Hey everyone! I’m new here, but I’ve recently had an experience with my Windows 11 PC that might be of help to some of you struggling with similar problems. Here’s the whole story:
A few weeks ago, I started noticing that my PC’s performance had dropped significantly. It was taking forever to boot up, applications were sluggish, and even simple tasks like browsing the internet or opening folders were lagging. I thought maybe it was just one of those days when technology decides to be moody, but it didn’t get any better.
Naturally, I went straight to Google to find some solutions. The first thing I tried was the typical reboot process - didn’t help. Then, I moved on to checking for Windows updates since sometimes a fresh update can resolve random glitches. Unfortunately, it was a dead-end because my system was already up to date.
Next, I opened up Task Manager to see if any background processes were hogging resources. Everything seemed normal; no mysterious programs eating up CPU or memory. I even tried disabling startup programs to see if that helped speed things up on boot, but nope, still slow as a tortoise.
Going deeper down the troubleshooting rabbit hole, I ran a full system scan with my antivirus and malware detection software just in case something malicious was afoot. No threats detected. I also made sure there was enough free space on my SSD because I know a full drive can cause slowdowns - it had plenty of room to breathe.
At this point, I was getting really frustrated, considering all the typical solutions had failed. That’s when I remembered reading about something called “Windows Fast Startup” that could sometimes mess with system operations. Fast Startup is supposed to speed up boot times by logging off users and saving system processes in a hibernated state, but paradoxically, it can cause issues.
Thinking this was worth a try, I went to Control Panel > Power Options > Choose what the power buttons do > Change settings that are currently unavailable, and finally, unchecked “Turn on fast startup.”
After doing a full shutdown and then turning my PC back on, it felt like magic. Boot-up times improved drastically and the lag vanished. Everything was back to normal and running smoothly as it should!
So, if you find yourself in a similar situation, don’t forget to try disabling Fast Startup. It’s not always the first thing that comes to mind, but it certainly worked wonders for me. Hopefully, this helps others who are pulling their hair out with slow PC issues. Sometimes the simplest tweak can make a world of difference!
