Chapter 14:
Maintenance and Performance Guide

Performing maintenance and optimizing its performance is a good way to ensure you’re getting the most out of your device. The tools that can help you do this are included in Windows and they’re easy to use. In this section we’ll share our advice as well as the best practices that will help your device run smoothly.

How to Use Windows Update on Your PC or Tablet

The Windows Update utility program provides an automatic and easy-to-use solution for installing software updates for Windows 8.1 on your PC or tablet. If enabled, this feature will scan your system to locate outdated software. You can either set the program to automatically download official updates from Microsoft whenever they are available or have it prompt you for permission first.

How to Turn On Automatic Updates for Windows 8.1

Downloading the latest updates from Microsoft is very important as they often come with performance and security improvements. Here’s how you can turn on Windows Update and customize how the software works:

1. Open the Charms Bar and click or tap on Settings.

2. Click or tap on Change PC settings.

3. Click or tap on Update and recovery.

4. While in the Windows Update tab, click or tap on Choose how updates get installed.

5. You will see several fields on the next screen.

If you have a PC that’s connected to a corporate network (via a network domain, for example), you might have to ask your system/IT administrator to turn on Windows Update.

How to Look for Windows Updates Manually

While automatic updates are recommended by Microsoft as they ensure that you are always running up-to-date software with all of the latest security features, you do not have to turn them on. ’There are two major reasons why a lot of advanced users choose to update their Windows manually:

Updates can sometimes take a lot of time to complete and it is good to be in control of when they are going to be applied.

Having Automatic Windows Update running in the background might negatively influence the performance of lower-spec PCs.


However, if you do choose to turn this feature off, then remember to occasionally check for updates manually. Here’s how:

Open the Charms bar and click or tap on Settings.

Click or tap on Change PC settings. Next, click or tap on Update and recovery.

Click or tap on the Check now button.

If updates are available, click or tap on Install now to download and apply the latest updates.

With every update, you will be required to agree to the terms and conditions. After the download and installation is completed, click or tap on Finish in the dialogue window.

Depending on the update itself, you might be required to restart your PC.

How to View, Hide and Restore Updates

It is possible to hide unwanted updates so that you are no longer notified about their availability. This is not recommended by Microsoft and the feature is intended for advanced users.


To view all of your installed updates, do the following:

Open the Charms bar and click or tap on Settings.

Click or tap on Change PC settings. Next, click or tap on Update and recovery.

Click or tap on View your update history.


To hide an available update, do the following:

Open the Charms Bar and click or tap on Search.

In the search box, enter the text Hide or unhide updates. From the list of results, click or tap on Hide or unhide updates to open the settings menu.

To hide an important update, click or tap on the link that tells you important updates are available.

To hide optional updates, click or tap on the link that tells you optional updates are available.

On the next screen, select the update that you want to hide and then either press and hold (for touch devices) or right-click the item and then click or tap on Hide update.

The selected update(s) will now be hidden and you will not receive any notifications about them.


However, if in the future you wish to unhide and download them, you can do the following to restore updates:

Open the Control Panel and click or tap on System and Security.

Click or tap on Windows Update and then click or tap on Restore hidden updates.

Select the update that you want to download and then click or tap on Restore.

The Windows Update program will launch and automatically check for updates. You will then be asked if you wish to proceed with downloading the selected updates.

How to Optimize and Free Up Space on Your Hard Drive in Windows 8.1

Optimizing your hard drive and freeing up space is one of the best and easiest ways to improve the overall performance of your Windows 8.1 computer. The reason why it is so easy is because Microsoft has developed and included a couple of valuable optimization tools into their operating system that will help you optimize the hard drive without the need for third-party tools.

How to Manually Optimize Your Hard Drive

You can optimize your hard drive manually by configuring and running the included optimization tools. The process is very simple, but there are a few requirements:

You cannot optimize a network drive as it is not a physically connected piece of hardware.

You cannot optimize a drive that was formatted using any of the following file systems: NTFS, FAT, or FAT32.

A drive needs to be running properly before it can be optimized. If the drive you want to use does not appear on the list, then you need to repair it first (see the next section for further instructions).


To optimize your hard drive in Windows 8.1 follow these steps:

Open the Charms Bar and click or tap on Search.

In the search box, type “Defragment” and then click or tap on Defragment and optimize your drives from the list of results.

You can also open the Control Panel and search for the same keyword (as seen below).

This will open the defragmentation tool. You will see a section labeled Current status or just Status (depending on your version of Windows).

Under the Status section, locate the hard drive you want to optimize and click or tap on the element.

Click or tap on Analyze to run an analysis test. The results will tell you if optimization is recommended for the selected drive.

After the analysis is completed, the current status column will display a percent value that corresponds to the percentage of the fragmentation.

If the value is more than 10%, you should optimize the hard drive. Just click or tap on Optimize to run the process.

This task might take a lot of time to finish (up to several hours). During this time, you can still use your PC, but lower-spec devices will have a significant drop in performance while the process is running.

How to Repair a Hard Drive in Windows 8.1

As explained in the previous section, if your hard drive does not appear in the list, then it likely has one or more errors that need to be repaired. Windows 8.1 comes with a handy tool that can fix a lot of problems and usually this is all that you need. To run this repair tool, follow these steps:

Open the Charm Bar and click or tap on Search.

In the search box, type “This PC” and then click or tap on This PC from the list of results.

Press and hold or right-click the drive that you want to repair to bring up the contextual menu. Click or tap on Properties.

In the Properties window, click or tap on the Tools tab and then under the label Error checking click or tap on Check.

This will run an automatic diagnostics and repair tool. Follow the instructions on the screen to scan and repair the hard drive.

After the process is finished, you will have to restart your PC.

How to Check Space on Your PC and Use Disk Cleanup

If you’re concerned about storage space on your PC, there are a few built-in tools that make it simple to check and clean-up your hard drive. To start, check how much free space is left on the drive. Here’s how:

Open the Charm Bar and click or tap on Settings.

Click or tap on Change PC Settings.

Click or tap on PC and devices, and then click or tap on Disk space.

In the section Free up space on this PC, you’ll see the total amount of free space as well as the total capacity of the disk.

If you don’t see Disk space in step three, then you do not have the update KB 2919355 that introduced this change. Read our guide on using Windows Update to learn how to download and install official updates from Microsoft.


An alternative method to check your disk space:

Open the Charm Bar and click or tap on Search.

In the search box, type “This PC” and then click or tap on This PC from the list of results.

You will see a list of all drives associated with your device. Below the graphic indicator, you’ll see two numbers – your current disk usage and the maximum capacity that is available.


If you are concerned with the current storage space situation, you can free up some space by running the Disk Cleanup tool. It will remove old application files and data that are no longer being used. You have control over a lot of parameters and you’ll be able to prevent the program from accidentally deleting important files. Here’s how you can run Disk Cleanup:

Open the Charms Bar, click or tap on Settings and click or tap on Control Panel.

Alternatively, you can right-click or press and hold the Windows Start Key in the Desktop and select Control Panel from the list (as seen below).

Once you’ve opened the Control Panel, type “Admin” in the search box. Click or tap on Administrative Tools from the list of results.

In the next window, double-click or double-tap on Disk Cleanup.

If you have more than one drive, the system will ask you to select the drive you wish to clean up. Select the drive you want to clean and click or tap on OK.

Follow the on-screen instructions to configure Disk Cleanup. Once you’ve done the configuration, click or tap Delete files and Disk Cleanup will delete all the files that match the criteria.

Using the Task Manager to Monitor and Boost Performance in Windows 8.1

The Task Manager has always been a very powerful tool and it has received even more features in Windows 8.1. You can use the Task Manager to monitor performance of your PC and identify which programs or services might be causing performance issues. However, the functionality of this tool doesn’t just end with monitoring. By using the Task Manager, you can actively boost your PC’s performance, troubleshoot problems and terminate unresponsive applications and services.

How to Open the Task Manager in Windows 8.1

The Task Manager has a lot of shortcuts associated with it and there were always many ways to open this tool. When Windows 8 introduced touch support even more ways to open the tool were introduced. You’re free to use whichever suits you:

Press Control + Shift + Delete on your keyboard (“the three finger salute”) to open the Security screen. From this screen, you can click on Task Manager to open this tool.

Press Control + Shift + Escape on your keyboard to launch the Task Manager directly.

Press the Windows key () + X on your keyboard and select the Task Manager from the menu that pops up.

You can right-click or press and hold the Windows Start button in the Desktop and select the Task Manager from the contextual menu.

You can search for “Task Manager” in the Control Panel search box or via the Search charm.

How to Use the Processes Tab

The Processes tab is opened by default and it displays all of the currently running processes along with their CPU, memory, disk and network usage. In Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 all processes have been divided into three categories: apps, background processes and Windows system processes.

The data itself has been color-coded, with the darker colors representing the “heaviest” processes.

Clicking or tapping on of the columns will sort all of the processes based on the values in that column. This makes it easy to identify the highest spenders and monitor how they handle resources.

If you right-click or press and hold any of the items in the Processes tab, you will see a contextual menu for the selected item. Here you will have several options, but the three most important ones that you are likely to use are:

End task – this will close the task and terminate all of its associated processes. Usually, you would use this option for programs that have become unresponsive.

Search online – this option will open your browser and search online for information about the selected process. This is very handy if you need to identify an unknown process.

Properties – provides additional information about the selected process.

How to Customize the Performance Graph in Task Manager

The performance tab in the Task Manager has been redesigned and it is very different from what you might have used in older versions of Windows. The new design is modern, the graphs are easier to navigate and there is more control over how the information is presented.

On the left sidebar you can switch between the CPU, your main working memory (RAM), your drive and Network connections to monitor their performance. Double-clicking or double-tapping on the graphs will switch between the full view and summary. You can also right-click or press and hold to open a contextual menu that will reveal more options that allow you to customize how the data is presented visually.

However, one of the best options has to be the simple copy-to-clipboard feature which makes it very easy to copy and paste performance information. Just right-click or press and hold on one of the items in the left sidebar (see screenshot below) and click or tap on Copy.

This will copy performance information to your clipboard and you can now paste this data into Notepad, Word or your email client. This is very valuable if you are communicating with support and need to send them some system information regarding the performance of your CPU or disks.

How to Optimize Your Windows Startup

In Windows 8 and 8.1, the Task Manager has a new tab called Startup. This has been a long-requested feature and it is finally present. Users can now use this tab to optimize their PC’s startup by disabling third-party applications that launch with the OS.

In previous versions users would be discouraged of customizing some of the available startup settings as they accidentally turn off important system utilities or drivers. Those programs are hidden from the Startup tab and there is no need to worry about it.

If you can’t decide whether or not you should disable a program from launching during the startup process, you can consult the Startup impact column. Windows will measure how much every startup item is impacting (slowing down) the startup process. A good rule of thumb is to disable programs that are marked with “High”.

How to Manage Power Plans and Save Battery Power in Windows 8.1

Users who own a laptop with Windows 8.1 or a tablet device with Windows RT have a lot of tools at their disposal when it comes to managing and conserving battery power. While power consumption greatly depends on your usage and the device’s hardware, there are still a lot of ways to lower it just by using the built-in tools and a bit of application micro-management. In this guide, we will show you how to create and optimize your power plans. You can also read our article on using the Windows Task Manager to monitor and improve performance.

Power Plans in Windows 8.1 and Windows RT

By default, your device will come with a couple of power plan presets that have already been configured. Users with Windows RT will have InstantGo, which comes with only one premade power plan – Balanced. Laptop devices, on the other hand, will have two additional power plans – Power Saver and High Performance. You can select any of them by clicking on the battery icon in the system tray on the Taskbar or by entering the Power Options menu (see the next section for detailed instructions).

Here’s an overview of these premade power plans and when they should be used:

High performance will maximize screen brightness and increase PC performance if there is hardware support on your device. Typically, this means that your processor will enter Turbo mode (if available). In this mode, the CPU works at a faster clock speed, which increases performance, but consumes more power.

Balanced offers optimized, full performance only when you are running intensive tasks and uses smart predictions to save power when you don’t need it. For most users, this is the best power plan, especially if you’ll be able to recharge your device within a couple of hours.

Power saver is your go-to plan when you need to save as much battery power as possible, because you will not be able to charge your device anytime soon. This plan will save power by reducing the PC’s performance, preventing Turbo mode and considerably decreasing screen brightness.

How to Create Your Own Power Plan

Sometimes the premade power plans won’t offer exactly what you are looking for. The good news is that you can create your own as well. Creating your own power plan is very easy. Follow these steps:

Open the Charms Bar and click or tap on Search.

Enter “power options” in the search bar and click or tap on Power options from the list of results.

In this settings window, you will see a list of all your power plans. You can switch between them by clicking or taping on the radio button next to them.

To create a new power plan, click or tap on Create a power plan and follow the instructions in the dialogue window.

On the next screen, you’ll be able to enter the name of the power plan as well as the preset you want to work on (as seen below).

Every power plan has two modes that you can customize. One mode determines the power options when the device is plugged in and the other will determine the options when the device is using the battery power. Customize these options according to your preferences.

Generally, if the device is plugged in to a power source, it makes sense to use high performance settings, but it is up to you to customize each power plan according to the situation. For an economy plan, it is advised to use the Power Saver template along with low brightness.


Previous Chapter

Next Chapter


Privacy Policy Terms of Service EULA Site Map

© Solvusoft Corporation 2011-2023. All Rights Reserved.