Getting more out of your PC (for windows)

Here's a list of a few ways that might speed up your pc a bit in some ways. Keep in mind some may not work for you, but might for others. This will help with games and emulators. I am not responsible if you break your pc.

1: Power (for laptops)
If you have a Laptop, plug it in. Your power settings check if your laptop is plugged in. This almost always helps.

2: Power settings
Look at your power settings. Power settings is usually located on your taskbar on the bottom right of your screen by default. It looks like a battery. Left click it and you should see 2 power options (I think the default is power saver and balanced). There should be something under it with more options ("More power options" for me). This should put you in your power management screen. Now click the high performance option. This actually helps me for many games. If your on a desktop you should make sure this is set at all times. If your on a laptop that is plugged in this should help a bit. The power settings window can also be accessed from your control panel if for some reason isn't on your task bar. This almost always helps.

3: Processes
Right click your taskbar (the thing on the bottom of your screen by default) and left click start task manager. Hit the processes tab. This window should show most of the processes running on your computer at the moment. It will show how much ram (physical memory) is being used, and will show how much of your cpu is being used. You can shut down processes your not using here. For example. If you are say using Steam. When you close it out it hides itself still running. You can right click "Steam.exe" and click end process. Make sure you know what processes your ending. If you end the wrong one you may need to restart your computer.
Also, you can end explorer.exe. Your desktop will disappear, but if you have a game running your computer is having a hard time with it may help it run better. To make exploring.exe work again just in the window's task manager, go to file, new task (run) and type "Explorer.exe" and you should get your desktop back. You can get to your task manager at any time by pressing and holding ctrl, alt, and delete keys at once.

4: Auto Start
You can turn off programs that start with your computer. To do so go to search, and type "msconfig". This will let you change some booting options. There are lists under Services and Start up. These will start with your computer. Make sure you read up on them with google.com. As a example for services. You can disable "Print Spooler" if you don't have/use a printer for that computer. For example with start up you could disable Steam so it doesn't start with your computer. Any changes you make to these can be re enabled. Just make sure you remember what you disable.

5: Game Booster
This program shuts down services and programs temporarily when it's on to free up ram and cpu. I don't use it myself, but it should help.
Link: techspot.com/downloads/4842-game-booster.html

6: Defrag
First off, DO NOT DEFRAG A Solid State drive. Defragging organizes your hard drive. This can result in games/programs loading up faster/your operating system loading faster. To Defag, go to all programs, accessorys, system tools and you should see disk defragmentor. This will take awhile and will slow down your pc while active. You can also download and install piriform.com/defraggler which can be used to Defragment your pc as well. Remember do NOT defrag a SSD. SSDs organize themselves automatically when writing data.

7: Virus scanning
Make sure you have a virus scanner and to scan for viruses every so often. I personally use the avg.com/us-en/free-antivirus-download free version. I haven't really gotten viruses ever with it. It also isn't much of a memory hog as some other virus scanners are in my option.

8: System visual effects
This hasn't help me much, but it may help you. Right click my computer and go to properties. You can also go to your control panel and go to system.
Hit advance system settings. Hit the Advanced tab. Under Performance go to settings. Under Visual Effects click adjust for best performance then hit apply and OK.
You screen may looks a bit.. boring after this.

9: CCleaner
This is a useful program. It can clean your registry (and make backups to it). It also shows whats installed and what is set to start up (seen in msconfig). I like using this more to disable start up programs more easy. Link: filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/download

10: System Restore
Go to all programs, accessory, system tools and system restore. This let's your computer go back in time installation wise. This might help with some viruses, or if a program that was installed is acting incorrectly. Though reinstalling the program USUALLY fixes the issue.

I hope this was helpful, if your computer still can't run a game you want to play at good speeds after this it's probably time to get a new computer.

Edit: Added Gamebooster to the list.