately, due to such manipulations, the laptop battery discharges much faster. If you need high Internet speed only for work or to perform other processes that you do not regularly perform, then you can set the high performance mode immediately before work, or when you can use the charger.

Method 6: Setting up the COM port

Another option popular among users is to expand the COM port. To complete this task, do the following:


After performing the described manipulations, the Internet speed will increase. Often this option is suitable for those users whose COM port is designed for a lower speed than the provider.

Basic suggestions for speeding up the Internet

Network speed can be affected by various factors. For example, if you choose a wired connection rather than a Wi-Fi connection, the network will work faster. This happens because wired Internet works without significant losses, unlike a wireless network.

If you still choose to work with Wi-Fi, then try to place it very close to your device. This will reduce losses during network signal transmission to a minimum. If you prefer a 3G modem, then try to use it while sitting near a window or balcony, so that there are fewer obstacles to the signal in the form of furniture and walls. Another option is to make a homemade antenna. It's very simple, you just need to find some copper wire and wrap it around the modem, then the connection speed will increase a little more.

Don’t forget to set a password on your router, because if everyone uses the network, the Internet speed will decrease significantly.
You should also regularly scan your laptop for malicious files. There are a huge number of different antivirus programs for this. This is necessary to prevent virus files from transmitting your personal information over the Internet. By these actions they spend extra megabytes on their work. Another necessity is to disable all running add-ons in the browser to avoid slowing down the World Wide Web.

There is another way to increase Internet speed, but you should not use it because you will have to disable your antivirus program and software to repel hacker attacks. Antiviruses let data pass through them, which reduces network performance. But there is also a downside to the situation: if you disable the defender, then viruses can enter your system, which leads to an even greater slowdown in data transfer.

This article describes quite a few options that will help you cope with low network speeds without changing your tariff or provider. Naturally, the acceleration will not be maximum. But for greater effectiveness, you can use several of the proposed options at once.

Just a few simple steps to make a couple of changes to your computer's network connection settings will help speed up the Internet in Windows. All websites you visit and social networks will open much faster. Read about how to speed up the Internet in this article.

When something works well, not every PC user has the desire to understand how it works. This is human nature. For example, have you, with good, fast Internet operation, ever wondered how the browser processes all your requests and displays the site you need based on the URL entered in the address bar? Of course no. And only at the moment when sites begin to take a long time to load, questions arise: what happened and how to speed up the Internet on Windows.

In fact, the site URL you enter is processed by the browser like this. It translates it into an IP address, that is, not itself, but the DNS server (Domain Name Server), which actually plays the most basic and important role in accessing the World Wide Web. You can see this for yourself. To do this, open the Windows command line by pressing the key combination “Win ​​+ R” and then enter the command “cmd” and press the “Enter” key. Click on “Enter” and in response you will see through which DNS server your browser translates the address of our site to IP address.

Speeding up the Internet can be done by choosing a fast DNS server. Since the provider does not always provide us with fast DNS, it is recommended to find the optimal servers corresponding to your location yourself.

Speed ​​up the Internet using DNS replacement and DNS Benchmark program

In order not to search for suitable DNS servers yourself, especially since this is almost impossible, we suggest that you use the free DNS Benchmark utility for this. You can download a program to speed up the Internet, that is, to analyze and change the DNS server, on our website, or on the official website of the developer of this software.

The program does not require installation on the system and works as a portable application. The first time you launch it, the utility will automatically begin creating a list of the fastest DNS servers that is individual for you. If this does not happen, then go to the “Nameservers” tab and click on the “Run Benchmark” button in it. This will take some time, but not long at all, wait until the list creation process is completed, we will need it to analyze the relevant servers.

It is worth noting that in the “Conclusions” tab of the DNS Benchmark program for speeding up the Internet, recommendations are given on the use of a particular DNS server, as well as warnings. All of them are marked with corresponding colors, that is, green is good, blue is neutral, and red is bad. However, let's say right away that some warnings that are marked in red are not negative or problematic. The thing is that you always need to select several DNS servers from the list at once, while using the fastest server as the default (main). The fastest servers that will help you increase Internet speed are determined in the list of the “Nameservers” tab by the “Response time” parameter.

The list of servers received in the program can be updated. To do this, go to the “Nameservers” tab, then click on “Ad/Remove” and in the new dialog box click the “Rebuild Custom List” button.

The list update process will take about thirty-five minutes. Once this process is complete, you will see a list of servers that are most relevant to your region of residence. After updating the list, you must again click the “Run Benchmark” button to analyze it.

By the way, in the “Tabular data” tab of the DNS Benchmark program, you can see, in addition to the name of the server owner and its name, such a parameter as the conversion time in all kinds of different cases, the site name into a digital address.

Configuring a network connection to speed up the Internet

Suppose you find out that the fastest servers for your region are provided by Google, with its fast DNS 8.8.4.4. Now you need to launch “Windows Network and Sharing Center”. To do this, open the Windows control panel (in our case, Windows 8.1), go to the “Internet and Network” section and click on the desired link.

In the Network and Sharing Center window, click on the connection you use to access the Internet. In our example, this is “Network - Private Network”. Click on the “Ethernet” link as shown in the figure below.

Now in the “Status” window that opens, click the “Details” button. In the newly opened window, remember or write down the specified IPv4 DNS server. In our example, this address is 192.168.0.1 (if yours is the same, it means that you access the Internet through a router). Close the Status - Ethernet window. Click on the “Properties” button.

In the properties window, in the “Network” tab, in the list of components used by the connection, find the line “Internet Protocol version 4 (TCP/IPv4)”, highlight it and click on the “Properties” button.

In the TCP/IPv4 properties window, activate the “Use the following DNS server addresses” radio button. In the “Preferred DNS server” field, enter the address that you chose as the fastest for accessing the Internet, and in the “Alternative DNS server” field, enter the address that you previously wrote down (192.168.0.1). Check the “Confirm settings on exit” checkbox, click “Ok” and close all open windows.

That's all. Restart your computer and after logging into Windows your internet should work much faster!

Recommendation. Open the web interface of the router if you are using it and see if you can manually specify your DNS servers. If you can, then specify the selected fast servers in the router. This will significantly speed up the Internet operation of not only the computer, but also all devices that use this router to access the network.

How to speed up Windows 8 is a question that worries many users. The fact is that this is the latest version of the operating system, which is not only extremely easy to use, but also has a beautiful interface. Of course, the developers did their best, creating a truly convenient OS with unprecedented effects, tiled menus and all kinds of decorations. But all these “beauties” require certain resources.

In other words, for all effects to be displayed and for the system to run smoothly, the computer must respond. But what to do if you lack performance, for example, in some demanding game. There is a way out, and everything is extremely simple. This is exactly what we will talk about.

Increased operating system performance

So, how to speed up Windows 8? As mentioned above, all operating system decorations consume some resources. This means that to improve performance we need to simply disable some of the visual effects or all at once. This will reduce the load on the GPU and CPU.

You can also enter the management of the video card and adjust its performance, or rather, by selecting the “Maximum performance” items. Also, some enthusiasts “play” with overclocking video cards and processors. However, this could end badly. Therefore, we do not recommend doing this.

Another sure way to improve the performance of the operating system, and the computer as a whole, is to buy a solid-state hard drive. Let's look at all the indicated ways to speed up your computer on Windows 8 in more detail.

How to speed up Windows 8: Video

Turn off visual effects in Windows 8

The operating system developers have provided the ability to disable visual effects to improve performance. This can be done in just a few clicks. First, we need to open Explorer (file manager) and find “My Computer” in it. Right-click on it and select “Properties”.

Next, in the window that appears, we are interested in “Advanced system parameters”. Go ahead and go to the “Advanced” tab. Here you see three sections that you can customize. We need speed tuning. She's first on the list. Click the “Options” button.

First of all, we go to the “Visual Effects” tab. It is here that we can control certain decorations, turning them off and on. You can do this manually by selecting certain effects yourself. But the system provides several options for preliminary settings:

  • Restore to default.
  • Provide the best view.
  • Provide the best performance.
  • Special effects.

The names themselves speak for themselves. For example, if you are going to launch a game and you need maximum performance, then select the third option, but if you need the most pleasant view, then select the second.

You can also increase the size. To do this, go to the additional tab. At the bottom of the menu you will see a “Virtual Memory” section, and just below that there is a “Change” button. In order to increase the paging file, first of all, there must be free space on the system disk, at least 15% of the total volume.

If this is okay, then uncheck the “Automatically select paging file size” checkbox. This will allow you to manually specify the desired size in megabytes. In essence, this setting is not capable of making any tangible changes, but if you do not have enough RAM, then the effect will still be. And in combination with other settings, this will also increase performance.

Optimizing Windows 8: Video

Setting up the graphics adapter

The acceleration of Windows 8 is also significantly affected by the configuration of the video card. Since it is the graphics processor that is directly involved in the operation of all visual effects. Special programs are used to configure video card parameters. If you have an ATI GPU installed, then you will need CatalystControlCenter, if NVidia, then the NVidia control panel.

In any case, the service is installed along with the drivers and launched the same way for both video cards. Moreover, they have identical settings. Only the menu interface itself is different. In order to open this tool, simply right-click on an empty area of ​​the desktop and find the desired service in the window that appears.

Everything else is simple. Go through the tabs and read the prompts on the screen. We are mainly interested in the 3D setting. There are several different tabs here. In them, using the slider, you can adjust what the video card resource will be spent on - performance or high quality visual effects. You can also choose the middle option. We will not analyze all the tabs, since there is nothing complicated here.

Installing an SSD drive

Solid-state hard drives have significantly higher speeds for reading and writing data. Thanks to this, the system needs less time to read the necessary files, which improves performance. - This is the answer to the question of how to speed up Windows 8 boot.

In addition to reducing the time it takes to start the operating system, using a solid-state hard drive significantly increases the computer's performance in games. Numerous tests that users constantly conduct show that installing an SSD hard drive increases computer performance by 15-30%. Which is a very impressive result. And loading Windows 8 is twice as fast as compared to the fastest and highest quality HDD.

These are all available tools that, with the exception of the last one, do not require any financial outlay from you, but at the same time can significantly improve the performance of your computer. It is worth noting that on global networks and on various forums there is a myth circulating about some programs that can speed up a computer and increase the number of frames in games.

You should not believe such rumors, since not a single program is capable of creating something out of nothing. The fact is that the computer has certain resources, and no application can change them or increase their number. Therefore, we do not recommend installing unverified software, which may also pose a threat to the security of your computer or reduce its performance.

How to install an SSD hard drive in a computer: Video

Over time, all Windows 8 users note that the laptop's performance has deteriorated significantly. This is caused by many different factors, for example, the accumulation of a large volume of temporary files, outdated registry entries, etc. Of course, the excessive number of different features on a Windows 8 PC hides a lot of system resources.

These include a special design of the start screen and a tiled animated interface, which make the system beautiful, but negatively affect the performance of the laptop as a whole. Therefore, the question of how to maximally speed up and optimize the operation of a laptop on the Windows 8 operating system should be approached in a comprehensive manner. Effective optimization of Windows 8 can only be achieved by implementing all of the measures listed below and in total they will lead to a noticeable acceleration of the operating system.

How to improve productivity?

Some experts recommend increasing the speed of the system by reinstalling it annually. But installing the OS is a rather labor-intensive procedure and requires a significant amount of time. It is much more expedient to competently apply optimization and acceleration techniques for Windows 8. Many special applications have been created that partially solve the problem, but some of them often do only harm instead of good.

When performing manual methods, unfortunately, the human factor cannot be excluded; for example, inattentive execution of several steps can lead to negative consequences. In this regard, it is strongly recommended that before carrying out any actions related to optimizing Windows 8, you first create a restore point for it.

Activities to improve the performance of a Windows 8 laptop:

  • Turn off unused gadgets and various visual effects.

To do this, hold down the “Win” button, click on “E” and then in the window that appears, call up the context menu from “Computer”.

In the menu that appears, enter “Advanced system settings”.

Next, in the “System Properties” window that appears, go to the “Advanced” tab.

In the “Performance” section, click on “Options”.

In the menu that appears, go to the “Visual Effects” tab.

Next, to achieve maximum effect, it is recommended to check the box “Ensure the best performance.” In the case when the user needs to use some effects, check “Special effects” and then indicate the lines he requires.

After finishing the procedure, click “Apply” and then “Ok” to save the parameters.

  • Increase the amount of virtual memory.

To do this, you need to enter the “Performance Options” menu using the algorithm of actions from the first stage of activities.

Specify the volume on the hard drive and determine the size of the paging file.

Note: the paging file cannot be located on the system partition “C”, and its volume must be made twice as large as the laptop’s RAM.

Having completed the procedure for saving the entered parameters, click “Apply” and then click “Ok”.

Restart the laptop.

  • Application of special modes.

Typically, all users work on their PC several times a day. In this case, it is more advisable to use hibernation or sleep mode instead of completely turning off the laptop. These two modes differ in that when the PC goes into hibernation, programs launched by the user are saved on the hard drive, and in sleep mode in RAM. PCs in the specified states of inactivity (standby) consume electricity in minimal quantities, but you can begin to fully continue working in almost a second, since a full OS load is not required and all previously opened user files will already be launched for work.

You need to call up the context menu from the laptop’s power icon and then click on the “Power Options” line.

Next, go to the “Action when closing the lid” section.

In the window that appears, enter the mode settings.

Click “Save Changes”.

  • Optimization of the list of applications that launch simultaneously with Windows startup.

Hold down "Win" and click "R" and type "msconfig".

Click “Ok”.

In the next window that appears, go to the “Startup” tab. In some versions of Eights, a list of applications that are in startup appears in this menu. You just need to uncheck those utilities that the owner rarely uses.

Having finished the procedure, click “Apply” and then “Ok” to save the entered adjustments.

Restart the laptop.

On some operating systems, you first need to click on “Open Task Manager”.

Then, in the window that appears, deactivate autorun applications.

  • Turn off indexing.

If the laptop owner does not use the search function, then disabling this service will significantly save system resources and greatly improve PC performance.

You need to hold down “Win”, click “E” and in the window that appears, call up the context menu from “Computer”.

Click on the “Manage” line.

In the window that appears, go to the “Services and Applications” section.

Enter the “Services” tab and double-click “Windows Search” in the list of services that appears.

To save the changes made, click “Apply” and then click “Ok”.

  • Activities to clean up memory and perform disk defragmentation.

Defragmentation can be performed either using built-in Windows tools or using specially developed utilities for this purpose, for example, Auslogics Disk Defrag.

To clear your memory of accumulated unnecessary files, it is recommended to use the CCleaner application, which has an intuitive interface and is distributed free of charge. The utility has stood the test of time and has earned numerous positive user reviews.

There is an opinion that Windows 8 is slow and buggy, and rather than trying to optimize its operation, it is easier to install an already proven “seven” or even XP. In fact, Windows 8 uses fewer resources and is a natural development of the product.

Ways to optimize and increase the performance of Windows 8.1

1. Changing Power Settings

By default, the Windows processor operating mode is low. This is done to avoid overheating and rapid failure of the iron. If you have a good cooler, you can overclock your processor to its maximum through system settings.

2. Defragmenting hard drives

A proven and, so to speak, old-fashioned method is to defragment/optimize hard drives. The essence of the process is that clusters scattered throughout the system are ordered and “stored” more rationally.

3. Disabling visual effects

If convenience and comfort are not important to you, then to optimize the work and increase the performance of Windows 8.1, you can disable in the system settings animation when minimizing/maximizing windows, as well as some other effects thought out by the creators for a purely aesthetic purpose. For settings, go to: “Control Panel” -> “System” -> “Advanced system settings”, the “Advanced” tab, in it the “Performance” section, the “Settings” button.

4. Analysis of resource-intensive applications

In the Task Manager application, accessible by pressing the keyboard shortcut Ctr + Alt + Delete, you can view in percentage terms which processes are the most energy-consuming. You can manually disable programs that consume a lot of resources and load the processor.

5. Cleaning autostart

When you turn on your computer, processes that are not constantly used are often loaded. In previous versions of Windows, the startup registry could only be cleaned using specialized programs. In version 8.1, this feature is provided by the developers as standard. If you wish, you can disable startup programs that are not necessary for your daily work.

6. Using the standard msconfig utility In order not to bother with searching for third-party optimization programs, you can always use the convenient and functional msconfig tool, which allows you to disable and enable startup programs, control OS boot options and select additional parameters, configure the operation of all services and service applications.

To launch the configurator, press the Win+R key combination, enter msconfig in the window that appears, then OK. A window with various settings will open, where you can independently select the necessary parameters.

7. Using built-in security programs

It is common to use antiviruses such as Kaspersky, Doctor Web, Avast, Norton. These programs, by definition, “load” the computer. Windows 8.1 includes built-in programs that are optimized to work specifically with this system, and, accordingly, “draw” fewer resources.

As you can see, increasing the performance of Windows 8.1 and optimizing its performance will be easy for any user.