Speed Up Windows for Editing: Startup, msconfig and RAM Fixes

Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager, then open the Performance tab. Now play your editing timeline or apply a Photoshop filter, and watch which graph hits the top.

1. 1
   Disable startup apps you don't need

   Task Manager > Startup apps. Right-click things like game launchers, chat apps, updaters and cloud sync you do not use daily, and choose Disable. Microsoft recommends this to reduce background activity^[1]. Do not disable your antivirus or audio/graphics drivers.

2. 2
   Turn off background apps

   In Settings > Apps, check apps that are allowed to run in the background and switch off the ones you don't need^[1].

3. 3
   Close browsers while editing

   A browser with 30 tabs can use several GB of RAM. Close it, or at least the heavy tabs like YouTube and web apps, while editing.

Press Win + R, type msconfig and press Enter. This opens System Configuration. It is mainly a troubleshooting tool. Its most useful feature is a clean boot: starting Windows with only Microsoft services, to find out if some third-party software is slowing things down or making your editor crash^[2].

1. 1
   Open the Services tab

   Tick 'Hide all Microsoft services' first. This is very important.

2. 2
   Disable the remaining services

   Click 'Disable all'. These are only non-Microsoft services.

3. 3
   Restart and test your editor

   If editing is suddenly smooth, one of those services was the problem. Turn them back on a few at a time to find which one.

4. 4
   Go back to normal startup

   When done testing, open msconfig again and choose 'Normal startup' on the General tab^[2].

1. 1
   Set Power mode to Best performance

   Settings > System > Power & battery > Power mode > Best performance^[1]. Laptops quietly slow down the processor to save battery.

2. 2
   Stay plugged in while editing

   Many laptops, especially with a dedicated graphics card, run noticeably slower on battery. Edit and export with the charger connected.

3. 3
   Adjust visual effects

   Search 'Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows' and choose 'Adjust for best performance'^[1]. You lose some animations, but older laptops feel lighter.

Many laptops have two graphics chips: a basic one built into the processor, and a stronger dedicated one (like NVIDIA or AMD). Windows sometimes runs your editing app on the weak one.

1. 1
   Set graphics preference per app

   Settings > System > Display > Graphics. Add Premiere Pro, After Effects, Photoshop or DaVinci Resolve and set each to 'High performance'.

2. 2
   Update the graphics driver

   Install the latest driver from your GPU maker's website. NVIDIA offers 'Studio' drivers meant for creative apps. Microsoft also recommends keeping drivers updated^[1].

Inside Premiere Pro, check File > Project Settings > General and make sure the renderer says GPU Acceleration (not Software Only), if your card supports it^[4].

1. 1
   Keep 15–20% of the drive free

   When your C: drive is almost full, Windows and your editor both slow down. Use Settings > System > Storage to clean temporary files, and turn on Storage Sense^[1].

2. 2
   Clear your editor's media cache

   Editors store preview files that can grow to many GB. In Premiere Pro, go to Preferences > Media Cache and delete unused cache files^[3]. DaVinci Resolve and After Effects have similar cache clean-up options.

3. 3
   Put cache on the fastest drive

   If you have both an SSD and a hard disk, set the media cache and scratch disks to the SSD, and keep old finished projects on the hard disk.

• Lower the playback resolution to 1/2 or 1/4 while editing. It does not affect the final export^[4].
• Use proxies for heavy phone or 4K footage. Edit light copies, export from originals. See our guide on editing phone videos on a basic laptop.
• Render the preview of heavy effect sections (Premiere: Sequence > Render In to Out) so they play in real time.
• Save projects on the SSD and turn on auto-save, so a crash doesn't cost you hours.

You may see videos recommending 'tiny' or 'lite' versions of Windows, which are unofficial modified copies with many parts removed. They can feel faster on very old machines, but we do not recommend them for a machine you use for client work.

• They are not made by Microsoft, so you are trusting whoever modified them.
• Removed parts can break updates, drivers or creative software in unexpected ways.
• Security updates may be missing, which is risky when handling client files.

The safer path is the fixes above on genuine Windows, plus an SSD and RAM upgrade if needed.

Many of us learned editing on machines far slower than today's basic laptops, where a single render ran overnight. The lesson from those years still holds: a well-organised system and good habits matter as much as raw power.

Once your system is fast, the next step is skill. See the video editing course details or the motion graphics course.