7 steps to minimize game lags in Windows 10

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These seven tips will help you get maximum gaming performance from your PC while retaining a high level of protection.

Losing a multiplayer match because your computer suddenly froze for 50 milliseconds can be bitter. The good news is that you can prevent this mishap in the vast majority of cases. In this post we focus on the software-related problems and solutions that are most common for modern gamers. These seven tips will help you minimize performance-related defeats.

1. Rule out Internet issues

Make sure your Internet has stable speed and latency (signal delay). Open your Web browser and navigate to a comprehensive speed testing service such as speedtest.net or dslreports.com. Make sure that Internet speed is adequate (most games will do fine with 10 Mbit/s, but video streaming the whole thing requires 50–100 Mbit/s) and a really small delay (aka ping). Modern fiber optic channels typically get you a 5–50 ms ping, which is fine for most games. A delay in hundreds of millisecond might be a real obstacle to winning a battle royale.

Fixing this issue might involve experimenting with your router’s Wi-Fi settings, moving it closer to your gaming computer, switching to a wired connection between computer and router (keep in mind that pro players use wired connections only) or even changing your Internet provider. We will cover all that in a separate article one day, but for now let’s switch to software issues and tweaks.

2. Optimize your game’s video settings

If your game is too resource-hungry and your graphics card cannot provide enough processing power, the gaming experience could be frustrating. Setting a lower detail level or reducing resolution in the game settings can help a lot. Focus on reducing eye candy while maintaining things such as viewing distance that help you win. Switch on an FPS indicator if it’s supported by the game settings, and fine-tune settings until you can consistently squeeze 30–60 frames per second out of your system. More is better (and gives you some room for graphics enhancements); less is usually considered unplayable for dynamic games such as shooters. For online gaming more than 60 FPS is highly recommended.

3. Optimize your power settings

This one is critical for laptops but relevant for other computers too. Make sure you’re playing on AC power and have the best performance mode enabled. The easiest way to adjust that is to click the battery icon in the task bar and move the slider to the far right, where the “Best performance” setting is located.

4. Halt unnecessary applications

Any apps that compete for resources with the game can introduce that dreaded lag. It may help to close all browser windows, unneeded chat apps, and everything else that is not system-level and not related to the game you’re playing. This small trick alone can solve the issue with lags.

To get an idea of what apps consume the most memory and processing power, use Windows’ Task Manager app. If you click the “More details” button in the lower part of its window, it will flood you with details on all processes running. Sort this table by the “Memory” and “CPU” columns and consider closing the hungriest processes. You may also find some additional offenders, like a messenger client you didn’t even realize was running in the background, or some other unobtrusive app.

5. Set up antivirus properly

Many gamers think an antivirus or Internet security solution is the app worth stopping. Some go as far as uninstalling it permanently. In reality, this approach is outdated and unhelpful. In fact, it can even make your games run slower!

Consider two things: First, in Windows 10 you can’t have no antivirus at all — if you turn off a third-party solution, Windows Defender automatically jumps into action. Second, not all antiviruses are created equal. Some security solutions have a dedicated gaming mode that minimizes their impact on PC performance, but Windows Defender doesn’t provide such a luxury.

Keep in mind that you probably have one more “bonus” antivirus that you’re not aware of. It’s hidden inside … Google Chrome! That AV also has very limited settings, and nothing particularly useful for gamers. That’s another reason to close browser windows when you’re trying to optimize your computer speed.
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