Windows 11 is the latest OS from Microsoft, and it offers users a lot of new features. However, the upgrade may turn out to be a sluggish affair for some users. If you’ve recently upgraded to Windows 11 and are experiencing frustratingly slow PC performance, you’ve come to the right place.
You shouldn’t regret upgrading to Windows 11 just because your PC is performing slowly. Slow performance is often the result of unnecessary temporary files and unused programs, so there are a number of things you can do to make your Windows 11 run faster.
1. Free Up Room in Storage Space
If your PC is running low on storage space, it could be one of the reasons for slow PC performance.
Go through the list, and select items that seem unnecessary. You can delete the Windows Update Cleanup files and any unnecessary files in the Downloads folder.
Once you have made your selection, click on Extract Files.
Categories too. Be careful not to delete any important system files.
Restart your system for the change to take effect.
Luckily, Windows 11 has a built-in tool for efficiently managing the storage on your system called Storage Sense. You can automatically monitor and free up storage space on your system with Storage Sense.
2. Remove any unwanted programs
It is very common to have lots of unused programs installed on your system. Software installed without your knowledge as part of bundled installations or programs that you no longer need should be uninstalled. Removing these unnecessary programs can have a significant impact on your PC’s speed.
Scroll through the list of installed programs, and when you want to remove a specific program, select the three dots icon and click Uninstall. You can also remove pre-installed apps like Movies & TV, Weather, Xbox, etc.
3. Defragment Storage Drive
Defragmentation is essentially reorganizing the files within your hard drive (or SSD) so that the OS can keep related data together. It effectively improves memory access time and makes your Windows 11 faster.
Once you’ve defragmented the drive, restart your PC for the changes to take effect.
4. Use Windows Debloater
Pre-installed programs are usually unnecessary junk programs that we hardly use. These programs slow down your system if you have limited system resources.
You can’t remove some pre-installed apps via the Settings app or Control Panel, so you need to remove them in an unorthodox way. Windows10Debloater is a script developed by Sycenex that aims to remove bloatware on Windows 10, but you can use it on Windows 11 as well.
For a more detailed guide on using Windows 10 Debloater, check out our dedicated Windows 11 Bloatware Removal guide here.
5. Disable Visual Effects
Windows 11 has a lot of UI elements which make the interface more attractive and attractive. Changing some visual effects and animations on Windows 11 can make your system much faster.
If you want to enable certain effects, you can click on Custom and choose the options you want individually.
Disabling visual effects will affect your visual experience, but they consume valuable system resources that you might be better using on older systems.
6. Upgrade Your Hardware
Hardware upgrades are a great way to make your PC faster. RAM and SSD upgrades can make your system as fast as a brand new PC, and these upgrades are relatively inexpensive.
If you are currently running 4 GB RAM on your PC, then you should consider upgrading to at least 8 GB RAM. Likewise, SSDs are much faster than traditional HDDs. An SSD will ensure faster bootup and overall smoother system performance.
Investing in a quality SSD and RAM can extend the lifespan of your existing system by at least a few years. You can even pair an SSD with an existing hard drive on some systems.
make windows 11 faster
Windows 11 is pretty neat and offers a lot of new features to its users. But there’s no reason for you to be stuck on Windows 11 with a slow PC. There’s a lot you can do to make Windows 11 faster. A hardware upgrade and a few software changes can make your PC as good as new.