Microsoft’s Windows 11 operating system has many great benefits for PC users like a new interface, improved performance, and many more, but its main problem is that it can sometimes run slower depending on what you are doing on your device. What to do in such a situation to optimize computer performance?
There are several ways to speed up Windows 11. We’ve compiled a list of the best to optimize the latest software and get the most out of your device. So, what are the steps to take to speed up Windows 11?
Refresh and restart your computer
If you don’t know how to speed up Windows 11, start with the easiest thing: restart and update your computer. First, check for updates by going to Settings – Windows Update Center – Check for updates. If they appear, just download them, update them, and restart your computer.
On the other hand, if your system is up to date, rebooting it won’t hurt either. It can sometimes speed up Windows 11 in random one-off issues that sometimes slow down your PC. This is how Windows is arranged and you can’t do anything about it.
Disable startup programs or applications
If you’ve restarted and updated your computer and still need to speed up Windows 11, you can try disabling startup programs to speed up your system’s boot time. These are programs that usually start when you turn on your computer. To turn them off, you must:
- Right-click the Start menu and select Task Manager from the list. This can also be done using the key combination “Ctrl + Shift + Esc”;
- When the Task Manager menu appears, select the Startup Apps section on the left. You will instantly see which programs are launched when you turn on your laptop;
- Find the app you want to disable. Right-click on it, then select Disable.
Now this program will no longer launch itself when the computer is turned on.
Can I stop all programs and applications from the list? Yes, but then you’d have to wait for Microsoft Edge to open when you click on it, for example. I basically disable those programs and applications that have a high impact on autorun.
In addition to this, there are various launchers such as Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, and Skype that can block resources during startup. Previously, you had to look for them in Apps and turn off autostart there, but now they also appeared in the Task Manager.
As more apps are installed, this list will expand. Therefore, if you need to speed up Windows 11, it is worth reminding yourself of this procedure from time to time to make sure that unwanted programs do not start when the operating system boots and do not immediately take up RAM.
Remove unnecessary Windows 11 programs
Another way that answers the question of how to speed up the operating system is quite simple – remove unnecessary programs from Windows 11. Very often, the system has many applications installed that are not used. At the same time, they not only consume memory but can also interfere with the operation of the system. These include software that may have been pre-installed by your device manufacturer or included in Microsoft’s suite of applications.
In general, if you remove unnecessary programs, it can significantly speed up the operation of the OS. To remove programs from Windows 11:
- Open the Start menu, find Settings;
- Select Apps in the sidebar, then click the Installed apps tab;
- Scroll through the list of installed programs and if you want to remove one of them, select the icon with three dots and click Uninstall. If you don’t use it, you should also uninstall pre-installed apps like News, Tips, Stickers, Movies & TV, Xbox, etc. Here everything is at your discretion;
- After removing unnecessary programs, restart your computer.
If that didn’t help and you’re still looking for a way to speed up Windows 11, then continue to the next step below.
Change the power mode of the laptop
How to speed up Windows 11 in addition to the methods described above? If you want the best performance in Windows 11 and don’t mind reducing the battery life of your laptop, then you can change the power modes in Windows 11. It optimizes the operating system with the right settings to get the best performance from your PC.
To change the power mode:
- Select Start — Settings — System — Power and Battery;
- In this section you need to find Power Modes;
- Select the mode Best Power Efficiency.
Your laptop will work in the most efficient mode, which can significantly speed up Windows 11. But you should remember that you sacrifice battery life.
Add more memory in Windows 11
As trite as it sounds, often the operating system needs to be given more resources to work faster, and one of the most important is RAM. Increasing its size can significantly improve your Windows 11 experience.
Here it is worth mentioning the download files, which some users love so much. Programs running on a computer store their data, which requires high access speed, in RAM. If the current amount of RAM is insufficient, the system allocates virtual memory for data storage, also known as a paging file. Usually, Windows sends data that is not used at the moment to temporary storage, allocating a volume in the RAM for recording “urgent” information.
Although the paging file is called virtual memory, it still exists physically — on a storage device (SSD or HDD). A certain amount of disk space is allocated for it, which is blocked for writing simple files. The paging file itself is located at the root of one of the local drives. It is named pagefile.sys. Yes, this file is hidden, and it can be detected only if you enable the display of hidden system objects in the “Explorer” settings.
Thus, the paging file is needed so that the programs running on the computer do not run out of RAM. Will it speed up and optimize Windows 11? Temporarily yes, but then everything will work again in the old way.
But I will still tell you how to configure the paging files. Rather, I will show you screenshots so as not to take up your time to read.
You can also consider upgrading to an SSD if you’re using a computer with an HDD, this will speed up your system even more.
Turn off animations and visual effects
If you don’t know how else to speed up Windows 11, you can also pay attention to animations and visual effects. The new interface changes do bring Windows 11 up to speed, but it comes at a price, especially if you don’t have discrete graphics.
So, if you want Windows 11 to focus on performance rather than looks, you can adjust these settings accordingly. To speed up Windows 11, follow these steps:
- Open Settings and go to Personalization;
- Touch the Colors options. Here, turn off the Transparency Effects switch;
- Then go to Accessibility in the sidebar;
- Now select the Visual Effects option and turn off Transparency Effects and Animation Effects;
- Once done, press the Windows key once and look for Advanced System Settings;
- Open it and click on Settings under Performance. Here, select Adjust for Performance and click OK, and you’re done.
Free up disk space
I sometimes consider this point almost one of the most important. I often hear that it has only been half a year since I bought a laptop, and there is almost no space on the SSD storage. The thing is that users sometimes trivially forget to “throw away the garbage”. That is, free up space on your drive from unnecessary files. And this is sometimes up to a hundred gigabytes. Therefore, the system slows down and does not work as it would like.
To free up disk space, you only need to take a few simple steps:
- Click on Start, go to Settings and go to the Storage section;
- Here we need Temporary Files;
- The system has already determined exactly which files it does not need for effective work, so you can safely delete them. Yes, it can even contain old Windows 10 files, device driver packages, and Windows update files. All can be removed from the system, thereby freeing up space on the drive.
Deleting temporary files will not cause any harm to the operation of Windows 11.
If you want, you can also view in more detail which programs take up a lot of space, but you do not need to touch the system files.
Use Storage Sense to speed up Windows 11
I’m sure that experienced users in the previous section immediately remembered the Storage Sensor. It’s an innovation in Windows 11 that helps you save time by deleting temporary files, automatically frees up disk space, and manages locally available content in the cloud.
You can easily enable Storage Sense. For this:
- Open Settings and click System in the sidebar;
- Again, go to Storage, where under Manage Storage you will see Storage Sense;
- Enable it by adjusting the switch.
So you have the opportunity to customize the Storage Sense to your needs. There are many interesting things here. First of all, you can define when exactly this function is launched (daily, every week, every month, or when there is a lack of free disk space). This is how you can figure out when to delete files from the Trash or the Downloads folder. But the most important thing is that the content of the OneDrive cloud storage is available to you locally.
As you can see, there are options to speed up Windows 11 that will increase its performance to the maximum level. If you still don’t know how to speed up Windows 11, we hope these methods will help you. Remember that you can always use special optimization programs, but this is the topic of a separate article.
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