4 ways to remove programs from Windows

Deleting the heaviest and most unused programs is the best way to prevent our computer from becoming slow over time, here's how to do it

Keeping your PC tidy and clean is the best way not to affect the performance of our computer over time. What makes your PC slow almost always are the too many programs installed on it. Fortunately, cleaning up your computer is not difficult, so here's how you can do it.

To remove a program or application from your computer, there is no single method. The traditional one though is from the Control Panel. Just go into this section and look for the software you want to uninstall in the Programs folder. To find it we have to click on the "Uninstall a program" item that we will find under the Programs item itself. Once this is done a list will open with all the software installed on our computer. We can sort the list by date of installation or by size. Once you've found the app you want to delete, just right-click on its name and select Uninstall from the menu that appears.

Remove preinstalled apps

Windows offers several applications by default. However, not everyone will find these programs useful. In fact, many of us have never even opened the pre-installed programs like Builder 3D, Xbox App or Groove Music. So why keep them on your computer, taking up memory? To deactivate the preinstalled apps we need to open the Windows PowerShell and type: ppxPackage *3dbuilder* | Remove-AppxPackage. In this example we have chosen 3D Builder, but just enter the name of the app you want to disable between the asterisks and you're done. If we don't want to use the manual commands we can rely on a downloadable tool called 10appsManager. The program allows us to delete default applications and also manage downloads from the Windows Store.

Save Safe Mode

If problems with applications prevent us from using the computer properly we can always run the machine in Safe Mode to eliminate programs that are harmful to PC performance. There are two methods to activate safe mode: from the settings or from the login screen. In the first case you have to press the Windows key (the window icon) plus I. Then you have to select Update and Security from the menu that appears and then select Restore. From the Advanced Startup section that will open we have to select "restart now". After restarting the PC on the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup settings > Restart. After the PC restarts, you will see a list of options. Select 4 or F4 to start your PC in Safe Mode. If you expect to use the Internet, select 5 or F5 for Safe Mode with Networking. To do the same operation from the login screen instead, restart your PC and when the login screen appears, hold down the SHIFT key while selecting restart. After restarting your PC on the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshooting & Options & Restart. Again after the PC restarts, you will see a list of options. Select 4 or F4 to start your PC in Safe Mode. If you expect to use the Internet, select 5 or F5 for Safe Mode with Networking.

Data Recovery

If deleting a couple of programs didn't make your computer run faster, then it's recommended to perform a data recovery. Starting from a backup, or restoring the settings to the factory state.