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Many experts would recommend upgrading your Laptop to Windows 10 or buying a fresh one, which is not a bad option. However, if you want to manage your computer economically, some small hacks would make a huge difference in its performance.
Some “Windows boost-up stories” are based on turning off the most integral features of the operating system, such as visual animations and reducing brightness that might improve functionality but reduce the luxury of using laptop. However, that’s not a good idea. To overcome the barriers to optimal performance, let’s first understand what holds back your laptops speed.
Remove Stubborn Applications/ProgramsIf your Laptop is getting slow, one of the most straightforward fixes is to close as many programs as possible. Some programs, however, continue to run in the background even after you close them. These programs can consume your processing power, causing your laptop to slow down.
For example, “Adobe Acrobat DC” is one such application that persists in its operation even after closing, reducing battery life and laptop performance.
Therefore, it becomes very important to troubleshoot those programs, but “how can we do it”?
How to Identify Applications that Slows down the system without losing Windows
Step 1) Select Task manager, and hit “Ctrl + Alt + Delete” on your keyboard to open the pop-up.
a) For example, in the below screenshot, the highest value of memory (571.6 MB) corresponds to “Google chrome,” Which shows its contribution to slowing down the Laptop.
b) In the second one, you can see the “Very high” Power usage status corresponding to Microsoft word. Which indicates that MS word is using the maximum power of your Laptop in shrinking down its fluency.
Note: Specific programs may be operating in the background required for your Laptop to function correctly. So, before you choose to force stop software, be sure you understand it.
Update Your Operating SystemIf you’ve not updated your operating system (OS) in a while, you may be losing out on new driver and software fixes. It can slow down your Laptop and make you vulnerable to security flaws used by hackers to infect your machine.
Windows typically releases significant feature updates twice a year; patches for strengthening security and addressing bugs, on the other hand, are released every month. If your Laptop is performing slower than usual, check to determine if your system is up to date.
How to Update Operating systemStep 1) Select the Settings icon To open the feature windows.
Step 2) Next, opt for update and security, which will lead to the side tab.
Remove overloading Of Startup ProgramsYou may have too many unnecessary programs open when you first boot up your computer. Some of these programs will ask for permission to run when you boot your computer to encourage you to use them more frequently.
On the other hand, some programs will start automatically every time you turn on your computer without ever requesting permission, which will reduce the loading speed of many necessary operations.
How to Identify Startup that Slows down the system without losing WindowsGo to the startup tab at the Task Manager window to see which programs are set to launch when you boot your Laptop. The application name, status, and startup impact are all displayed here.
Here are steps to identifying slow startup issues:
Step 2) Once the two tabs get opened, see which program has the highest value of “startup impact” and “CPU at startup” on boot.
a) In this case, “Real player with Real Times” has a “HIGH.” startup impact and an “822 MS” startup value. So, by disabling it, a significant amount of laptop RAM will be available for smooth operation.
Note:
a) Unnecessary Low impact programs can be disabled to save battery life; however, it is optional.
b) Secondly, you can also speed up the proceedings by closing all programs before turning off your computer. In this manner, when you boot your laptop, you won’t have applications attempting to start.
Remove Malware that slow down the LaptopWhenever an application or a component of the operating system fails to accomplish its intended role, it shows up with lackluster performances and laptop crashes. You need to check if the crashes become even more frequent. It links to the presence of malware viruses that your software has not noticed. Malicious threats like spyware and computer viruses could be watching your activity, messing with your data, and stealing personal files.
“In 2023, a survey concluded that more than 14% Laptops in Europe were under malware attack. With encompassing 5.04% of mobile devices”.
Unexpected behavior, slow computing, excessive pop-ups, and frequent crashes can all be signs of Malware. Therefore, if you face any of the symptoms listed above, you may have a malware infestation. Malware in operation can take a significant amount of Random Access Memory on your Laptop, leaving little resources for other genuine apps to use. This can result in the high sluggish performance of crucial programs, like your Internet browser or operating system, with slow laptop performance.
For example, basic Malware continuously multiplies to infect the whole drive. If the Laptop’s primary drive is a hard disc drive, the overhead involved in disc I/O will significantly influence performance due to the rise in response latency.
A laptop running on an SSD, on the other hand, would not affect performance. However, the more complex and resource-intensive a virus creates more chances of downplaying computer configuration statistics.
Crypto-currency miners, DDOS software that turns the computer into an enslaved person in a DDOS attack, and even ransomware are examples.
Even with the best laptop settings, the effects of the DDOS virus will be felt when attempting to visit the internet. The infected machine will send out PING and ARP requests at a high rate, reducing network and browsing performance. In short, this would end your Laptop.
How to Identify Malware that Penetrate Your LaptopFor example, the “NOT SECURE” sites shown below are one central Hub of Malware viruses. Therefore, the operator should be cautious when visiting it, and it would be better if these sites were avoided.
Once the Malware has stabilized itself by multiplying at various locations on your Laptop’s hardware, it attaches itself to all files and programs, which results in interruption of Computer performance and operations.
Don’t Rely on Your Machine.While Malware takes over the laptop, you should never trust any application or personal files to secure your data. That is because hackers might use Malware to access applications or files to steal your passwords, delete personal data or leak out your confidential information. The best option here is to upload your data to Google Drive, which assures servers Protection for your privacy.
Quick checks to Avoid Malware virusThere are some basic steps you can do right away to prevent further malware infection, improve Laptop performance, and prevent frequent laptop crashes:
Update your hardware regularly.
Increase the security of your browser.
Avoid visiting dubious websites.
Only download software from reputable websites. Before downloading free software or file-sharing applications, carefully assess them.
Use the following safe email protocol:
Step 1) Open mails from unknown senders with caution.
Step 2) Delete any texts you feel are spam as soon as possible.
Use Hidden Types of Storage CacheClearing Windows Storage Cache
Note: When you choose it, a dark window will emerge. You have no choice except to wait a few moments as it clears the cache. The cache is erased when you close the window, and Windows Store runs automatically.
Clear Temporary Internet Files Cache Using Disk cleanUp
Step 1) Enter “Disk Clean-up” in the Windows search box in the bottom-left corner of the desktop to delete the temporary file cache.
Step 2) Choose the “Disk Clean-up” software from the search results in Windows.
Step 4) A pop-up will display to confirm whether to delete data permanently; choose “Delete Files.” Within a minute clean-up utility will remove all unnecessary files from your Laptop. These unnecessary files are automatically deleted through Configure storage sense once the drive is full. So, this is one way to clean your Laptop.
Delete the Location Cache
Step 3) Select “Location” from the “App Permissions” section in the left-hand window.
Remove Flashing Laptops BIOSBasic Input/Output System (BIOS) is a computer program usually stored in EPROM and is utilized by the CPU to complete start-up procedures when the computer is started. However, it needs to be Flashed after some time. Let’s see.
What’s The Need for Flashing Laptops BIOS?
Some of the reasons for flashing an outdated BIOS are as follows:
Allows the usage of a newer CPU.
Enables the usage of newer RAM chips
Fixes issues that are interfering with your LAPTOP use.
For whatever reason, the BIOS has become corrupted.
Adds new functionality, such as improved overclocking, that you desire.
Note: When flashing a BIOS, always ensure a suitable power source and no danger of power loss while flashing the BIOS ROM. Charge the battery first if you’re flashing a laptop.
How to Flash Laptops BIOSFollowing is the easiest way to flash laptop BIOS.
Step1) Locate the most recent BIOS update file for your machine.
Note: The downloaded BIOS should be compatible with the brand of the Laptop; in this case, we used the BIOS file of “ASUS laptops.”
Step 2) Once the BIOS file is downloaded, copy it in a pen drive.
Note: The Pen drive should be in “FAT32” format. For drives with another format such as “NTFS,” it is mandatory to convert it to “FAT32” format.
Now restart your Laptop while tapping the “Escape” key, which will lead to the opening of a blue window.
Step3) After the Pop-up of the blue window.
1. Select the “FSO” option in the left middle corner. After selecting it, press the left arrow from the keyboard and choose “ASUS. Bios”
2. Select the BIOS File you have copied in the Pen drive and press Enter.
3. Choose the update button to start the process
Note: It may take 5 to 10 minutes to complete, after which your Laptop will reboot to end flash. This will speed up your Laptop.
How to put unused applications to sleep on Windows 10Step 2) Look for the “Privacy” option in Settings and select it.
Note: Alternatively, you can go through the apps list and put the programs you don’t use too often to sleep one by one. That’s the end of it. The disabled programs will be retired. While you open them, they will still start usually (although slightly slower), but they will not slow down your computer’s performance when you aren’t using them.
Use Antivirus to optimize laptopAntivirus Software counters against the detected threats through signatures or suspicious conduct. Its ultimate objective is to neutralize malicious attacks that slow laptop performance, delete confidential data, reduce device downtime, or bring other negative outputs.
There’s an old concept that antivirus gradually slows your pc down using 50%. While this may have as soon as been genuine, it’s not a reality. However, your antivirus may affect the general speed of your tool. It’s frustrating while your arm your computer with protection tools, and then the speed takes a nosedive.
The list of crucial logger kinds has grown considerably, and AV packages’ databases have become massive.
Many people nevertheless suppose that installing antivirus will gradually down their laptop, however as long as you choose your safety software wisely, that won’t occur. One of the reasons for the laptop’s slowdown is because there are too many apps and packages installed, half of which can hardly ever be used or in no way.
Many of those apps are partially loaded while Windows started to evolve to launch faster. Individually, the small put-off each one causes might not be substantial; however, the cumulative effect can be frustrating.
TOTAL AV Malware Removal ToolTotal AV is one of the secure antivirus applications out there. It uses a sturdy antivirus era to offer a practical and great protection package to boost laptop performance. There is a stripped-back free model, which includes the core antivirus engine, and a premium model, which incorporates real-time safety from viruses, adware, ransomware, and different kinds of Malware.
It works in the following way:
1. CLOUD SCANNING
This feature scans the machinery, deciding to keep the background programs running or disable them.
2.BROWSER CLEAN-UP
Total AV removes these cookies to provide security along with cleared space.
3.DATA BREACH CHECK
This feature allows the user to be protected from accessing websites that can affect cyber security, such as data breaches.
4.WEB SHIELD
Web shield offers the feature to disable harmful websites to the user.
5.MOBILE PROTECTION
This feature allows users to lock some apps they don’t want their kids to open.
6.OTHER FEATURES
A valuable feature is a smart scan. It scans a routine antivirus scan to analyze and detect any malware in the machine and make decisions to counter them.
Purchase a Brand New MachineIt is worth examining this as a possibility, although it should be viewed as a last resort. Purchasing a new laptop is, of course, not a frivolous purchase. It can be rather expensive to do so. However, if you’re already paying more than you’d like on maintenance charges, buying a new device may be better and more financially sustainable.
After all, most gadgets come with at least a year of warranty, which indicates that some faults, such as faulty hardware or operating system malfunctions, will be repairable.
If you want a new laptop, you should conduct some research. It’s the ideal time to reassess your hardware requirements, whether professional or personal and any other features you’d like to see in your new device.
Following last year’s transition to remote working, many manufacturers have redesigned their offers by making their gadgets more fit for current working conditions. HP, for example, introduced a new line of home office laptops “built to enable hybrid work settings and increasing personal creative studios.”
Purchasing a new device is also an excellent opportunity to think outside the box. Would a PC be more beneficial to you? What about a tablet or a 2-in-1 device? Now is the right time to consider all of your possibilities.
FAQ: ❓ What are the Software to speed up laptops?Windows, mainly Windows 10, includes tools and features that might help you speed up your computer. Cleaner extends PC upkeep by assisting with full hard drives, garbage files, and infrequently used software that slows down the system.
Following are the recommended software:
💻 How to Diagnose Optimum laptop speed?By using the following steps, you can easily find your laptop speed.
Step 1) Press the Start button.
Step 2) Choose Control Panel.
Step 3) Choose System. Some users may be required to pick System and Security, followed by the system from the following box.
Step 4) Go to the General tab. Your CPU type and speed, memory (or RAM), and operating system are listed here.
💻 How to Make Your Desktop Computers Speed Faster with Windows 10?Following improvements in Visual Effects for Windows 10 can improve its performance.
Step 1) Navigate to this PC on the left-hand menu in File Explorer.
Step 3) Go to Advanced system settings on the left-hand side.
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8 Ways To Speed Up A Slow Iphone (2023)
Dealing with a slow iPhone? There are various reasons why your iPhone might’ve slowed down, such as insufficient memory, too many background processes, outdated software, etc.
So let’s troubleshoot the issue and go through eight tips that help you speed up your iPhone and get it back on track.
1. Restart your iPhone
The first step is to restart your iPhone. If you have an iPhone X or later, press and hold the Side button along with either of the volume buttons. If your iPhone has a Home button, press and hold the side button until the power off slider appears. Release when the slider appears on the screen and drag the slider from left to right to turn off your iPhone.
Wait for about 30 seconds. Then, turn your iPhone on by pressing and holding down the Side button until the Apple logo appears. This refreshes the system and automatically fixes some glitches that may be causing it to run slow.
2. Close unnecessary apps
Most iPhones can handle multitasking very well, but if you’re running a lot of resource-intensive apps such as photo/video editors or a game, your iPhone can lag or slow down.
This is especially noticeable on older phones that may be low on memory. You should force close apps that you’re not actively using and see if that helps to speed up your iPhone.
3. Clear the RAM
Flush out the RAM to bring back the top speed of your iPhone. Read our guide for full instructions about how to clear RAM on iPhone to run faster.
Updating to the latest version of iOS can fix many issues you may be experiencing on your iPhone. You can check for updates by going to Settings → General → Software Update.
5. Turn off Background App and Location services
Certain processes such as Background App Refresh and Location Services consume a lot of power, which can slow down your device. So we recommend turning these off to speed up your iPhone.
Go to Settings → General.
Then, go to Settings → Privacy → Location Services.
Toggle off Location Services.
6. Turn on Reduce Motion on iPhone
The animated visual effects on iOS are cool, but they’re also great at using up precious resources. If your iPhone is lagging, it’s a good idea to turn off these parallax effects.
Go to Settings → Accessibility (In iOS 12 or earlier, General → Accessibility.)
Now, go to Motion and toggle on Reduce Motion.
7. Free up space on your iPhone
If none of the above steps help to speed up your iPhone, your device storage may be too full and could do with some clearing.
To find out how much space you have left, go to Settings → General → iPhone Storage.
I recommend getting rid of apps you no longer need and clearing out big files such as videos, photos, and music. Check out this post for more tips to free up space on your iPhone.
8. Reset to factory settings
Still haven’t been able to make your iPhone run faster? Try resetting it to the factory default. Please note that this will erase all your data and set up your iPhone ‘like new.’ So it’s essential to backup your iPhone first.
Go to Settings → General.
Reset → Erase All Content and Settings.
You’ll have to enter your Apple ID and password to confirm the process.
Your iPhone will be wiped and return to the setup screen you saw when you first used the device. You can then restore your iPhone from a backup.
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Author Profile
Marcus
Marcus is a freelance tech writer/editor with a focus on succinctly explaining consumer devices and their software. His previous work has been published on MakeUseOf where he covered everything from iOS to Git and UI design.
8 Tips To Speed Up Iphone And Prolong The Battery Life
Regarding smartphone speed, iPhones are among the best. I recently bought one of the highest spec Android phones, and it still lag behind my almost-three-year-old iPhone 5S. Opening and closing apps on that Android phone takes a few eye blinks while the process happens instantly on the 5S. The 5S old and smaller capacity battery also lasts longer between charges. I’m not saying that all Android phones are bad because I know several brands that put time and effort to produce good-quality high-performance phones, and are not just copying and pasting their competitors. All I’m saying that, the integration of hardware and software puts Apple’s iPhones above most of the cheap knock-off smartphones. But even so, there are a few things that we can do to speed up iPhones, and make the battery last longer.
General – Upgrade to the Latest iOSAs the general rule of thumb, it’s a good idea that you always upgrade your phone iOS to the latest version. The updates always come with bugs fixes and improvements over the previous versions, so your iPhone’s performance would be better with each upgrade. There are exceptions, of course, for example when your hardware is too old for the iOS version, or when there are unknown bugs that cause unexpected behavior, but that doesn’t happen often.
To upgrade your iOS directly from the phone, open the Settings, scroll down a bit and open General. Then continue to Software Update. If a new update is available, you can do the upgrade from this window. Otherwise, you’ll see the notice that your iOS version is up to date.
Speed Up iPhoneThere are several things that you can do to speed up your iPhone. Since the device is not designed to allow upgrades from the hardware side, the only way to tweak it is from the software side. You can do almost every tweak from the Settings, as long as you know where to look. To save you from the endless scrolling through the tons of entries, here are the most important ones.
1. Disable Transparency and MotionTransparency and Motion are beautiful and cool eye candy that comes with iOS. But if you can live without them, disabling the two will increase the responsiveness of your device. Especially on older devices.
To reduce Transparency, go to Settings – General, and then find Accessibility. Scroll down and choose Increase Contrast, and toggle the Reduce Transparency to On.
2. Disable Background App Refresh
Background App Refresh is the feature that will regularly update apps’ data every certain time interval, even if the app itself currently resides in the background. While the premise of the feature itself is good, not everybody needs constant updates of every app. And if you could use a little bit more power to your device, you can turn it off.
Go to Settings – General, and find Background App Refresh. You can just turn the toggle Off to disable it, or you can disable the feature on individual apps that you don’t need to be updated all the time, and keep the ones that you do.
3. Disable Siri SuggestionsTo disable Siri Suggestions, go to Settings – General, scroll down a little and choose Spotlight Search. Similar to Background App Refresh, you can turn the feature off for all apps, or opt to disable it for individual apps.
Extend Battery Life on iPhoneAll of the above tricks can speed up your iPhone and also add few extra minutes battery power between charges. But if you need to squeeze more juice out of your battery, here are more tips and tricks to try.
1. Use Low Power ModeApple introduces Low Power Mode feature with iOS 9. As the name suggested, the feature will reduce your iOS power consumption by disabling several non-essential features. By default, the feature will be automatically turned on when the phone’s battery dropped below 30% and turned off when your phone is charged at 80% or more.
2. Fix the Battery-Hogger Apps ProblemsBelow the Low Power Mode setting under the Battery, you can see the list of the most power consuming apps and the reason they hog the power. You can analyze the problems and try to fix them to get better battery performance in the future.
For example, if application X consumes more power because of background activities, try to close the app when you are not using it. Or if another app hogged the battery because of doing background location, disable the app’s access to Location Service. If you can’t do anything about it and you don’t need the app, just uninstall it.
3. Turn Off Location ServicesBecause this service relies on GPS satellite data to track your location, it requires more battery power to constantly maintaining the data connection. If you do need the feature for several applications, you can conserve battery by turning off the service for several apps that don’t require location tagging. Or if you can live without the feature, turn it off completely.
You can enable/disable the feature by going to Settings – Privacy, then choose Location Services.
Some apps give the option to allow the service While Using the app. Select this option instead of Always whenever available.
4. Dim the DisplayIt’s obvious that another factor that can influence the battery performance is screen brightness. The brighter your screen is, the shorter battery charge you have. Even though having your phone auto-adjust the screen brightness automatically according to the environment is convenient, you will have more control over your battery life if you turn the feature off and control the brightness manually.
The on/off screen brightness control is located in Settings – Display & Brightness. After you turn it off, you can quickly adjust the brightness via the Control Center by swiping up from the bottom of your screen.
Another obvious tip: set the brightness to low if you are indoor, your iPhone’s battery and your eyes will thank you.
How To Make Windows 10 Faster: 5 Ways To Speed Up Your Pc
Want Windows 10 to run faster? We can help. Take a few minutes to try out these tips, and your machine will be zippier and less prone to performance and system issues.
And for even more goodies, be sure to check out PCWorld’s roundup of Windows 10’s best tips, tricks, and tweaks once you’ve got the operating system running nice and smooth. There’s a lot hiding underneath the surface.
1. Disable programs that run on startupOne reason your Windows 10 PC may feel sluggish is you’ve got too many programs running in the background—programs that you may never use, or only rarely use. Stop them from running, and your PC will run more smoothly.
You can use the Task Manager to help get information about programs that launch at startup and disable any you don’t need.
Many of the programs and services that run on startup may be familiar to you, like OneDrive or Evernote Clipper. But you may not recognize many of them. (Anyone who immediately knows what “bzbui.exe” is, please raise your hand. No fair Googling it first.)
If you’re really nervous about one of the listed applications, you can go to a site run by Reason Software called Should I Block It? and search for the file name. You’ll usually find very solid information about the program or service.
Now that you’ve selected all the programs that you want to disable at startup, the next time you restart your computer, the system will be a lot less concerned with unnecessary program.
2. Disable shadows, animations and visual effectsWindows 10 has some nice eye candy—shadows, animations and visual effects. On fast, newer PCs, these don’t usually affect system performance. But on slower and older PCs, they can exact a performance hit.
The Performance Options dialog box lets you turn off effects that might be slowing down Windows 10.
If you have time on your hands and love to tweak, you can turn individual ones on and off. These are the animations and special effects you’ll probably want to turn off, because they have the greatest effect on system performance:
Animate controls and elements inside windows
Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
Animations in the taskbar
Fade or slide menus into view
Fade or slide ToolTips into view
Show shadows under windows
3. Launch the Windows troubleshooterWindows 10’s troubleshooter can perform maintenance and housecleaning tasks to help speed up your system.
4. Get help from the Performance MonitorThere’s a great tool in Windows 10 called the Performance Monitor that can, among other things, create a detailed performance report about your PC, detail any system and performance issues, and suggest fixes.
To get the report, type perfmon /report into your search box and press Enter. (Make sure there’s a space between “perfmon” and the slash mark.) The Resource and Performance Monitor launches and gathers information about your system. It will say that it will take 60 seconds, but I’ve found that it takes several minutes. When the Monitor finishes, it will launch an interactive report.
The Performance Monitor reports details on system and performance issues.
You’ll find a lot of extremely detailed information in the report, and it can take a lot of time to go through. Your best bet is to first look at the Warnings section, which details the biggest issues (if any) it found on your PC, such as problems with Windows, with drivers and so on. It also tells you how to fix each problem—for example, how to turn on a device that has been disabled.
It is also worthwhile to scroll down to the Resource Overview section, where you’ll find an analysis of how well your CPU, network, disk and memory are performing. Each result is color-coded, with green meaning no problems, yellow meaning potential issues, and red showing a problem.
Beyond that, the Resource Overview also reports performance metrics and explanatory details. For example, for the CPU, it might show green and a utilization of 21%, with the details, “Normal CPU load.” Or for Memory, it might show yellow, with 62% utilization and the details, “1520 MB is available.” Based on what you get, you might want to do something about your hardware—for example, add more memory.
5. Kill bloatwareSometimes the biggest factor slowing down your PC isn’t Windows 10 itself, but bloatware or adware that takes up CPU and system resources. Adware and bloatware are particularly insidious because they may have been installed by your computer’s manufacturer. You’d be amazed at how much more quickly your Windows 10 PC can run if you get rid of it.
Further reading: How to build the ultimate free PC security suite
It’s a good idea to get a second opinion, though, so consider a free tool like Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. The free version scans for malware and removes what it finds; the paid version offers always-on protection to stop infections in the first place.
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is a useful application that will scan for and fix Windows 10 PC problems.
Now you can check for bloatware and get rid of it. Several free programs will do this for you; your best bet is to run several of them, because no single one will find all the bloatware on your PC. Good choices are the PC Decrapifier, Should I Remove It? and SlimComputer.
Try just some of these tricks, and you’ll find that you’ve got a faster Windows 10 PC—and one that is less likely to have any reliability problems.
A Hacker Speaks: How Malware Might Blow Up Your Laptop
We depend on our computers to get work done, and so we try to safeguard them appropriately. But our trusty laptops, desktops, and tablets rely on their own internal network of sophisticated computer chips to function. These tiny chips–called microcontrollers–regulate everything from the battery in your laptop to the headlights on your car–and they aren’t always so secure.
Thankfully, hackers such as Charlie Miller are happy to demonstrate the potential pitfalls of purchasing hardware from manufacturers that don’t secure seemingly “dumb” devices like batteries. Miller is a security researcher for Accuvant Labs, and after demonstrating how a hacker could take over your iPhone with a text message at the Black Hat security conference in 2009, he went looking for a more exciting hack.
“I’d just wrapped a presentation on iPhone hacking and wanted to work on something more flashy,” said Miller during an interview with PCWorld. “I wanted to know, could a remote hacker do something to cause physical damage to a computer? Like, could I set my sister’s laptop on fire?”
As it turns out, he probably could. Miller experimented with the seven or eight MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air models he had won in Pwn2Own hacking competitions over the past three years, and he found that most modern laptop batteries are part of a Smart Battery System that relays information between the battery and the laptop’s operating system to ensure that power is safely stored and discharged. If you’ve ever wondered how your laptop knows exactly how much time you have left before the battery dies, it’s because of this system.
Every laptop battery needs a microcontroller to relay information back and forth, and that microcontroller needs to run firmware independently of the laptop. That firmware is accessible through the laptop, but is not affected if you wipe your laptop’s memory or reinstall the operating system.
This arrangement is a privacy breach waiting to happen: Malicious hackers with access to your laptop could load small spyware programs onto your battery chip, where they would run–undetected by any antivirus software.
Even wiping or replacing the hard drive wouldn’t catch this type of malware, and since these chips regulate critical system functions such as battery levels or charging speed, there is a potential for serious damage.
Thankfully, the Texas Instruments microcontrollers that Miller pulled off of his Apple batteries are password-protected. Anyone who tries to modify the firmware needs to enter two different passwords, which are set by default when the chips leave the factory. The problem is that Apple has not been changing those default passwords, which means it was child’s play for Miller to reprogram his MacBook Air’s battery using default passwords obtained from Texas Instruments’ website.
“Texas Instruments didn’t do anything wrong,” Miller says. “It’s all Apple’s fault for not scrambling the passwords. Other PC manufacturers could use these chips and secure them correctly.”
In fact, many battery manufacturers are doing just that; when Miller bought a replacement battery with the same Texas Instruments chip for his 13-inch MacBook from a third-party manufacturer on eBay, he was unable to access the firmware because the manufacturer had changed the passwords.
“It’s so easy to change these passwords. Apple should definitely do it, but they can’t safely update existing models,” Miller notes. Although Apple and other laptop manufacturers could immediately scramble the passwords with a firmware update, malicious hackers could just reverse-engineer that update to figure out the new password. “They need to start scrambling the passwords before these laptops leave the factory.”
To date we’ve heard no reports of privacy breaches or malware attacks via device firmware, but since batteries and other “dumb” devices are ignored by traditional security software, it’s impossible to know whether their failure is natural or engineered.
“There’s definitely a risk that malware could brick your battery so it never works again,” Miller warns. “I don’t know why someone would do that, except just to be mean.”
“The good news is that malware won’t be able to brick your battery,” Miller claims. “The bad news is that Apple won’t be able to update your battery firmware.”
5 Easy Ways To Speed Up Icloud Backup
Backing up your data to iCloud is not always a straightforward process. Sometimes, it can get stuck or be very slow and take up to several hours. But, it’s not as tricky to understand as the common causes are either the backup size being too large or insufficient space. Additionally, even a poor internet connection can result in a lengthy iCloud backup process.
Fortunately, there are multiple ways you can speed up your iCloud backup. So, let’s quickly check them out together.
Turn Off Backup for Selected AppsDuring the backup process, it’s important to be mindful of what items we’re choosing to back up. This is because we might not need to backup random apps or files that we won’t need in the future. In doing so, we can help the iCloud backup to be much faster since we’ll be reducing the backup size.
Here’s how you can disable and delete backups for various items in these easy steps:
Go to Settings and then tap on your name.
Then, go to iCloud.
Go to Backups and select your device.
This page might take a while to load. But, you’ll see the list of all the apps that have iCloud backup turned on. Browse and slide the toggle to turn off backup for that specific app.
Tap on the pop-up option that says Turn Off and Delete.
As you continue turning off iCloud backup for apps, you can also notice the Backup Size reducing at the top. However, if you wish to turn on back up again for an app, you can follow the same steps above and then easily slide the toggle back.
Clear Up Storage Space on iPhoneA slow iCloud backup process usually results from too much data being backed up at once. Additionally, backing up certain files may not even be necessary. It also doesn’t help when iCloud only allows free 5GB of storage space.
So, the solution here is to check your storage and delete or uninstall media, apps, and files that you deem unnecessary. Then, you can retry backing up data to iCloud.
Clear Storage on iCloud DriveThis method is similar to clearing storage space on your phone. The backup process can be laggy or slow if there’s not enough space on your iCloud. So, if there are unnecessary files taking up space in your iCloud Drive, it’s best to delete them right away. You can visit your iCloud Drive from any Apple device or even a web browser on a Windows PC.
On iPhone or iPad
Open the Files app and tap on the Browse tab.
Tap on the More button in the upper-right corner. Then, tap on Select.
To again erase the files from the Recently Deleted folder, go back to Locations.
Tap on Recently Deleted. Select all the items you want to delete and then tap on Delete.
On Mac
Launch Finder and open the iCloud Drive folder.
Drag a file to the Trash icon. You can also delete the files again from the Trash.
On Windows
Log in to the iCloud app for Windows.
Activate iCloud Drive and open the iCloud Drive folder.
Now, you can select all the files you don’t want to keep anymore.
Improve Internet SpeedBesides the backup size problems on your phone, a weak internet connection is another culprit to a slow iCloud backup. You can also first verify this issue by checking the upload speed of your network. So, we simply need to make the network speed faster. Although this solution may seem simple, it plays an important role in the speed of your iCloud backup.
Regardless of the reasons, here are some ways you can improve your internet connection’s speed:
Close any active apps running in the background.
Turn off Low Data Mode.
Enable LTE data network.
Turn Airplane mode on and off.
Place your device near the Wi-Fi router.
Switch to a 5 GHz frequency band.
Switch to another private network if possible.
Update iOS.
Contact your internet service provider.
Back Up Large Files to Another PlatformUsually, photos and videos take up the majority of space and can slow down the process of the iCloud backup. So, you can opt for transferring such files to another platform, like your computer or an external hard drive. But before you do this, make sure to turn off backup for Photos on iCloud by following the steps above.
After moving your files to another PC or a hard drive, you can browse and manually back up only the important photos/videos to iCloud. Doing so will save you plenty of time in the backup process.
If you’re still facing a slow or stuck iCloud backup issue, you can contact Apple Support anytime.
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