Over the years, people have discovered a collection of free Windows tools that can help diagnose what's causing their system to slow down. These tools can save you a ton of time and help you avoid costly computer repairs from certified technicians.
6. Windows Device Performance & Health
Let’s start with the simplest way to check the overall health of your computer. The Windows Device Performance & Health feature is a common first check. Whenever you feel like something isn’t working properly, open this tool and quickly look for yellow warning icons. It lets you review your storage capacity, battery health, potential application issues, and whether your system time is properly synchronized.
To access it, press the Windows key , type "Windows Security," and press Enter . When Windows Security opens, click Device performance & health . The interface shows a simple dashboard with green checkmarks when everything is working properly, or yellow warning icons when there are issues that need attention.
5. Windows Resource Monitor
Windows Resource Monitor is a go-to tool when you need to diagnose a family member's slow computer. It's free and comes pre-installed in the operating system, making it easy to use. It allows you to get real-time data on everything that's consuming system resources.
To access Resource Monitor, press the Windows key , type "resmon" and press Enter . You can also access it through Task Manager ( Ctrl + Shift + Esc ) by clicking on the Performance tab and then selecting Open Resource Monitor at the bottom.
The Overview tab gives you a complete picture of your system's health. With this tool, you can see which processes are consuming your system's CPU, memory, disk, and network resources in one place. This allows you to quickly identify the cause of the problem.
4. Windows Memory Diagnostic
RAM problems can cause your computer to behave erratically. Systems may randomly freeze, experience blue screens, or run extremely slowly due to memory errors. Windows Memory Diagnostic helps you test your RAM without any third-party software.
Open this tool by pressing Win + R , then type "mdsched.exe" and press Enter . The Windows Memory Diagnostic window appears with two options. People often choose Restart now and check for problems because they want immediate results.
3. HWiNFO
While Windows has great built-in tools, sometimes you need more detailed information about your hardware. HWiNFO gives you incredibly detailed information about every component in your computer, along with the ability to monitor temperatures, voltages, and fan speeds in real time.
First, download HWiNFO using the Installer option . Unzip the contents of the file and run the standard 64-bit installer. You can then launch HWiNFO by searching for it like any other application; click Run to open both the Summary and Sensors windows .
The program also tracks long-term statistics and can log data to a file, which helps you identify patterns and diagnose intermittent problems. You can customize which sensors are displayed and hide unnecessary ones.
2. Wintoys
For everyday system diagnostics without the technical complexity, Wintoys consolidates many scattered Windows settings and tools into one neat interface. It is so well designed that it is one of those apps that should be pre-installed on all Windows computers. After downloading Wintoys from the Microsoft Store, it has become my first choice when I need a quick system check instead of in-depth hardware monitoring.
There are a number of ways you can use Wintoys to optimize your computer's performance; for diagnostics, the main dashboard shows live graphs of CPU, GPU, and memory usage. This means you can immediately see if something is consuming too many resources. Then, go to the Health section in the sidebar, and select Repair .
1. CrystalDiskInfo
Storage drive health deserves special attention, and that’s where CrystalDiskInfo comes in. While both HWiNFO and Wintoys can display basic drive information, neither software focuses specifically on predicting drive failures like CrystalDiskInfo.
You can download CystalDiskInfo on SourceForge; the CystalDiskInfo website has anime-themed versions that you may not want. Once downloaded, unzip the file and open DiskInfo64.exe to open the 64-bit version of the application. Once opened, CrystalDiskInfo will immediately scan all of your storage devices and display their health status.
The main window displays the overall health status of each drive in simple terms like Good , Caution , or Bad with color coding. Green means good, yellow means caution , and red means a problem has been detected. You can see the current temperature, total power-on hours, and power cycle count for each drive.
Pay special attention to the Reallocated Sectors Count in the detailed SMART data. As the hard drive begins to develop bad sectors, it moves data to spare areas. Some reallocated sectors are normal over time, but a rapidly increasing number of sectors indicates that the hard drive is starting to fail.
Error code 0xc0000098 in Windows causes a blue screen error on startup. The ACPI.sys driver is often to blame, especially on unsupported versions of Windows 11 like 23H2 or 22H2 or Windows 10.
In some cases, sometimes you start your computer in Safe Mode and the computer freezes. So how to fix the error in this case, please refer to the article below of WebTech360.
Snipping Tool is a powerful photo and video capture tool on Windows. However, this tool sometimes has some errors, such as constantly displaying on the screen.
Every network has a router to access the Internet, but not everyone knows how to make the router work better. In this article, we will introduce some router tips to help speed up the wireless connection in the network.
If the results seem slower than expected, don't be too quick to blame your ISP - mistakes when performing the test can skew your numbers.
In the article below, we will introduce and guide you to learn about the concept of QoS - Quality of Service on router devices.
Windows has a built-in Credential Manager, but it's not what you think it is—and certainly not a replacement for a password manager.
Microsoft charges for its official codecs and doesn't include them in Windows 10. However, you can get them for free without pulling out your credit card and spending $0.99.
While having trouble accessing files and folders can be frustrating, don't panic—with a few simple tweaks, you can regain access to your system.
After creating a USB boot to install Windows, users should check the USB boot's performance to see if it was created successfully or not.
Although Windows Storage Sense efficiently deletes temporary files, some types of data are permanent and continue to accumulate.
You can turn off Windows 11 background apps to optimize performance, save battery and reduce RAM consumption.
When a computer, mobile device, or printer tries to connect to a Microsoft Windows computer over a network, for example, the error message network path was not found — Error 0x80070035 may appear.
We can block Internet access for any application or software on the computer, while other programs can still access the network. The following article will guide readers on how to disable Internet access for software and applications on Windows.
Instead of paying $30 for a year of security updates, keep Windows 10 safe until 2030 with this simple solution.
Error code 0xc0000098 in Windows causes a blue screen error on startup. The ACPI.sys driver is often to blame, especially on unsupported versions of Windows 11 like 23H2 or 22H2 or Windows 10.
In some cases, sometimes you start your computer in Safe Mode and the computer freezes. So how to fix the error in this case, please refer to the article below of WebTech360.
Snipping Tool is a powerful photo and video capture tool on Windows. However, this tool sometimes has some errors, such as constantly displaying on the screen.
Every network has a router to access the Internet, but not everyone knows how to make the router work better. In this article, we will introduce some router tips to help speed up the wireless connection in the network.
If the results seem slower than expected, don't be too quick to blame your ISP - mistakes when performing the test can skew your numbers.
In the article below, we will introduce and guide you to learn about the concept of QoS - Quality of Service on router devices.
Windows has a built-in Credential Manager, but it's not what you think it is—and certainly not a replacement for a password manager.
Microsoft charges for its official codecs and doesn't include them in Windows 10. However, you can get them for free without pulling out your credit card and spending $0.99.
While having trouble accessing files and folders can be frustrating, don't panic—with a few simple tweaks, you can regain access to your system.
After creating a USB boot to install Windows, users should check the USB boot's performance to see if it was created successfully or not.
Although Windows Storage Sense efficiently deletes temporary files, some types of data are permanent and continue to accumulate.
You can turn off Windows 11 background apps to optimize performance, save battery and reduce RAM consumption.
When a computer, mobile device, or printer tries to connect to a Microsoft Windows computer over a network, for example, the error message network path was not found — Error 0x80070035 may appear.
We can block Internet access for any application or software on the computer, while other programs can still access the network. The following article will guide readers on how to disable Internet access for software and applications on Windows.
Instead of paying $30 for a year of security updates, keep Windows 10 safe until 2030 with this simple solution.
