Windows 8’s built-in defrag utility isn’t bad, but there are a few free solutions out there that are much better. If you have a hard drive, the first thing we’d recommend is replacing Windows 8’s built-in disk defragmenter (do not use a disk defragmenter on a solid state drive). Because of this, it’s often beneficial to replace or augment some of the tools built into Windows 8 and manually specify some settings to prevent the OS from having to manage them on the fly. Many free third-party applications are more comprehensive and offer additional features than Microsoft’s built-in tools and the adaptive nature of a few of Windows’ features consume resources and can affect the user experience on slower hardware. Microsoft may have made great strides in recent years to improve the reliability and performance of Windows, and the company does include some useful tools to help users maintain their systems, but there is always room for improvement. As such, it is paramount that users looking to migrate and get the most out of Windows 8 download the latest patches for their software and install the latest drivers for their hardware. We managed to remedy the situation with some tweaking and streamlining, and now we know enough to show you how you can optimize Windows 8 on an older PC.īefore we dive into the actual Windows 8 tweaks we made to our low-end Eee PC, we should mention that it is exceedingly common (and dare we say expected) that any new operating system will have its fair share of bugs. It wasn’t until the system was taxed with a handful of running applications and multiple open browser windows that things significantly slowed. The Eee PC 900 system had been updated with 2GB of memory and a 64GB solid state drive, though.ĪSUS The underpowered Asus EEE PC 900 netbook is almost five years old, but it can still run Windows 8 pretty smoothly with a few tweaks.Īs you probably suspect, Windows 8’s performance isn’t stellar on a machine with such meager specifications, but the OS was surprisingly smooth. To test that theory we installed it on an ancient Asus Eee PC 900, which is powered by a lowly, single-core Intel Celeron M 900MHz CPU and paltry integrated Intel 915GM graphics. With that said, Windows 8 should still install and run on some systems that don’t meet these requirements.

To snap apps, you need a screen resolution of at least 1366 x 768.

To access the Windows Store to download and run apps, you need an active Internet connection and a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768.

To use touch, you’ll need a tablet or a monitor that supports multi-touch.

How to check ram in windows 8