Why does my computer only get slow during video calls?

Video calls encode and decode video continuously, which is CPU-heavy, and they run inside the browser alongside everything else you have open. Freeing memory and closing other heavy tabs before a call is usually enough.

How do I make my computer faster for working with many tabs?

Stop paying for the ones you are not using. Releasing an unused tab’s memory keeps it in place while returning what it holds, which is how a thirty-tab session fits on a machine that could not otherwise carry it.

What slows a computer down most while gaming?

Everything running behind the game — browsers, chat apps, launchers and recording software — competing for memory and CPU. Background load matters more than most in-game settings.

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August 26, 2026 · 5 min read

How to make a computer faster for the things you actually do

Video calls, thirty tabs, photo editing and games each strain a different part of the machine. Generic advice helps generically — this is what helps for your work.

“Make the computer faster” is not really one goal. Editing photos strains a different part of the machine than sitting in video calls, and advice that helps one can do nothing for the other.

Find what you actually do.

If you live in a browser with many tabs

Your bottleneck is memory, essentially always. Each tab holds its own, and the ones you have not looked at since Tuesday cost exactly what the one in front of you does.

The fix is not fewer tabs, it is not paying for the idle ones — release what they hold while leaving them open. This is the difference between a thirty-tab habit being expensive and being free.

Second lever: extensions. They run in every tab, so their cost multiplies by your tab count rather than being fixed.

If you spend the day in video calls

Calls are CPU work — encoding and decoding video continuously — and they run in the browser next to everything else you have open. The stutter people blame on their connection is often local contention.

Before a call, release the memory held by tabs you are not presenting from, and close anything doing background video. On a laptop, plug it in and set the power mode to favour performance: an hour-long call on battery is where thermal and power limits bite hardest.

If you edit photos or video

This is the one case where more RAM is usually the honest answer. Large images and timelines genuinely need the space, and no amount of housekeeping substitutes for capacity.

Before spending, make sure you are not competing with yourself: an editor and a browser holding four gigabytes are fighting for the same memory, and the browser is far easier to reclaim. Scratch disk space matters too — keep the drive well clear of full.

If you game

Background load is the lever most people never pull. A game competing with a browser, a chat client, a launcher and a recording tool is working with what is left over.

Close or release the browser before playing rather than after the frame rate disappoints you. On a laptop, plug it in — many models cap performance substantially on battery — and make sure it is on a hard surface so it is not throttling for heat.

If you mostly use email, documents and the web

Then the machine is almost certainly fine, and the slowness is accumulation rather than capacity: a long startup list, a full drive, a browser that has been open for weeks.

Ten minutes of housekeeping will typically restore it completely. This is the group most likely to be told they need a new computer and least likely to actually need one.

The part that is the same for everyone

Whatever you do with it, the machine slows down when it runs out of memory, when the drive has no room, or when it is too hot to run at full speed. Use case decides which of those you hit first — not whether you hit them.

Common questions

Why does my computer only get slow during video calls?: Video calls encode and decode video continuously, which is CPU-heavy, and they run inside the browser alongside everything else you have open. Freeing memory and closing other heavy tabs before a call is usually enough.
How do I make my computer faster for working with many tabs?: Stop paying for the ones you are not using. Releasing an unused tab’s memory keeps it in place while returning what it holds, which is how a thirty-tab session fits on a machine that could not otherwise carry it.
What slows a computer down most while gaming?: Everything running behind the game — browsers, chat apps, launchers and recording software — competing for memory and CPU. Background load matters more than most in-game settings.