How to Speed Up Windows 11 on a Slow PC: Final Guide

We’ve all been there. You turn on your computer, go to make a coffee, come back, and Windows 11 is still thinking about whether or not to open your browser. It’s frustrating, but I won’t lie: Windows 11 comes loaded with visual features and background processes that are an absolute burden for computers with more modest hardware.

You don’t need to buy a new PC or be a systems engineer. In this article, I’m going to show you the exact steps on how to speed up Windows 11 on a slow PC by clicking the right buttons.

Table of contents

1. Disable Startup Apps (The most dramatic change)

What works for me whenever I notice a PC “crawling” starts here. If your computer takes a long time to react after turning it on, it’s because it has 15 programs trying to open at once.

Steps:

1. Right-click on the Taskbar and select Task Manager (or press Ctrl + Shift + Esc).
2. On the side menu, click the Startup apps icon.
3. You’ll see a list. Look at the “Startup impact” column.
4. Right-click on apps you don’t need upon turning on the PC (Spotify, Steam, OneDrive, etc.) and hit Disable.

Pro Tip: Don’t disable anything that sounds like a system driver (Intel, Realtek, NVIDIA) or your main antivirus. If you doubt a name, it’s better to leave it on.

2. Adjust Visual Effects for Performance

Windows 11 has beautiful animations, but they demand constant work from your graphics card and processor. If the PC is slow, Option A (looking pretty) is a mistake compared to Option B (staying fluid).

1. Press Windows key + R and type sysdm.cpl.
2. Go to the Advanced tab.
3. In the “Performance” section, click Settings.
4. Check the box Adjust for best performance.

Personally, I recommend checking just one: “Show thumbnails instead of icons”, so you can still see small photos in your folders. Click Apply and you’ll notice that windows open instantly without a trace of lag.

3. Clean Your Hard Drive with Storage Sense

A nearly full hard drive chokes the system. Windows 11 needs free space to “breathe” and manage virtual memory.

• Go to Settings → System → Storage.
• Enable Storage Sense.
• Click on Cleanup recommendations to delete temporary files and remnants of old updates that are no longer useful.

Spoiler: You can gain between 5 and 20 GB of space in less than a minute by simply deleting temporary files from old Windows Update installations.

4. Disable Background Apps

Even when you’re not using them, many Microsoft Store apps consume resources in the background.

Open Settings → Apps → Installed apps. Look for apps we rarely use (like Weather, Maps, Xbox), click the three dots → Advanced options, and under “Background apps permissions,” select Never.

5. Replace Your HDD with an SSD (The #1 Physical Upgrade)

If your PC is still slow after all of the above, I have news you might not like: your hard drive is probably a mechanical HDD, and it’s the biggest bottleneck in your system. An HDD works with spinning parts like a record player, while an SSD uses memory chips, like a giant USB drive.

The difference is staggering. A typical HDD reads data at about 100 MB/s, while a basic SSD easily exceeds 500 MB/s. That means Windows boots in 15 seconds instead of 2 minutes, and applications open almost instantly.

My recommendation: Buy a 480 GB SSD (they cost less than 30 euros in 2026). You don’t need the most expensive one on the market. Any SSD, no matter how cheap, will be 5 to 10 times faster than your current HDD. It’s the upgrade with the best price-to-performance ratio that exists.

You can use a free tool like Clonezilla or Macrium Reflect to clone your old drive to the new one without losing anything, or do a clean install of Windows 11 from scratch if you prefer to start fresh.

How to check if you have an HDD or SSD:

1. Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc).
2. Go to the Performance tab.
3. Click on Disk 0 (or Disk 1).
4. At the top right, you’ll see the drive model. Google the model name and it will tell you if it’s HDD or SSD.

If it says HDD and your PC is slow, I guarantee you that swapping to an SSD will be the single most impactful upgrade you can make. It’s like going from a bicycle to a motorcycle overnight.

6. Check What Processes Are Eating Your RAM and CPU

Sometimes the slowness doesn’t come from startup but from something that got “stuck” in the background without you noticing.

1. Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc).
2. Click on the Processes tab.
3. Sort by CPU or Memory by clicking on the corresponding column.
4. If you see a process using more than 30% of CPU constantly and you don’t know what it is, right-click → Search online. Windows will tell you exactly what it is.

The most common culprits are: the Windows Search Indexer process (which indexes files), SysMain (formerly Superfetch), or some sync application like OneDrive or Dropbox that’s trying to upload gigabytes of photos.

Warning: Don’t kill processes you don’t understand. If you remove something from the system, you might force a restart. Use “Search online” before doing anything drastic.

7. Uninstall the Bloatware Nobody Asked For

Factory PCs (especially from brands like HP, Lenovo, or Acer) come with dozens of pre-installed programs nobody requested: trial antivirus, “support” applications, “optimization” tools that actually slow down the system.

How to clean it up:

1. Go to Settings → Apps → Installed apps.
2. Sort by Date installed to see what came from the factory.
3. Uninstall everything you don’t recognize that isn’t from Microsoft or your hardware drivers.

Apps you can safely uninstall: McAfee (if you already have Windows Defender), pre-installed game applications, manufacturer “experience” tools, and any program whose last time you used it was “never.”

8. Quick Monthly Maintenance Plan

So your PC doesn’t degrade again, I recommend doing this routine once a month. It won’t take more than 10 minutes:

My advice: Enable automatic Windows updates. I know they’re annoying, but each update brings performance and security patches that make your PC run better. Scheduling them for 3 AM is the best way to not notice them.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

Is using CCleaner recommended?

Option B is better for the majority, and that’s it: use Windows 11’s native tools. External cleaners sometimes delete necessary registry files and can cause more problems than solutions in modern systems.

Does formatting the PC help?

Yes, it’s the ultimate “clean slate.” If none of the above works, doing a clean install of Windows 11 will remove years of accumulated junk.

Does having many icons on the desktop affect it?

Absolutely yes. The system has to refresh each icon constantly. Keep the desktop clean and use folders within your user profile.

Conclusion

Speeding up Windows 11 on a slow PC comes down to removing weight. By disabling unnecessary startup, heavy animations, and cleaning the disk, you are allowing the hardware to focus on what really matters. If after this tutorial your PC is still the same, my opinion is clear: consider changing your HDD to an SSD; it’s the physical upgrade that will give your computer the most life.

Let me know in the comments below if you’ve noticed the improvement, talk to you soon!