When I was in the market for a new TV last year, I immediately gravitated toward the LG C5. The main thing I wanted was to upgrade to an OLED, and not only did it check that box, but it also came with plenty of useful features, including Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos support, a 120Hz refresh rate, Nvidia G-Sync, and four HDMI 2.1 ports. Not to mention, I managed to get it for a couple of hundred bucks off, which certainly sweetened the deal.

After using my LG TV for the past year, I have absolutely no regrets, and I’m still just as impressed by its picture quality today as I was when I first got it. That’s especially true when watching new 4K Blu-rays or playing the latest games, most recently Nintendo’s new Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake for the Switch 2, which looks absolutely stunning.

That said, while I’ve mostly enjoyed my LG TV, it hasn’t been without its share of problems. One of the biggest is speed. Since smart TVs are a lot like PCs nowadays, with their own chipsets, memory, and operating systems, they can run into many of the same problems over time. The biggest is that the more you use them, the more likely they are to gradually slow down. So while your TV might feel snappy and responsive when you first take it out of the box, chances are it won’t feel quite the same a year later. I’ve noticed mine has started to stutter in places where it never used to, whether that’s simply opening the HDMI Inputs menu or navigating the home screen.

Fortunately, there’s a simple way to fix this problem, and if you want to get your LG TV running at its full speed again, it only takes a few seconds.

Memory Optimizer is the setting you’re looking for

One button that speeds things back up

When you look up how to fix a smart TV that’s slowing down, one of the first suggestions you’ll likely come across is to clear its cache, mainly because it works pretty well. If you’re unfamiliar with cache data, it’s essentially a collection of temporary files that apps create and store on your TV to help load content faster. This can include things like image thumbnails and video previews, allowing them to appear more quickly the next time you open an app.

Generally, cache data is a good thing, but when too much of it builds up over time without being cleared, that’s when it can become a problem. Instead of helping speed things up, it can actually have the opposite effect and slow your TV down.

Some smart TVs make clearing the cache a frustrating process, while others don’t even give you an easy way to do it at all. Roku TVs, for example, don’t have a dedicated option for clearing your cache, so you’re generally left having to restart your TV instead.

Luckily, LG makes it extremely easy to clear the cache on its TVs with a feature called Memory Optimizer. But as its name suggests, it takes things a step further by not only clearing your TV’s cache with a single button press, but also ending unnecessary background processes that could be slowing it down and refreshing its RAM.

So if you want a quick and easy way to speed up your LG TV, Memory Optimizer is exactly what you’ll want to use. Here’s how:

1. Open the Settings menu on your LG TV by long-pressing the settings button on your remote (the gear icon).

2. Navigate to General > Settings > Support.

3. Select Memory Optimizer.

4. Press Start.

Memory Optimizer will then run on your TV, and the whole process usually takes only a few seconds. I recommend running it at least once a week to keep your TV running as fast as possible.

Other quick tricks to speed up your LG TV

Getting rid of ads and turning off ACR can help

Besides using Memory Optimizer, there are a few other simple ways to speed up your LG TV.

The first thing I always recommend, which not only helps improve performance but also makes your home screen look a lot cleaner, is getting rid of all the ads and recommendations. You can do this by going to Settings > General > System > Additional Settings > Home Settings and turning off both Home Promotion and Content Recommendations. With both of these turned off, your TV no longer has to load all that extra content, which can help free up system resources.

Another feature worth turning off is Live Plus, LG’s version of ACR (Automatic Content Recognition). It uses what’s called “fingerprinting technology to identify content” on your screen, which LG then uses for targeted advertising. So if you’d rather LG not keep tabs on what you’re watching to sell ads, turning off Live Plus puts a stop to that. It also means one less background process running on your TV.

You can also uninstall any apps you no longer use to free up system storage, which can lend a helping hand when it comes to improving performance. To delete an app, simply hover over it on the home screen, press and hold the select button on your remote, then select the trash bin icon to remove it.

Finally, it’s worth checking whether any software updates are available for your TV, as new webOS updates usually include performance improvements and bug fixes that can potentially resolve any issues you’re running into. To check for updates, you can go to Settings > Support > Software update.