One of the most common reasons for snail-like performance is that the latest Microsoft Updates haven’t been installed.
Microsoft regularly release updates to keep your Windows computer protected from software flaws that are constantly being discovered in the system. These updates should be installed regularly, and often the machine needs to be restarted to complete the process.
If these updates are left waiting to be applied, they can overload your machine and cause a slowing effect, rather like heavy traffic causing a jam on our roads.
By following these steps you should experience an improvement in performance and your machine will be more secure.
STEP 1
Move your cursor to the bottom left hand corner where you have the Windows icon and click.
STEP 2
This menu will pop up. Select the cog wheel indicated and click
STEP 3
Move the cursor to Update and Security and click. (If this isn’t visible go to the edge of the box, indicated by a red arrow, and with the cursor slide the grey area down until it appears.)
STEP 4
Now you will be able to see the Windows Update page, it will either display the message shown in this image or it will tell you that updates are available. Even if you see the message shown here it is still a good idea to check, often you will find there are still updates pending that haven’t been installed.
STEP 5
If there are no updates pending you can simply close the window, however, if you do need to install updates, these can take some time, depending on how many are pending and the speed of the broadband at your premises. The display will show you the updates that are being installed and the progress as shown below.
STEP 6
Once the updates have been downloaded, the machine usually needs to restart to finish the process. You should see this option on the screen
Click the ‘Restart now’ button and the process should complete.
If you don’t see the above screen you can also use the ‘Update and Restart’ option at the bottom left-hand corner of your screen as indicated.
Click update and restart or shutdown as required, and the updates will complete.
If it’s been a long period of time since updates were installed then you may need to repeat this process to ensure all updates are successfully installed.
NB These instructions are for Windows 10. Windows 7 has now come to the end of life and is no longer supported or updated.
