Speeding up Windows 11 doesn’t have to cost a dime. You can significantly improve performance using built-in tools, settings, system tweaks, and maintenance strategies. You don’t need expensive hardware upgrades or third-party “performance booster” software that rarely delivers on its promises.
Typically, there are two common reasons your system might feel sluggish. First, if you’re running older hardware, your device may struggle to keep up as software evolves and demands more system resources. In this case, turning off certain features and adjusting visual effects can reduce the load and make the system feel more responsive.
Second, even newer computers can slow down if poorly configured or lack regular maintenance. Unnecessary background apps, startup processes, and cluttered storage can all impact performance over time.
Regardless of the scenario, Windows 11 includes several tools and features that can help you optimize system speed without requiring extra software or hardware.
On Windows 11, you can make system changes and perform different maintenance practices to speed up your computer without spending any money.
In this guide, I’ll outline the most effective, proven methods to boost performance and make your Windows 11 PC run faster.
How to make Windows 11 run faster
If you want to make Windows 11 faster, consider changing the power settings, turning off visual effects, managing application settings, cleaning up the main storage drive, scanning for malware, and more.
1. Change power mode
Windows 11 has different groups of settings to control the energy consumed by the computer. If you want to make your computer run faster, consider changing the power mode to “Best performance.” Also, for laptops, it’s always best to keep the device plugged into a power source to maximize performance, as running on battery typically throttles the processor to conserve energy.
To change power mode to speed up Windows 11 performance, follow these steps:
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Open Settings on Windows 11.
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Click on System.
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Click the “Power” (or “Power & Battery”) page on the right side.
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Click the Power Mode setting.
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Select the “Best Performance” option in the “Plugged in” setting.
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(Optional) Select the “Best Performance” option in the “On battery” setting.
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Click the Energy saver setting (if applicable).
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Turn off the “Always use energy saver” toggle switch.
After you complete the steps, the system will switch to the power mode that offers the best performance to speed up Windows 11.
2. Enable Ultimate Performance power mode
The Ultimate Performance power mode is designed to deliver the highest possible performance for demanding tasks, such as gaming or content creation. This plan optimizes your system to reduce micro-latencies—small delays that can occur due to power management adjustments, ensuring smooth performance even under heavy workloads.
Originally, this power scheme was limited to the Windows 10 Pro for Workstations edition, but it can be manually enabled on any edition of Windows 10 and Windows 11.
To enable the Ultimate Performance power plan on Windows 11, use these steps:
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Open Start.
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Search for PowerShell, right-click the top result, and choose the Run as administrator option.
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Type the following command to enable the Ultimate Performance in Control Panel and press Enter:
powercfg -duplicatescheme e9a42b02-d5df-448d-aa00-03f14749eb61
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Open Control Panel.
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Click on Hardware and Sound.
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Click on Power Options.
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Select the Ultimate Performance option under the “Hide additional plans” section.
Once you complete the steps, restart the computer, and then you can test the new power plans to see if you notice improvements in performance when working with demanding workloads on your high-end computer.
It’s worth noting that in most real-world scenarios, especially for typical consumer workloads like web browsing, office applications, or casual gaming, the performance gains from enabling Ultimate Performance are minimal.
However, for specific high-intensity tasks that require sustained processor and drive performance, such as professional-grade video editing or 3D rendering, this power mode can offer more consistent performance by preventing the system from throttling resources to save power.
3. Enable Fast Startup
On Windows 11, Fast Startup can indeed reduce your system’s boot time, but the extent of its impact varies based on your hardware configuration and usage patterns.
The feature combines hibernation and regular shutdown to speed up the system’s startup and shutdown processes. Fast Startup comes enabled by default, but if it’s not, you should turn it on to speed up the boot time of Windows 11.
To enable Fast Startup on Windows 11, follow these steps:
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Open Start.
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Search for Control Panel and click the top result to open the app.
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Click on Hardware and Sound (in the “Category” view).
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Click on Power Options.
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Click the “Choose what the power button does” option from the left pane.
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Click the “Change settings that are currently unavailable” option.
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Check the “Turn on fast startup” option to enable the feature on Windows 11.
Once you complete the steps, the operating system will boot a lot faster than before.
When using this feature, keep in mind that with traditional hard drives, you may notice a significant improvement in boot times, as loading from the hibernation file is faster than a full startup sequence.
On the other hand, since solid-state drives (SSDs) already offer fast data access, the difference in boot times with Fast Startup enabled may be minimal and not easily noticeable.
4. Turn off visual effects
Disabling visual effects on Windows 11 can lead to noticeable performance improvements, particularly on systems with limited resources. These visual enhancements, such as animations, transparency, and shadows, consume CPU and GPU resources, which can affect system responsiveness.
To disable animation effects on Windows 11, use these steps:
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Open Settings.
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Click on Accessibility.
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Click the Visual effects page.
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Turn off the “Animation effects” toggle switch to disable the effects on Windows 11.
Once you complete the steps, opening, minimizing, maximizing, closing, and other actions will no longer feature animation effects, making the system feel like it’s more responsive.
On low-end or older computers, disabling visual effects can result in a more responsive system, as it reduces the load on limited hardware resources.
In contrast, on high-end workstations, you may not experience significant performance gains, but turning off visual effects can still lead to a snappier user interface.
If your system feels sluggish or you want to maximize performance and battery life, disabling visual effects can help. However, if you prioritize visual aesthetics and your system handles them well, you might opt to keep them enabled.
5. Disable apps at startup
When you power on your computer, the operating system automatically launches a series of apps and services. While some are essential (like antivirus software or system utilities), many others, such as Spotify, WhatsApp, and cloud storage apps, are non-essential and can significantly slow down your system’s startup time.
By disabling these non-essential startup apps, you reduce the number of programs competing for system resources during boot-up, leading to a faster and more responsive system.
To disable startup apps to start Windows 11 faster, use these steps:
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Open Settings.
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Click on Apps.
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Click the Startup page.
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(Optional) Use the “Sort by” setting and select the Startup impact option.
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Turn off the toggle switch to disable programs from starting up.
After you complete the steps, the apps will no longer run automatically on startup, speeding up the startup process and overall performance on Windows 11.
On low-end or older computers, disabling unnecessary startup apps can lead to a substantial improvement in boot times and overall responsiveness.
In contrast, on modern hardware, the improvement might be less dramatic but still noticeable, especially if you have a large number of apps set to launch at startup.
6. Free up disk space
Usually, you should never operate a computer with more than 70 percent of its hard drive space filled, as it will affect performance and cause the boot process to take longer. Also, without enough available space, it can affect app responsiveness, increase system errors, and cause problems installing updates.
If the system’s drive is running out of available storage, it’s a good idea to free up space to make Windows 11 run faster. The operating system offers different ways to free up space, but the quickest method is to delete the temporary files.
To free up space on Windows 11 to make the computer faster, follow these steps:
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Open Settings.
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Click on System.
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Click the Storage page.
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Click the Temporary files setting under the “Local Disk” section.
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Select the temporary files to remove from Windows 11.
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Click the Remove files button.
Once you complete the steps, the hard drive should have more available space, allowing the system to operate more efficiently. Usually, you will notice an increase in speed during boot if the device was previously running out of space, which makes the system sluggish.
If you’re running out of space on a large-capacity hard drive, it could be a problem with the “Windows.db” file, which contains the database that stores Windows Search indexing information. In this case, rebuilding the search index will resolve the issue and free up hard drive space in the process.
7. Install system updates
The process of installing system updates doesn’t make your computer faster directly. However, if there’s a bug or another problem negatively affecting the system performance, downloading and installing the latest updates can speed up Windows 11.
To install Windows 11 updates manually, use these steps:
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Open Settings.
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Click on Windows Update.
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(Optional) Check the “Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available” toggle switch to download the most recent updates, including those in preview, which may contain fixes to improve performance.
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Click the “Check for updates” button.
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(Optional) Click the “Download and install” option to apply a preview of an upcoming update of Windows 11.
Quick note: Optional updates usually include non-security changes that Microsoft plans to release in the next Patch Tuesday rollout.
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Click the Restart now button.
Once you complete the steps, if an update is available, it will download and install automatically on Windows 11.
8. Update device drivers
Similar to the operating system, device drivers can also create performance problems due to bugs and compatibility issues. As a result, you always have to ensure that your computer has the latest drivers, as the most up-to-date release can include important fixes and improvements that can speed up the overall system performance. This is especially true for graphics card and network adapter drivers.
To update device drivers manually on Windows 11, use these steps:
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Open Settings.
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Click on Windows Update.
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Click the Advanced options page.
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Click the Optional updates setting under the “Additional options” section.
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Click the category to reveal the available optional updates. For example, Driver updates.
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Check the optional updates you want to install on Windows 11.
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Click the “Download and install” button.
After you complete the steps, Windows Update will install the packages on your computer.
9. Turn off restartable apps
Windows 11 also has a feature that allows you to restart apps from your previous session, helping you pick up where you left off quickly. However, this feature can also slow down the startup process. If you want to speed up boot time, disabling restartable apps on Windows 11 can help.
To prevent apps from relaunching automatically upon sign-in on Windows 11, use these steps:
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Open Settings.
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Click on Accounts.
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Click the Sign-in options tab.
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Turn off the “Automatically save my restartable apps and restart them when I sign back in” toggle switch under the “Additional settings” section.
Once you complete the steps, the next time you reboot the system, the computer should boot a little faster.
10. Speed up File Explorer
On Windows 11, File Explorer can be slow to render the contents of folders, especially those with a mix of file formats or network-shared folders. The problem is that, by default, the file manager always attempts to determine the type of files in each folder, causing a delay that makes the experience sluggish.
The solution is to prevent File Explorer from checking the contents. You can do this by disabling file type parsing through the Registry, since the app doesn’t include an option in the settings.
To load folders with a lot of files faster in File Explorer, follow these steps:
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Open Start.
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Search for regedit and click the top result to open the Registry.
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Open the following path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell
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Right-click the Shell key, select the New menu, and select the String Value option.
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Name the key FolderType and press Enter.
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Double-click the newly created key and set its value to NotSpecified.
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Click the OK button.
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Restart the computer (important).
Quick tip: You can also restart the Windows Explorer service from the Processes tab in Task Manager.
Once you complete the steps, navigating folders with a few or many files will load the folder noticeably faster in File Explorer.
11. Run a virus scan
If malware sneaks into the system, it can cause significant damage, ranging from sluggish performance to startup failures. If you suspect your Windows 11 device is infected, running a full antivirus scan is critical. This process helps detect and remove malicious software, safeguards the system, and may also improve boot times and overall performance.
To perform a full virus scan on Windows 11, follow these steps:
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Open Start.
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Search for Windows Security and click the top result to open the app.
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Click on Virus & threat protection.
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Click on Scan options under the “Current threats” section.
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Select the Full scan option to check the entire system for viruses and any other type of malware.
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Click the Scan now button.
After you complete the steps, Microsoft Defender Antivirus will scan the device for viruses and other types of malware that could impact the system’s performance and boot time.
Alternatively, you can also perform an offline scan to remove viruses that the antivirus may not be able to remove while Windows 11 is loaded.
12. Turn off Memory Integrity and virtualization
If you want to make your computer faster for gaming, it’s known that the memory integrity and virtualization can negatively affect the gaming performance. Although Microsoft recommends having these enabled to improve security on Windows 11, the company also recommends temporarily disabling them to speed up the PC gaming experience.
Disable Memory Integrity
To disable Memory Integrity to optimize Windows 11 gaming performance, follow these steps:
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Open Start.
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Search for Windows Security and click the top result to open the app.
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Click on Device Security.
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Click the “Core isolation details” option under the “Core isolation” section.
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Turn off the “Memory integrity” toggle switch to optimize gaming.
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Restart the computer.
Once you complete the steps, the security feature will be disabled, thus improving gaming performance on Windows 11.
Disable virtualization
To disable virtualization on Windows 11 to optimize gaming, follow these steps:
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Open Settings.
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Click on Apps.
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Click the Optional features tab.
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Click the “More Windows features” setting under the “Related settings” section.
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Clear the “Virtual Machine Platform” option to disable the feature and optimize gaming.
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Click the OK button.
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Click the Restart now button.
After you complete the steps, the virtualization components will be disabled on your computer to boost gaming performance on Windows 11.
It’s worth noting that Microsoft says the gaming performance gain will vary by search device, depending on the hardware configuration and other factors.
Once you’re done playing, you can use the same instructions to re-enable the features. In step 5 (the first set of steps), turn on the toggle switch to re-enable “Memory Integrity,” and don’t restart yet. Then, in step 4 (the second set of steps), select the option to re-enable virtualization and then restart your computer.
If, after trying these tips, your computer still feels sluggish, you can try reinstalling Windows 11 to resolve existing issues with the current setup. You can complete this task by reinstalling the operating system from Windows Update. You can also use the Reset this PC feature to reset the current installation to the factory default settings while keeping your files and apps, or by performing a clean installation of Windows 11.
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