Published 4 hours ago

Craig is a reporter for Pocket-lint based in Toronto. He earned a diploma in journalism from Seneca Polytechnic and holds a Media Foundations certificate from Humber College. Craig previously interned and wrote for MobileSyrup, a Canadian tech publication. He enjoys reading and writing about consumer technology, especially phones, tablets, and PCs.

I use my Windows 11 PC every day for both work and gaming, so I can usually tell right away when something feels off. Performance issues can pop up for all kinds of reasons, and while hardware certainly plays a role, a sluggish PC doesn’t automatically mean it’s time to buy a new one. With RAM prices skyrocketing these days, I’d much rather squeeze as much life out of my current system as possible.

The good news is that Windows 11 includes several built-in tools that can boost performance without requiring you to do anything too technical, such as editing registry files or changing BIOS settings. If you know where to look in the Windows settings menu and which utilities to use, you can get your PC running noticeably smoother in just a few minutes. Here are five quick ways I sped up my Windows 11 PC, all of which you can easily do too.

Tone down the visual effects

The less flashy Windows is, the better your PC performs

The first thing I do on any Windows 11 PC to boost performance is adjust the visual effects. These include features such as shadows and animations built into Windows. While they look nice and help the Windows interface feel more modern, they can slow things down, especially on older hardware.

Windows offers three main options for managing visual effects: Let Windows choose what’s best for my computer (usually the default), Adjust for best performance, and Adjust for best appearance. To improve Windows 11’s performance, I recommend selecting Adjust for best performance. Although Windows may not look as good, the performance gain is worth it: Here’s how to do this step-by-step yourself:

1. Open up Windows Search and type in "Performance."

2. Click on the option that appears called "Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows."

3. Select the** **"Adjust for best performance" option in the menu, and click Apply and Okay.

Edit your PC’s power plan

Best performance is the optimal power plan to use

Another simple way to boost your PC’s performance is to adjust its power settings. By default, Windows typically uses the "Balanced" plan, which tries to strike a middle ground between performance and energy use, ramping up performance only when you need it, like when playing games.

If you want to get the most out of your system at all times, switching to the "High performance" plan ensures your PC runs at its best – though it does use more power, so if you’re on a laptop, be aware that this may affect battery life. Here’s how to change your power plan:

1. Type "Control Panel" into Windows Search and select the Control Panel app.

2. Navigate to Hardware and Sound > Power Options.

3. Under preferred plans, choose High Performance.

Additionally, there’s another power setting in the Windows Settings menu that’s worth switching to Best performance. Open the Settings app, go to System > Power, and ensure Power mode is set to Best performance when your PC is plugged in. If you’re on a laptop, you can also set it to Best performance on battery, but if you need to save power, you can always switch back to Balanced when necessary.

Set apps to use your dedicated GPU

Make the most of your dedicated GPU, if you have one

If your PC has both a dedicated GPU and an integrated GPU, some apps may default to the integrated one – even though your dedicated GPU is much more powerful. This could be for several reasons, like the app not having the required permissions or not being that power-intensive. To ensure apps like Photoshop, Premiere Pro, or your games always use your PC’s dedicated GPU, you can set this manually in Windows. Here’s how:

1. Open up the Settings app on your PC.

2. Go to System > Display > Graphics.

3. Under Custom settings for applications, select the app you want to use your GPU. If the app you’re looking for isn’t in the list, you can add it.

4. Once you find the app you want, you’ll see an option for GPU preference. Click that and select High Performance, which should be your dedicated GPU.

General maintenance

Perform a disk cleanup on your OS drive, update Windows, and update your GPU drivers

At least once a month, I usually perform general maintenance on my PC to help keep it running smoothly. This includes running Disk Cleanup, updating Windows, and updating my video card drivers.

If your PC’s storage is close to full, it can affect performance, so running Disk Cleanup can help free up space by removing temporary files you no longer need and old Windows update files. Deleting these files won’t harm your PC; it’s essentially the equivalent of clearing the cache on your smartphone or streaming device. Here’s how to run a Disk Cleanup:

1. Type "Disk Cleanup" in Windows Search and open the Disk Cleanup utility.

2. Select the drive you want to clean up. I recommend the C: drive, which is where Windows is installed.

3. Choose all the files you wish to delete. Select Clean up System files to clear even more files.

4. Click OK to run the disk cleanup process.

In addition to running Disk Cleanup, it’s worth checking for Windows updates. Sometimes a simple update can fix stuttering or odd performance issues. I once had a problem where apps suddenly took 30 to 40 seconds to open – even after several restarts –and a quick Windows Update solved it. To check for updates, go to Settings > Windows Update and install any available updates.

Lastly, it’s always worth checking for new GPU drivers to help keep performance smooth. Depending on your graphics card, you can do this through the Nvidia app, AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition, or the Intel Driver & Support Assistant app – each of which you can easily download online.

Manage your background apps

Close background apps you’re not using, manage startup apps

The biggest thing that consistently slows down my PC is having too many apps and processes running in the background. I’m especially guilty of leaving a ton of Chrome tabs open even when I’m not using them, which quietly eats up CPU and RAM resources. Whether it’s Chrome, Firefox, Photoshop, or any other app, leaving software running in the background can have a noticeable impact on performance.

To keep my PC running as smoothly as possible, I try to limit the number of background processes as much as I can. That means closing apps and browser tabs when I’m done with them and keeping startup apps to a minimum. Here’s how to do the same on your PC:

1. Open Task Manager on your PC by pressing Win + Shift + Esc. Alternatively, right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager.

2. In Task Manager, open the Processes tab, review any apps running in the background, and close any unnecessary ones.

3. Click the Startup apps tab.

4. Right-click any program you don’t need to run at startup, then click Disable.