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Ubuntu Linux lagging? Try my 10 go-to tricks to speed it up

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Unless you're using a computer from the '90s or early 2000s, typically speaking, Ubuntu runs very well on most machines. I've found it to be fairly predictable in that respect. However, nothing is perfect, and you might run into an instance where the open-source operating system doesn't perform up to your standards.

So, what do you do? Do you hop to a different distribution? You certainly could, as there are plenty of Linux distributions that work perfectly on older hardware. If you want to stick with Ubuntu, there are ways you can eke out a bit more speed from that OS.

Also: Thinking about switching to Linux? 10 things you need to know

What are they?

Read on and find out.

1. Manage Startup Applications

One cause of slowdowns could be too many applications running at bootup. Some of these applications are obviously necessary (such as Wayland), while others (especially GUI apps) may not be. Every application that runs uses system resources. Too many startup applications could slow things down.

Fortunately, Ubuntu ships with a Startup Applications utility, which makes it easy to enable or disable applications that start automatically when you log in. When I need to make such adjustments, I always keep startup applications to a minimum.

2. Use a lightweight desktop environment

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