Member Avatar for WendyDolan

Hello everyone
i am finding my Windows 11 machine is starting to feel a bit sluggish, and I'm looking for some proven ways to optimize its performance. I know there are a lot of tricks out there.

What's the one thing you always do to keep your Windows PC running fast and smooth? Are you a fan of disabling unnecessary startup apps, tweaking services, or using a specific performance tool?

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Member Avatar for Reverend Jim

What I do when I set up a machine is take an image of my C partition. Eventually when Windows gets sluggish (and it always does) I restore the image, apply all updates, then take a new image. I also keep a log file containing notes on any changes since the image was taken. That makes it easier to reapply those changes and possibly identify what may have caused the slow-down. I should note that I always move my Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, and Videos folders to: so I can retore an image without affecting my user files.

For now what you might try is a refresh-install. To do that you open settings and go to

Settings
    System
        Recovery
            Reset This PC

This gives you the option to re-install all Windows components while preserving existing settings and applications. Of course, this being Microsoft, you may expect a few "nags" to be reset. Also, it would be wise to back up anything you wouldn't want to lose in the (fortunately rare) event that Windows crashes during the re-install.

If your C: drive is a hard drive you might consider replacing it with an SSD. I've found this can dramatically improve performance.

Edited by Reverend Jim
Member Avatar for LeonUk

Honestly the one thing that makes the biggest difference for me is just keeping startup apps under control. Windows 11 likes to let all sorts of stuff sneak in there, and it slows things down over time. I go into Task Manager and disable anything I don’t need loading when I boot up. Beyond that, I just keep drivers updated and clean out junk every so often. Haven’t really needed any fancy tools or crazy tweaks — just that bit of regular maintenance. of course, depends for each hardware

Member Avatar for Reverend Jim

There is a free suite of tools from SysInternals (Mark Russinovich) that includes the Autoruns app. This gives you much better control over what starts automatically. Microsoft, as usual, has a dozen or so different locations where they store autostart commands. Autoruns shows them all in one GUI. You can download the entire suite, or just individual tools.

Member Avatar for Dani

This gives you the option to re-install all Windows components while preserving existing settings and applications.

Forgive me as I haven't used Windows in quite a few years now, but doesn't reinstalling stuff on top of itself somehow always create more bloat and inconsistencies?

Member Avatar for Reverend Jim

I have found the "refresh" install to be unreliable. It's like using Windows Backup which really isn't a backup. The three times I've tried a refresh install I have had to go back to a previously saved Macrium image, which is a bona fide complete backup. I keep hoping the refresh will fix problems. It does not.

When 25H2 is finally released I plan to do a wipe followed by a complete re-install.

He who lives on hope dies farting.

  • Benjamin Franklin
Edited by Reverend Jim
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