Windows 11 Slow? How to Fix It with 9 Methods

Why is Windows 11 so slow?

As you can see, many users find that Windows 11 is running very slow after upgrading, they don’t know why Windows 11 is slow and how to speed up computers on windows 11. Is Windows 11 slower than Windows 10? The answer is "No".

In fact, there are many reasons to cause the problem that Windows 11 is running slow, and you need to judge according to the actual situation. Here are some of the main reasons:

◉ Running startup tasks in the background
◉ There is not enough space on the C drive
◉ Too much file fragmentation
◉ Too many temporary files
◉ Visual effects take up running memory
◉ Too many apps installed
◉ The HDD aging

Please read on, we will provide you with 9 ways to solve the problem that Windows 11 is slow.

How to speed up Windows 11

In the last paragraph, you've seen some common reasons why Windows 11 is so slow. Next, we'll detail some solutions to make Windows 11 faster.

│Method 1. Disable startup programs 

Some programs are set to start automatically when you start your computer. These hidden programs running in the background will occupy the hard drive space and slow down your PC. Therefore, you can disable them to improve the performance of your Windows 11 computer.

Step 1. Press "Ctrl+Alt+Del" to open the "Task Manager", click "Startup" to view the startup programs.

Step 2. Right-click the target program and choose "Disable".

Note: You can also check the "Startup Impact" value of each startup program, "High" means that these programs have a large impact on the system speed, which refers to slowing it down.

│Method 2. Troubleshooting Windows 11 performance

You can also run the Windows Update troubleshooter to see if there is any issue with the update. Like previous Windows operating systems, Windows 11 has built-in troubleshooting features. We can use it to fix some Windows-related issues with the following procedure.

Step 1. Open Windows Settings and click "System", then select "Troubleshoot".

Step 2. Select other troubleshooters and click "Run" next to "Windows Update" in the new interface.

│Method 3. delete temporary files

Temporary files refer to files that Windows forms while performing tasks, making it smoother when the users perform the same task again. However, corrupt or old temporary files will make Windows 11 run slowly. Therefore, you can use Disk Cleanup to delete temporary files.

First, open Disk Cleanup by right-clicking on the C drive, then click "Properties" and "Disk Cleanup". It will scan your C drive and calculate the space you can free up. Second, select the files you want to delete and click "OK" in the interface.

│Method 4. Disable visual effects

Visual effects is a new feature in Windows 11. With beautiful visual effects, it satisfies many users' aesthetic needs. But the visual effects also occupied PC space, slowing down your PC. To turn off visual effects, the detailed steps are as follows:

Steps 1. Click "Windows", input "View advanced system settings" and open it.

Step 2. Click "Advanced" and select "Settings" under "Performance".

Step 3. Tick "Adjust for best performance", then tick "Show thumbnails instead of icons" and "Smooth edges of screen fonts".

Step 4. Click "OK" to save these options.

│Method 5. Uninstall unwanted programs

Of course, you can also uninstall programs that are not commonly used directly. Let's see how it works: Click "Start", "Settings" and "Applications" in order. Then, click on the unwanted app and select "Uninstall".

│Method 6. Free up space by Storage Sense

Storage Sense is a powerful function on Windows 11, which can effectively free up space on the hard drive. In order to enjoy better performance, you can clean up unneeded data through the following steps.

Step 1. Open the Start menu, click "Settings", "System" and "Storage" in turn.

Step 2. Turn on the Storage Sense which is off by default, then click one drive and select unneeded files.

Tip: You can also choose to wipe the entire hard drive, it can permanently delete the data on HDD and restore it to the optimal performance.

Speed up Windows 11 via a third-party tool

If there is no methods can help you when Windows 11 is slow, you can convert to a powerful all-in-one software AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional.

Its "Migrate OS to SSD" feature can help you move Windows 11 to SSD without reinstalling if there are performance issues on HDD; "Allocate Free Space" can extend the system drive if there is not enough space; since too many fragmented files can also cause Windows 11 to run slowly, it can be easily resolved via the "Disk Defrag" feature.

│Method 1. Migrate Windows 11 to SSD (recommend)

When you find that the HDD that came with your computer doesn’t work as well as you expected after installing Windows 11, you can migrate Windows 11 to SSD, because the performance of SSD is better than HDD.

Before you do:
✍ If you have a desktop, you can directly install a second hard drive into the computer. If you have a laptop with only one available hard drive slot, you need to prepare an external SATA to USB adapter connect the SSD to your laptop.
✍ Be sure that the unallocated space of this SSD is larger than the used space of the current Windows 11.

Step 1. Install and open AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, then click "Clone"> "Migrate OS" in the top of the interface.

Step 2. Select an unallocated space on the SSD and click "Next".

Step 3. Change the size of the system partition in the ejected window.

Step 4. Please pay attention to a "Note" which shares a way about how to boot OS after your migration.

Step 5. Click "Apply" and "Proceed" to complete the migration.

Step 6. Change the boot drive to boot it after moving windows 11 to SSD successfully.

Note: If you are not satisfied with the read and write speed of SSD, partition alignment can properly help you improve the performance of SSD.

│Method 2. Allocate free space

In addition to disk defrag, low free space on C drive can also cause Windows 11 to run slowly. You can try to allocate free space from another drive to C to speed up Windows 11. The detailed steps are as follows:

Step 1: Open AOMEI Partition Assistant, right-click drive D with enough free space and select "Allocate Free Space".

Step 2: Select the size and destination drive, then click "OK".

Step 3: After checking you procedures in "Pending Operations", click "Apply" to commit the operation and wait for a while.

│Method 3. Defragment the hard drive

Fragmented files stored in the partitioned cluster can cause Windows 11 running slow, so defragmenting the hard disk is beneficial to improve the performance of Windows 11. You can use this software to defrag your PC under any condition.

Step 1. Open AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, all drives and their partitions will appear, right click the target disk and select "Disk Defrag".

Step 2. Click "Schedule" in the popped window.

Step 3. Select the target drive and preset defrag frequency, and you can decide on what conditions to defrag.

Step 4. Besides, you can also choose to start the defragment when startup or log in your computer.

How to roll back to Windows 10 from Windows 11

If all of the above methods cannot solve your problem, then going back to the Windows 10 would be more helpful.

Step 1. Click "Start" and select "Settings", then click "Update and Security" and "Recovery" in the pop-up window.

Step 2. Click "Go back" and choose why you want to downgrade Windows 11.

Step 3. Click "Next" and wait for the process to be completed. (Your PC may restart several times during this process.)

Summary

In this article, we share 10 solutions to solve the problem of Windows 11 slow. To speed up Windows 11 more effectively and safely, it is wise of you to try AOMEI Partition Assistant.

By the way, if you are a Windows Server user, you can turn to the Server Version to speed up Windows 11; if you want to use AOMEI within the company to solve Windows 11 slow issue, the Unlimited Version can satisfy you.