Solved PT 2. Windows 11 feels slow considering my specs (21h2)

Anything from slow right clicks to searching in settings seems slower than it should be considering my specs. Could anyone suggest what is wrong here? I’m open to going back to windows 10 if I can somehow keep my data (it’s been like 1 year, and I have no windows.old)

Thanks!

Is that a Custom-built machine or self-built? Was the HDD connected when installing Windows? Having 2 drives connected can result in the OS not being fully on the fastest, usually an SSD.

Berton said:

Is that a Custom-built machine or self-built? Was the HDD connected when installing Windows? Having 2 drives connected can result in the OS not being fully on the fastest, usually an SSD.

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The HDD was in when I installed windows, has been the whole life of this PC. For further information, it was a custom built PC and it is just over 2 years old.

Ryzen 3 maybe isn't that fast? It sounds like lagging though. Is the OS on the SSD?

Hazel123 said:

Ryzen 3 maybe isn't that fast? It sounds like lagging though. Is the OS on the SSD?

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OS on an NVME ssd (Seagate barracuda). Ryzen 3 3100 is not bottlenecked with other specs and originally performed well.

My experience with Windows 11 is that it's faster than Windows 10, even on low powered hardware (I had it on an atom netbook). That may have changed with a year's worth of updates, but I doubt it.

As it sounds like lagging of some kind, (and this is not a technical response just my thoughts), is it possible windows is searching the other drive before finding things on the ssd drive?

Did you upgrade to Windows 11 or do a fresh install? It could also be some incompatible program slowing things up. What does task manager show?

Have you checked to make sure there isn't some app or service running in the background in Windows that is hogging system resources?

A man with a 1/4 ton pickup truck drove into his dealer one day and said "my trucks performance is nothing like it was when new, would you look at it?"
So the mechanic went out to look at the pickup. After he walked around the truck, he stopped, and said "Ah Ha! There's your problem...
the one ton of cement blocks in the bed of the truck".

I just finished writing my "Win-11Cleanup.bat" program to clean the junk files out of my Win-11 PC. So far, just during testing, I've removed over 500,000 junk files from my little old (2008) PC. And, I have Prefetch shut off, to that's not adding to the total.
Most people never consider the junk building up on their PC, till it seriously impacts their performance.
But it's not too late, just...."Clean up your mess!"
I've kind of been doing this stuff for 40+ years now, so I know it's very much Doable.

Sorry James, it you didn't live so far away, I'd say "Bring it on down here and I'll fix it for you".
I do house calls, but not to the UK!

Marcus Vinicus said:

Have you checked to make sure there isn't some app or service running in the background in Windows that is hogging system resources?

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Just to add to that, I sometimes uninstall one drive, which can be running in the background and really slow things up. Also check installed apps in the microsoft store - sometimes when those are downloading and/or updating, they can cause lags in performance.

You can also turn off background apps running in settings - I tend to turn off everything except a few essentials - if you want to use them they just start up manually when you want to use them. They don't need to be running in the background all the time.

Hazel123 said:

My experience with Windows 11 is that it's faster than Windows 10, even on low powered hardware (I had it on an atom netbook). That may have changed with a year's worth of updates, but I doubt it.

As it sounds like lagging of some kind, (and this is not a technical response just my thoughts), is it possible windows is searching the other drive before finding things on the ssd drive?

Did you upgrade to Windows 11 or do a fresh install? It could also be some incompatible program slowing things up. What does task manager show?

Click to expand...

I will have to try this one out

Marcus Vinicus said:

Have you checked to make sure there isn't some app or service running in the background in Windows that is hogging system resources?

Click to expand...

As with @Hazel123 ’s post will update you tomorrow.

TechnoMage2021 said:

A man with a 1/4 ton pickup truck drove into his dealer one day and said "my trucks performance is nothing like it was when new, would you look at it?"
So the mechanic went out to look at the pickup. After he walked around the truck, he stopped, and said "Ah Ha! There's your problem...
the one ton of cement blocks in the bed of the truck".

I just finished writing my "Win-11Cleanup.bat" program to clean the junk files out of my Win-11 PC. So far, just during testing, I've removed over 500,000 junk files from my little old (2008) PC. And, I have Prefetch shut off, to that's not adding to the total.
Most people never consider the junk building up on their PC, till it seriously impacts their performance.
But it's not too late, just...."Clean up your mess!"
I've kind of been doing this stuff for 40+ years now, so I know it's very much Doable.

Sorry James, it you didn't live so far away, I'd say "Bring it on down here and I'll fix it for you".
I do house calls, but not to the UK!

Click to expand...

Wouldn’t that be convenient! Since I’ve just upgraded and added more and more software to my pc over two years the amount of junk must be impeccable. I will use your bat file (If you can send a link) and update progress tomorrow

Hazel123 said:

Just to add to that, I sometimes uninstall one drive, which can be running in the background and really slow things up. Also check installed apps in the microsoft store - sometimes when those are downloading and/or updating, they can cause lags in performance.

You can also turn off background apps running in settings - I tend to turn off everything except a few essentials - if you want to use them they just start up manually when you want to use them. They don't need to be running in the background all the time.

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Seeing this aswell as many other of the quoted posts, I’m starting to think starting from scratch would be best. As in, clean install of windows 10 (or 11). I’ve also seen some completely bloat free modifications of both so not sure if that’s worth checking out..

Also Nvidia Geforce Control Panel (upon right clicking desktop > clicking the option on the Context menu) takes about 15 minutes to open (not even joking).

I have old context menus tweak on for extra information..

Any more input very much respected.

Thank you!
James

Also check if you have the correct graphics driver? Even with a new install, apps downloading in the background and One Drive can cause a lot of lagging - until the apps have finished downloading and updating. I don't use One Drive so I uninstall it rather than have it slowing things up.

Hazel123 said:

My experience with Windows 11 is that it's faster than Windows 10, even on low powered hardware (I had it on an atom netbook). That may have changed with a year's worth of updates, but I doubt it.

As it sounds like lagging of some kind, (and this is not a technical response just my thoughts), is it possible windows is searching the other drive before finding things on the ssd drive?

Did you upgrade to Windows 11 or do a fresh install? It could also be some incompatible program slowing things up. What does task manager show?

Click to expand...

Marcus Vinicus said:

Have you checked to make sure there isn't some app or service running in the background in Windows that is hogging system resources?

Click to expand...

Hazel123 said:

Also check if you have the correct graphics driver? Even with a new install, apps downloading in the background and One Drive can cause a lot of lagging - until the apps have finished downloading and updating. I don't use One Drive so I uninstall it rather than have it slowing things up.

Click to expand...

OK I have now checked all above responses, very appreciated, by the way.



Here are my task manager startup apps.



Services.


AT this point is it best for me to just cleanly install Win10? I'll look into further if so, and backup all content. Thanks!

I would do this...


1. Re-install Win 11 on the SSD with the hard drive disconnected, and the internet disconnected.
2. During install answer NO, skip, not now, and toggle everything with a toggle, to OFF.
3. When install is finished, rehook the internet and do your Windows updates.
4. Then hook up your hard drive and delete any Windows partitions you might find there.
5. Make a full backup of your Windows 11 install.
6. Then... install all that weird junk on the hard drive, rather than the SSD.

Your startup tab in Task Manager should look like this...


All the ones with the RED dots are Bitdefender Internet Security, which you won't have...




7. Then, once all the weird stuff is installed on the hard drive, make another full backup of the SSD.
8. And before you do all this, I'd partition your hard drive like this...
a. Copies of installed programs, and... installed weirdo programs (300-500GB ??)
b. OS Backups (120GB)
c. Media (whatever is left)



You'll have to test for yourself, but I believe that you can set some of those Services to Manual.
When set to Manual, a Service will only start "running" when needed.

Like these, maybe...



And as I told someone yesterday... there are some Microsoft Services you can probably set to Manual or even Disable.

Like, for me... I don't use... Bluetooth, Smart Card, or Printer... so I have all those disabled.
You'll have to go through the Services and look for "obvious" Services that you don't need.

Before I start messing with Services... I make one long screenshot of my default Services settings.
That way if I turn one off that I shouldn't have... I can look at what it was set to by default.


And then I went through the Windows Apps and removed everything I don't use.
This is what I kept...

OH MY GAWD! 007, that mess of yours is exactly what I've been dealing with for oh, so many years.
I'm retired now, but for most of my working years, I've made a good living off of cleaning up PC's just like yours.

As for a Link to my cleanup batch file, there is no such animal. It only lives here on my PC.
Since it's custom tailored to MY PC, it will run on any PC, but with undetermined results.
But just guessing, I'd say on first run, on your PC, it would probably remove in the neighborhood of 300,000+ junk files.

And you've still got way too many programs starting up under your Task Manager. Go back in there and disable everything that you're not Absolutely, Certain that you HAVE to have starting up on Boot! I looked at your list, and it's awfully FAT!

Then look at where your PC stores it's temp files, etc.
Start with "C:\Windows\Prefetch\" Open that folder and delete everything in there. No harm will befall you!
Edge is pretty simple: "C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default\Cache\*.*"
Open that folder and mass-delete everything in there.

If you use Firefox, (I don't remember if you said you do) that address is a bit more complicated, so I will only type it in here if it will help you.
Web pages that we look at, are actually comprised of many, many, bits and pieces and every one of them is stored in your browser's temp files. I was horrified, some years ago, when I first found that out. And, every file takes up a minimum amount of space on your HD.

Cheers, Mate!
TM

TechnoMage2021 said:

And you've still got way too many programs starting up under your Task Manager. Go back in there and disable everything that you're not Absolutely, Certain that you HAVE to have starting up on Boot! I looked at your list, and it's awfully FAT!

Then look at where your PC stores it's temp files, etc.
Start with "C:\Windows\Prefetch\" Open that folder and delete everything in there. No harm will befall you!
Edge is pretty simple: "C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default\Cache\*.*"
Open that folder and mass-delete everything in there.

If you use Firefox, (I don't remember if you said you do) that address is a bit more complicated, so I will only type it in here if it will help you.
Web pages that we look at, are actually comprised of many, many, bits and pieces and every one of them is stored in your browser's temp files. I was horrified, some years ago, when I first found that out. And, every file takes up a minimum amount of space on your HD.

Cheers, Mate!
TM

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I disabled all startup tasks now, thanks!

I use waterfox (based on firefox) so yes.

Ghot said:

7. Then, once all the weird stuff is installed on the hard drive, make another full backup of the SSD.

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Weird stuff? Please explain further. SHould I buy another ssd? I don't know if I would like to go through the whole process

I think the clean install info above sounds good I notice you have Steam and Origin. They shouldn't hog too much but my stepson has those on his PC and you can never seem to stop Steam loading up at the start, whatever you turn off. It might be a hog, or maybe not.

With a clean install and adding the programs again you'll find out if there are any incompatibilities. If it just upgraded to Windows 11 something might be causing a glitch after the upgrade. Which can happen after any OS upgrade when there are a lot of programs installed. Although stepson let his PC upgrade to Windows 11 with masses of programs on and hasn't had an issue . He has OS on the SSD and all other programs on the separate hard drive.

James said:

Weird stuff? Please explain further. SHould I buy another ssd? I don't know if I would like to go through the whole process

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I think he means all the games programs . Usual set up is to have the OS on the SSD (if the SSD is a smallish one eg 250gb), possibly some programs on the SSD - but most on a larger HDD of 1 or 2TB. With game saves to the HDD

James said:

Weird stuff? Please explain further. SHould I buy another ssd? I don't know if I would like to go through the whole process

Click to expand...

The only things I would put on the Windows drive are things like drivers, 7-zip, VLC media player, CCleaner, REVO, Anyburn, and an image editor. I would install everything else on the hard drive.

I'm not saying you NEED those programs. I'm saying programs like those, should be on the SSD.
The rest... install on the storage drive.
And then in the Services... set things like STEAM, Origin, etc... to manual. There's really no need to have them running all the time.

From the pics you postyed above... it looks like you're going in the right direction.
The less you have on your Windows drive... the faster the backups and restores.

The faster they are... the more likely you'll be to use them, so the less likely dust bunnies will collect on your Windows drive.


Like if I install a program, to see if I'll like it... and for some reason I don't... I don't just uninstall it... I restore from a backup from "before" I ever installed it. Keeps Window's innards a lot cleaner... so less likely to slow down.

Microsoft also puts a lot of junk on the computer. They call them Windows Apps.
If you're not gonna use them... use REVO to uninstall them and scan for leftovers.
They are seriously easy to get back if you decide you want them.

It isn't as bad to reinstall as it sounds. Maybe do a system image first so if it doesn't go to plan you can just reinstall back to where you were before.

I would then do

1) Back up Firefox bookmarks and save to Documents
2) Back up all files on a separate external drive - Documents, Pictures, Videos, Desktop, Downloads (ie copy and paste them)
3) Write down any activation codes for programmes (unless they're already in your email) eg Office or other programs purchased
4) Back up Steam online.

5) If you don't want to disconnect all the drives, then reformat them - do the HDD drive/s first by just doing a quick format.
6) Download Windows 11 from Microsoft online, burn to usb
7) Insert USB And select the SSD drive to install to. At install time, format the drive (not 100% necessary but good idea)
8) Let Windows 11 install to the SSD drive. You don't have to disconnect from the internet if you don't want but you'll need a microsoft account to login with to install.
9) When Windows is installed let it do all the Windows updates. Restart when necessary. Wait while all the apps download (check microsoft store, you can see when they've downloaded).
10) Uninstall One Drive (optional) - which you do in Control Panel (type Control panel into search bar and select uninstall a program) - sorry you probably know that bit.
11) When all is up and running and updated, reinstall any programs. Make sure about half the SSD drive is left empty - if it gets too full it will slow everything down.
12) Install most programs to the HDD. Redownload Steam etc - which should have all the game saves saved in it already.
13) Reinstall all Docs, Pics etc files from the external hard drive.
14) There is another step though which I am not entirely sure of - to back up game saves on the HDD before you format them. Depends what kind of gaming programs you use. Steam saves them automatically - not sure about the others.
15) Re-import bookmarks from Documents back to Firefox. Unless you have a Firefox account then you can skip that as they restore automatically once you sign into firefox again. Worth having an account just for that.

As you reinstall programs it will show up if there are any incompatibilities.