How-To Desktop

The truth is Windows 11 is not the problem your computer is running slow. Oftentimes your computer is slow because it has viruses or malware, too many startup programs, or simply because it is not powerful enough. Of course, there may be other causes, but those are often the main ones. 

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1. Your Computer Has Viruses or Malware

How to Get Rid of Malware

Step-by-step guide on using Windows Security

Get rid malware by turning on Windows Security and then doing a scan. Next, make sure your Windows 11 PC is up to date by doing a Windows Update. 

The first step is avoiding malware in the first place. Don't visit shady websites, especially websites that claim to give you hacked versions of premium software for free. If sounds to good to be true, 

2. Your Computer Has too Many Startup Programs

Startup programs makes turning on your computer miserably slow -- even if you have the latest and greatest hardware. For example, in our basic tests, startup programs slowed down a computer with an i7 processor, decent GPU and an NVMe drive. Clearly, this startup programs should not be underestimated.  

How to Disable Startup Programs

Step-by-step guide on disabling startup programs

Click the search button from the bottom of the screen and then type Startup apps, and then choose that from the search results. Next, toggle the on-off button to disable the startup apps. 

 When disabling startup programs, be sure to focus on the ones don't need and the ones that are marked as high impact, since they are the ones that slow down the startup the most. 

3. Your Computer is Not Powerful Enough

The Windows 11 minimum system requirements are exactly what they are -- the bare minimum you need to run Windows 11. In many cases, that 's just enough. For example, 4GB of RAM is simply not enough for serious video editing and gaming. 

How to Fix This

Step-by-step guide on checking system specs

The best way to fix this is to simply invest on a more recent computer with decent specs. The kind of computer you upgrade to depends how you normally use a computer. 

A professional designer or video editor would of course need a more powerful computer than a user who simply writes documents and browses the Web. Use the list below as simple guide to get an idea of what kind of computer to get when shopping for a new one.