1. Upgrade your hardware: One of the best ways to reduce CPU usage is to upgrade your hardware components. This may require a more expensive investment, but if you are already experiencing performance issues and high CPU usage, it can be worthwhile. Consider upgrading the RAM, processor, hard drive and graphics card for an overall increase in performance.
2. Close resource-hungry programs: Check your list of active processes for any programs that may be consuming more resources than necessary. If you can, close or uninstall any applications that are not being used to free up some space.
3. Set Processor Scheduling: Go to the Advanced tab in the System Properties window, then click on the “Settings” button under the Processor Scheduling section. From here, you can set the proportion of processor usage given to background processing and foreground processing. You can also choose to dedicate more RAM to the processor if needed.
4. Adjust Visual Effects: Open the System Properties window (as described above) and find the ‘visual effects’ tab. Here you can adjust how Windows manages the appearance of your system. This can help improve performance.
5. Install an Anti-Virus Program: Installing a virus protection program such as McAfee or Norton can help protect your system from malicious threats and viruses which can result in high CPU usage.
6. Clean Out Temporary Files: Open the Disk Cleanup utility on your system to delete any unnecessary files. This will free up more memory on your computer system and can help reduce CPU usage.
7. Disable Startup Programs: Many programs attempt to run at startup, which can slow your computer down and increase CPU usage. To disable these programs from starting automatically, open the Task Manager, go to the Startup tab and disable any unnecessary programs.
8. Utilize Task Manager: The Task Manager can help you identify which processes are causing high CPU usage. This can help you determine if a particular process needs to be removed or closed to reduce CPU usage.
9. Use Resource Monitor: Windows offers a built-in tool called Resource Monitor that can provide detailed information about your system’s resources, including the CPU usage. This can help you better identify any processes that may be causing high CPU usage.
10. Use WinUtilities Professional Edition to Reduce CPU Usage: WinUtilities Professional Edition is a comprehensive PC optimization suite that helps you optimize, clean and maintain your system. It includes features such as “Registry Cleaner”, “Junk File Cleaner”, “System Optimizer” and “Duplicate File Finder”, which can help reduce CPU usage by removing any unnecessary files and programs.