Windows, explained without the jargon

Sudden slowness usually has one of four causes: the drive is nearly full, something new is running at startup, the machine is overheating and throttling itself, or Windows is installing updates in the background. Check disk space first, then the power mode, then the fans. Our power settings guide covers the throttling case, which is the one people miss most.

Use Scale, not resolution. Go to Settings > System > Display and change Scale to 125 or 150 percent. Dropping the resolution below the recommended one also makes things bigger, but on a flat panel it makes text blurry, because the screen has a fixed number of physical pixels. The resolution guide explains the difference.

Press Windows key + Shift + S. The screen dims, you drag a box around what you want, and the image goes to the clipboard so you can paste it into an email or a message. Windows key + Print Screen saves a full-screen image straight into Pictures > Screenshots instead.

Go to Settings > Windows Update and select Check for updates. Seeing "You're up to date" only means there is nothing pending right now, so it is worth also looking at Update history to confirm recent updates actually installed rather than failing and retrying.

Mostly yes, and it is easy to undo. Leave anything that is clearly a driver, a touchpad or audio utility, or your security software. Turning off a startup entry does not uninstall the program, it only stops it launching automatically, so you can still open it whenever you want.

No. Windows already has the tools that matter, in Settings > System > Storage, and they are safer because they know which files Windows still needs. Most cleaner products make small gains at best, and a lot of them bundle advertising or push a paid subscription after a scary-looking scan result.

That is deliberate. On battery, Windows and the manufacturer firmware lower the processor ceiling to make the charge last, and Battery saver adds another layer once you drop below 20 percent. Plug it in and the ceiling lifts. If it stays slow while plugged in, the cause is something else.

As a working rule, keep at least ten to fifteen percent of the drive free. Windows uses spare space for updates, temporary files and virtual memory, so a drive that is almost full slows the whole machine down and can stop updates installing at all.

For most people Windows Security is genuinely enough, provided it is turned on and updating. What it cannot do is stop you approving something yourself, which is how most infections actually arrive. Never run two antivirus products at once, because they fight each other and leave you worse off.

Not on its own. Sync copies whatever happens to the file, including deletion and encryption by ransomware, to every device. It is excellent protection against losing a laptop and poor protection against a mistake or an attack. You want a second copy that is not connected, which our backup guide walks through.

Settings > System > Notifications lets you switch them off entirely or per app, which is usually the better option. Focus, on the same page, silences them for a set period. If the pop-ups are appearing in your browser rather than from Windows, they are website notifications you approved at some point, and they are removed in the browser's own settings.

Sleep keeps everything in memory and wakes in a second or two, using a trickle of power. Hibernate writes memory to the drive and uses none, so it takes longer to resume but will not flatten a battery. Shut down closes everything. A weekly full restart is worth doing regardless, because some updates only finish during one.

Settings > System > About gives you the model and specifications, and the manufacturer's support site will date the serial number or service tag. That tag is usually printed on a sticker on the base of a laptop or the back of a desktop. Age alone does not decide anything, but paired with the specifications it tells you whether an upgrade is worth it.

It will keep working, but Microsoft ended support on October 14, 2025, so it no longer receives security fixes through the normal channel. That matters most for anything handling business or financial data. Our version guide shows how to check what you have and whether the hardware can move to Windows 11.

Nearly always because the printer's address on the network changed after a restart, so Windows is looking in the wrong place. Reserving a fixed address for it on the router fixes it permanently, which our printer guide covers. Removing and re-adding the printer only works until the next reboot.

Right-click an empty part of the taskbar and choose Taskbar settings, then switch off the items you do not want under Taskbar items. It is purely cosmetic on a healthy machine, though on an older one turning off Widgets does stop a background process.

No. Microsoft, your bank and your internet provider do not call you about a virus, and neither do we unless you contacted us first. The goal of that call is to get you to install remote access software and read out a code. Hang up. If a full-screen warning with a phone number is on your screen, close the browser rather than calling it.

You run a small tool that gives them a one-time code, and nothing happens until you hand that code over. Our TeamViewer guide walks through exactly what to click and, just as importantly, how to be sure the person asking is really us.

An SSD in place of a mechanical hard drive is the single biggest improvement you can make to an older machine, and it is not close. More memory helps if you routinely run out, which you can see in Task Manager under the Performance tab. Neither helps a machine that is throttling on heat. Our upgrades page covers what is worth doing on what.

It is a rebuild, not a troubleshooting step, and it costs you a day of reinstalling and reconfiguring. Try the specific fix first. If you do reset, make sure your files are backed up somewhere off the machine first, because the option that keeps your files does not keep your programs and does not always behave the way people expect.