Windows 11 can feel sluggish even on decent hardware. Most of the bloat comes from default settings nobody changes. Here are 10 fixes I've applied to my own PC and friends' PCs that actually deliver noticeable speed.
Work through them in order. Each one is reversible if you don't like the change.
Disable startup apps
Apps that launch with Windows slow boot times and eat memory. Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc). Click the Startup apps tab.
Look at the Status column. Disable anything you don't need at startup. Common ones to kill – Spotify, Discord, Steam, OneDrive, Adobe Creative Cloud helper. They'll still launch when you click their icons.
Turn off Windows visual effects
Windows has lots of animations and transparency effects. They look nice but cost performance. Right-click Start > System > Advanced system settings. Under Performance, click Settings.
Pick Adjust for best performance. Click Apply. The UI looks slightly more basic but everything feels snappier.
Disable transparency effects
Specifically, Windows' transparent panels eat GPU. Settings > Personalization > Colors. Toggle off Transparency effects.
Taskbar and Start Menu become solid color instead of frosted glass. Subtle visual change, real performance benefit on older GPUs.
Uninstall bloatware
Windows 11 ships with apps you didn't ask for. Common bloat:
- Candy Crush Saga
- Disney+ shortcut
- Various Microsoft Office shortcuts
- Spotify suggestions
- Cortana (yes, still there)
Right-click any unwanted app in Start Menu > Uninstall. Or go to Settings > Apps > Installed apps for the full list. Sort by Size or Install date to find the worst offenders.
Free up storage space
A full drive slows Windows dramatically. Settings > System > Storage. Look at the categories breakdown.
Click Temporary files. Check everything except "Downloads" (those might be important). Click Remove files. Often frees 5-15 GB instantly.
Enable Storage Sense too – it auto-clears old temp files weekly. Toggle on at the top of the Storage settings.
Change power plan to High Performance
Windows might be saving battery at the cost of speed. Settings > System > Power & battery (or Power for desktops). Set Power Mode to Best performance.
On laptops this reduces battery life but boosts speed. Desktops have no downside since they're always plugged in.
Disable background apps
Some apps run in the background even when you're not using them, eating CPU and battery. Settings > Apps > Installed apps.
Click any app, then the three-dot menu > Advanced options. Find Background app permissions. Set to Never for apps you don't need running in background.
Don't disable Mail, Calendar, or Messaging – they need background access to deliver notifications.
Update Windows and drivers
Outdated drivers or missing patches can cause slowness. Settings > Windows Update > Check for updates. Install everything.
Also check graphics drivers manually. NVIDIA users – GeForce Experience or nvidia.com. AMD users – amd.com/support. Intel – intel.com.
Newer drivers often have performance improvements worth 5-15% in graphics-heavy tasks.
Run Disk Cleanup
Built-in Windows tool that goes deeper than Settings > Storage. Search Start for "Disk Cleanup". Open it. Pick your C: drive.
Click Clean up system files (button at the bottom). Check everything except what you might still need. Click OK. Confirm. Cleanup runs – can take 5-30 minutes.
This removes old Windows update files, system error reports, and other cruft. Often frees 10-30 GB.
Switch to an SSD if you haven't
If your PC still has a spinning hard drive (HDD), upgrading to an SSD is the single biggest performance boost possible.
SATA SSD – $50-80 for 500GB. NVMe SSD – $60-120 for 1TB if your motherboard supports it. Cloning your existing drive takes 1-2 hours. Boot times drop from minutes to seconds.
This isn't free but it's the most cost-effective upgrade by far. Slow PCs on HDDs become responsive on SSDs.
Add more RAM
If you have 8 GB and Windows feels slow, upgrading to 16 GB is the next major boost. Check Task Manager > Performance > Memory. If it's constantly above 70-80%, more RAM helps.
RAM is cheap – $40-60 for 8GB. Adding a stick to fill the second slot is usually plug-and-play.
Laptops with non-upgradeable RAM are stuck with what they have. Buy laptops with 16 GB or more from the start if budget allows.
What's your PC's specs? Tell me CPU, RAM amount, and whether you have SSD or HDD. I'll suggest the most impactful upgrade.