Windows 11 Running Slow After an Update? Six Fixes to Try

Video walkthrough plus written steps. Demonstrated on Windows 11 version 25H2.

A Windows 11 update finishes, you sign back in, and the machine feels sluggish. It is rarely a hardware failure. Updates tend to leave a few things behind: a restart that never completed, startup apps switched back on, installer leftovers, and sometimes generic drivers where your manufacturer’s used to be.

The video above shows where each of these settings lives. The written steps below cover the same ground, with a short note on what each one is actually doing.

First, Check What You Are Dealing With

Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager and sort the Processes tab by CPU, then Memory, then Disk.

If one process is pegged at high usage, that is a specific problem with a specific fix, so note the name. If nothing stands out but everything feels slow, the steps below are the right place to start.

Also check free space in File Explorer → This PC. A system drive over about 90% full will slow Windows down on its own.

Step 1: Clear the Temp Folder

1. Press Windows + R, type %temp%, press Enter.
2. Press Ctrl + A, then Delete.
3. If you are told a file is open, tick Do this for all current items and click Skip.

Windows Update unpacks installers here and apps write scratch files here, and almost nothing cleans up after itself. Files in use are locked and get skipped, which is normal. This step matters most when your drive is close to full, since Windows needs free space for its page file and temporary work.

Step 2: Empty the Recycle Bin

Open the Recycle Bin and click Empty Recycle Bin.

Deleting a file only moves it to the bin. The space is not reclaimed until you empty it, so without this step the cleanup above frees nothing. Check the contents first, because this part is permanent.

Step 3: Turn Off Startup Apps

1. Click Start, type startup apps, and open it.
2. Switch off anything that does not need to run the moment you sign in.

Every startup app competes for CPU, memory, and disk while Windows is already busy loading your session. A long list is what turns a quick login into a minute of unresponsiveness.

Leave your security software, VPN client, and cloud storage sync alone. Chat apps, vendor updaters, media players, and leftovers from hardware you no longer own are the safe ones to disable. Worth rechecking after any large update, since installers often re-enable their own entries.

Step 4: Set Visual Effects for Performance

1. Press Windows + R, type sysdm.cpl, press Enter.
2. On the Advanced tab, click Settings under Performance.
3. On the Visual Effects tab, choose Adjust for best performance.
4. Click Apply, then OK.

Windows spends real GPU and CPU cycles on animations, shadows, and translucency. Switching them off does not speed up your processor, but it removes the lag between a click and the response, which is most of what feels slow.

One tweak: this also disables Smooth edges of screen fonts, which makes text look rough. Pick Custom and leave that one box ticked to keep the responsiveness without the ugly text.

Step 5: Finish the Update and Restart

Go to Settings → Windows Update. If a restart is required, click Restart now and let it run.

Updates install in two phases: files are staged while you keep working, then the installation completes during a restart. Until that happens the machine runs half-finished with update services still working in the background, which is often the slowness itself.

Give it the full estimated time, which can be an hour for a feature update. A machine that looks stuck partway through is usually still working. Forcing a shutdown mid-update is how a slow computer becomes a broken one.

Step 6: Update Drivers and Firmware

1. Find your exact model in Settings → System, or run msinfo32 and check System Model.
2. Go to your manufacturer’s official support site and search that model. Dell, HP, Lenovo, ASUS, and Microsoft all publish driver and firmware packs per device.
3. Install the current pack.

A feature update can swap your manufacturer’s tuned drivers for Microsoft’s generic ones. On a graphics, chipset, or storage driver the difference is noticeable: slower performance, louder fans, worse battery, and nothing obviously wrong in Task Manager. Reinstalling the manufacturer’s package puts the right drivers back. Firmware matters for the same reason, especially on laptops where power and thermal management live at that level.

Download only from the manufacturer’s own domain. Driver search results are full of third-party sites bundling adware, and “driver updater” tools are a common way clean machines get infected.

Still Slow?

If all six are done and nothing improved, the update was not the cause. The usual suspects:

• A full or failing SSD. Drives slow as they fill and as they wear.
• Not enough RAM. 8 GB is tight for Windows 11 with a browser full of tabs and Teams running.
• Malware or unwanted software, especially if a new toolbar or pop-ups showed up too.
• Thermal throttling. A dusty laptop runs hot, and a hot CPU slows itself down on purpose.
• BitLocker still on its first encryption pass, which is heavy while it runs.

When to Get Help

Worth calling someone if several machines slowed down at once, which points at a bad update or a policy rather than coincidence. Same if you are seeing blue screens, disk errors, or a machine that will not wake, since those are hardware symptoms and the priority is backing up the data.

On a managed fleet most of this never becomes a surprise. Updates get tested before they reach everyone, drivers ship with them, startup software is set by policy, and someone notices a struggling machine before the person using it has to complain.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did my computer get slow right after a Windows 11 update?

Usually a restart it never got, startup apps switched back on, installer leftovers, or generic drivers replacing your manufacturer’s. The restart and the drivers are the most common causes.

Is it safe to delete everything in the Temp folder?

Yes. Anything in use is locked and gets skipped automatically, and the rest is scratch data nothing depends on.

Will turning off visual effects really make it faster?

It makes it feel faster, which is usually the goal. You are cutting the delay between a click and the response, not adding processing power.

How long should a Windows 11 update restart take?

A few minutes to over an hour for a feature update. Let it finish rather than forcing a shutdown.

Do I need a PC cleaner or optimizer?

No. Everything here uses tools already in Windows. Most third-party optimizers do nothing useful, and driver updater tools in particular are a common malware vector.

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