Windows 11 is Microsoft's best operating system in years, but it ships with several features enabled that consume resources in the background. These changes take about 20 minutes and make a measurable difference.
1. Disable Startup Programs
Task Manager → Startup apps tab. Disable anything with "High" impact that you don't need immediately on login. This alone can reduce boot time by 1–2 minutes on a heavily loaded system.
2. Change Power Plan to High Performance
Search "Power Plan" → Choose a power plan → High performance. On laptops, this uses more battery but ensures the CPU isn't throttled. Use "Balanced" when on battery, "High Performance" when plugged in.
3. Disable Visual Effects
Search "Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows" → select "Adjust for best performance". This disables animations and transparency effects that consume GPU resources, especially noticeable on older integrated graphics.
4. Turn Off Background Apps
Settings → Apps → Installed apps → click an app → Advanced options → Background app permissions → Never. Do this for every app that doesn't need to run in the background (most of them).
5. Disable Delivery Optimisation
Settings → Windows Update → Advanced options → Delivery Optimisation → Allow downloads from other PCs → Off. This prevents Windows from using your internet connection to upload updates to other PCs on the internet.
6. Clean Up the Drive
Search "Disk Cleanup" → select C: drive → check all boxes → also click "Clean up system files". This removes temporary files, old Windows Update files and other accumulated debris.
7. Disable Xbox Game Bar
If you're not a gamer, Settings → Gaming → Xbox Game Bar → disable. Game Bar can intercept keyboard shortcuts and runs background processes.
8. Enable Storage Sense
Settings → System → Storage → Storage Sense → On. This automatically deletes temporary files and empties the Recycle Bin on a schedule, keeping the drive from filling with junk.
9. Check for Driver Updates
Device Manager → right-click each device → Update driver. Specifically check the graphics card driver — an outdated GPU driver is a common cause of poor performance in all applications, not just games.
10. Run an SFC Scan
Open Command Prompt as administrator → type "sfc /scannow" and press Enter. The System File Checker scans for and repairs corrupt Windows files that can cause slowdowns and instability.
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