How to increase download speed in Windows 10

Windows 10 is known to be a more resource-hungry OS. You may come across a situation where downloading something from your PC browsers gives you the worst speed even if you have a good internet connection. This issue may occur due to various reasons. This article explains various reasons for slow internet speed and explains how to increase download speed in Windows 10.

Reasons behind slow download speeds on windows 10

1. Background running apps are using your internet bandwidth and data.
2. Download speed capped at a particular speed in windows settings.
3. Automatic windows updates are enabled, which are using your internet bandwidth, causing slow download speed.

We will see how to boost download speed by fixing these problems.

How to increase download speed in Windows 10?

There are some fixes to increase download speed in windows 10 by performing some tasks. These solutions are actually tested and worked for me. You can try these fixes to increase download speed in chrome browser while playing online games, streaming online videos, etc.

Method1 – Remove “Limit Reservable bandwidth”

Windows 10 default settings for bandwidth use are set to 80%. Meaning you can only use 80% of your data, and 20% of bandwidth is reserved for system use(updates, etc.).

You can remove this limit and improve download speed

Step1: Open the Run tool by pressing Windows Key + R buttons from the keyboard.

Step2: type gpedit.msc and click OK to open group policy editor. For Windows 10 Home users, follow this guide to enable gpedit.msc on windows 10 home.

Step3: Now go to the path mentioned below –

Computer Configuration --> Administrative Templates --> Network --> QoS Packet Scheduler

Step4: Double click on the Limit reservable bandwidth to open its options.

Step5: From newly opened windows, first click on enable the option to enable the settings and then type 0 in bandwidth limit percentage.

Step6: Click OK to save the changes.

Restart the PC once, and you can your download speed is increased now.

Method2 – Turn Off Automatic Windows Updates

Microsoft has set default option to automatic updates turned ON in Windows 10. This update frequently runs in the background and download updates to keep your windows updated.  Automatic windows update cause both slow internet speed and slow PC performance. To increase download speed, turning off the auto-updates is essential.

Step1: Open settings and select update and security

Step2: From the options, click on advanced options under update settings.

Step3: Now turn off the option, “Automatically download updates….”

Step4: Now click on delivery optimization, and turn off allow downloads from other PCs.

You have now turned off the automatic windows updates. However, some users complain that performing the above steps won’t disable auto-updates, and windows keep eating their valuable data. To overcome their situation, we have made a separate guide to disable windows 10 updates completely. Do check that article also from the below link.

Most important – How to completely disable windows update in windows 10

Method3 – Turn off the apps that are consuming more internet data

Finding and turning off the unnecessary data hopping apps will add value to your query of how to increase download speed in windows 10.

Step1: Right-click on the taskbar and open the “task manager” option.

Step2: First, click on the More details option to expand the task manager functionality.

Step3: Then click on the “Performance” tab, and at the bottom, select “Open Resource Monitor“.

Step4: Now, select the “Network” tab and find the program that is consuming more data. To close the unnecessary program, right-click on it and select End Process.

Now check your download speed; it should be improved.

Method4 – Disable Large Send Offload (LSO)

LSO is a Windows feature that uses the internet to sync background running apps like music services. LSO sends and receives internet data without noticing you. Turning it off can surely improve internet speed.

Step1: Press Win. + R buttons to launch the Run tool.

Step2: type devmgmt.msc and hit OK to open the device manager tool.

Step3: Expand the Network Adaptors option and select your network Card. Normally (and for me), it’s Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller.

Step4: Double click on it to open the additional settings in the new pop-up window. Select the Advanced tab from here.

Step5: Now, from the list, select Large Send Offload v2 (IPv4), then select Disabled from the drop-down menu.

Step6: Do the same for the Large Send Offload v2 (IPv6) option, if available on your network card.

Method5 – Use download managers to improve download speed in windows 10

Regular browsers are not that optimized for downloading large files. Also, downloading the file in browsers can consume more resources, causing the browser to stop working and ultimately fail the downloading.

Instead, you can use download managers designed just for downloading, which can improve download speed by taking all available bandwidth. Also, download managers can download files in multiple threads, which enables the parallel downloading feature.

Some good download managers are internet download manager, Orbit Downloader, JDownloader, etc.

Method6 – Close Background Running Apps to increase download speed

Sometimes too many installed programs, multitasking, leave them to run in the background. Such apps then consume your data and cause slow internet on windows 10 / download speed. Such apps should be identified and turned off to speed up internet in windows 10.

Step1: Click on start and select the settings option

Step2: From the list, select Privacy.

Step3: From the list of numerous options, find and choose Background apps.

Step4: Now turn off the apps that you don’t require, or you never launched them (but they are still running in the background -_- ).

Some of the common background running apps are

• Microsoft office click to run service
• Team viewer
• Utorrent
• Antivirus update program
• Adobe creative cloud
• Microsoft Onedrive Sync service
• Cortana ,etc

To close these apps, right-click on them and select End task.

Must Read – How to enable the hidden dark theme for Windows 10 in almost everywhere

Method7 –  Disable Windows Auto-Tuning feature to improve download speed in windows 10

Windows auto-tuning is also a nearly similar tool to the Large Sendoff tool. This tool also uses internet data without the user’s consent. Tun it off, and you are a step ahead on the answer to how to increase download speed.

Step1: Open the Command prompt window by pressing Win+X and then select Windows PowerShell (admin).

Step2: Type the following command in the PowerShell and hit enter.

netsh interface tcp show global

Step3: See the Option named- Receive windows auto-tuning level. If it’s Normal, you have to disable it to improve download speed in windows 10.

Step4: To disable this Windows auto-tuning level, type the following command and press enter.

netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled

You can now see the option is disabled by typing a command from step2. If you want to enable it again then, just type netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=enabled.

Method8 – Delete temporary files and registries.

Temporary files and registries can cause your slow internet speed in windows 10. These files are generated as new programs loads, and some of these files stay as it is in the temporary folder. Delete such files to increase download speed.

Step1: Type Win+R to launch Run tool and then time this path. Hit enter and select all files to delete them –

%%temp%%

 

Step2: Now, again go to the run tool and type the following command, hit enter, and tap continue to allow admin rights.–

temp

Then select all files from opened windows and delete them,

Step3: Again, in the Run tool, type the following command, Hit enter, and tap continue to allow admin rights. Select all files there and delete them.

prefetch

In this way, you can delete temporary files and temporary registries to experience fast internet speed.