{"id":301156,"date":"2025-04-27T16:06:02","date_gmt":"2025-04-27T23:06:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=301156"},"modified":"2025-07-01T14:47:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T21:47:25","slug":"6-changes-to-make-windows-11-run-much-better-on-your-old-pc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/6-changes-to-make-windows-11-run-much-better-on-your-old-pc\/","title":{"rendered":"6 changes to make Windows 11 run much better on your old PC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Windows 11 brings a fresh look and modern features, but&nbsp;<strong>older PCs can struggle to keep up<\/strong>&nbsp;with its demands. Fortunately, there are several settings you can tweak to&nbsp;<strong>boost performance without upgrading your hardware<\/strong>. These small changes can make a big difference if you\u2019re not ready to buy a new device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Replace your HDD with an SSD<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first and most impactful upgrade is switching from a traditional hard drive to an SSD.&nbsp;<strong>An SSD is up to six times faster<\/strong>, especially if it\u2019s an NVMe M.2 model, dramatically improving startup times and overall responsiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Keep Windows updated<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many users avoid updates fearing performance drops, but&nbsp;<strong>Windows updates often include key optimizations<\/strong>&nbsp;and security patches. Staying current ensures your system runs more efficiently and safely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Disable startup programs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some apps launch automatically with Windows, using up resources even when unused. Open Task Manager with Ctrl + Shift + Esc, go to&nbsp;<strong>Startup Apps, and disable everything unnecessary<\/strong>&nbsp;to reduce boot time and free up memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Turn off visual effects<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Animations and transparency look nice but slow down older hardware. Navigate to Settings &gt; Accessibility &gt; Visual effects and&nbsp;<strong>disable both transparency and animation options<\/strong>&nbsp;to make your system snappier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Remove widgets from the taskbar<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Widgets constantly update in the background, consuming CPU and RAM. Right-click on the taskbar, go to Taskbar settings, and&nbsp;<strong>turn off the Widgets toggle to free up resources<\/strong>&nbsp;instantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Use the High performance power plan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Go to Windows Search and type \u201cpower plan\u201d to access energy settings. Choose High performance to&nbsp;<strong>maximize your processor\u2019s speed<\/strong>, especially if you\u2019re plugged into power and want smoother multitasking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Windows 11 brings a fresh look and modern features, but&nbsp;older PCs can struggle to keep up&nbsp;with its demands. Fortunately, there are several settings you can tweak to&nbsp;boost performance without upgrading your hardware. These small changes can make a big difference if you\u2019re not ready to buy a new device. Replace your HDD with an SSD &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/6-changes-to-make-windows-11-run-much-better-on-your-old-pc\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;6 changes to make Windows 11 run much better on your old PC&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9317,"featured_media":301157,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[1015],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-301156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9317"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301156"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":307505,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301156\/revisions\/307505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301156"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=301156"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=301156"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=301156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}