10 Commands to Speed Up Windows 11 or 10: Step by Step

⚡ Why Optimize Windows 11 or 10?

A freshly installed Windows is usually fast. Over time, though, it piles up apps that launch with the system, services you never use, gigabytes of temporary files, outdated drivers and, sometimes, system files damaged by a power cut or an interrupted update. None of this happens at once: the PC slows down little by little, until the day that turning it on and opening the browser becomes a test of patience.

The good news is that Windows itself ships with the tools to fix most of it. The 10 commands in this guide are built in — they work on Windows 11 and 10, need no downloads and can be undone. For each one you’ll see the command, the steps, what it really changes and when it isn’t worth it.

An honest note before we start: software tuning has limits. If your computer still runs on a mechanical hard drive or has little memory, the commands help, but the change that truly transforms the PC is hardware — more on that in “When these commands won’t help”.

🛟 Before You Start: Restore Point and an Admin Terminal

Several commands in this guide change system settings. To be able to undo them with one click, create a restore point first. Open the terminal as administrator — press Win + X and choose Terminal (Admin) on Windows 11 or Windows PowerShell (Admin) on Windows 10 — and run:

Checkpoint-Computer -Description "Before optimization" -RestorePointType MODIFY_SETTINGS

If you get a warning that System Protection is off, turn it on in sysdm.cpl → System Protection tab → select drive C: → Configure → Turn on system protection. And if Windows says a restore point was already created in the last 24 hours, that’s fine: it will use that one.

To go back to that point later, follow how to restore Windows without losing files. If you’d rather have a full copy of everything, see the Windows backup without installing anything.

🛑 1. Unnecessary Services — services.msc

Services are programs Windows keeps running in the background. Most are needed, but some only matter if you use a specific feature. In the window that opens, double-click the service, change the Startup type and click OK. Prefer Manual over Disabled: in manual mode the service still starts by itself if a program needs it.

🧹 2. Disk Cleanup — cleanmgr

1. Run the command and choose drive C:.
2. Click Clean up system files first — that’s where the big items show up, like leftovers from Windows updates.
3. Check Temporary files, Windows Update Cleanup, Delivery Optimization Files and Recycle Bin (make sure there’s nothing you want in it first).
4. Click OK and then Delete Files.

On Windows 11, the same cleanup lives in Settings → System → Storage → Cleanup recommendations, and Storage Sense does it automatically from time to time. A nearly full drive slows any Windows down: keep at least 15% to 20% free. There’s a whole guide on this in how to clean up Windows with one command.

💽 3. Optimize the Drive (HDD and SSD) — defrag C: /O

A lot of guides tell you to skip this step if you have an SSD — and that’s a mistake. The /O switch tells Windows to run the right optimization for each type of drive:

• Mechanical hard drive (HDD): it defragments — it puts the scattered pieces of files back together, so the drive reads faster.
• SSD: it does not defragment. It runs TRIM, which tells the SSD which blocks are free. That’s good for speed and for lifespan.

Just want to check if it’s needed? Use defrag C: /A (analysis only). To confirm TRIM is on for your SSD:

fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify

If the result shows DisableDeleteNotify = 0, TRIM is active. Windows already schedules this optimization every week — check it in dfrgui (Optimize Drives). To find out whether your drive is an HDD or SSD and how healthy it is, see the 4 commands that show your PC’s real health.

🎨 4. Visual Effects — SystemPropertiesPerformance

The command opens the Performance Options window directly. Choose Adjust for best performance and, so Windows doesn’t look too rough, turn back on just these two options:

• Show thumbnails instead of icons (otherwise photos turn into generic icons);
• Smooth edges of screen fonts (otherwise text looks jagged).

Click Apply. On Windows 11 you can also go to Settings → Accessibility → Visual effects and turn off Transparency effects and Animation effects. On a PC with a dedicated graphics card the gain is small — in that case, feel free to keep the eye candy.

🔄 5. Up-to-Date Drivers — devmgmt.msc

In Device Manager, look for items with a yellow triangle — those are devices with no driver or with a problem. Right-click → Update driver → Search automatically for drivers.

A detail few people know: that button almost always answers “the best drivers for your device are already installed”, because it only searches inside Windows itself. Newer drivers usually live in Settings → Windows Update → Advanced options → Optional updates, or on the manufacturer’s website (especially for the graphics card). The full walkthrough, with no paid software, is in how to install drivers without paid programs.

🚀 6. Startup Apps — taskmgr

In practice, this is the command that makes the most difference. In Task Manager, open the Startup apps tab (on Windows 10, Startup) and click the Startup impact column to sort it. Right-click the High impact apps you don’t need the moment the PC turns on — updaters, game launchers, cloud apps you open when you want — and choose Disable.

Keep your antivirus, audio and touchpad drivers and whatever you really use all the time. Disabling an app here doesn’t uninstall anything: it still opens normally when you click it.

A trick to measure before and after: in the top-right corner of that same tab you’ll see the Last BIOS time, and the time until the desktop is usable you can measure with a clock. More details in how to disable startup programs.

📋 7. Faster Menus — MenuShowDelay

Watch out: many tutorials tell you to create a DWORD value under ...\Explorer\Advanced. In that place the value does absolutely nothing. The right place is the one in the table above, and the safest way to change it is with a single command, without opening Registry Editor:

reg add "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop" /v MenuShowDelay /t REG_SZ /d 100 /f

Then sign out and sign back in (or restart). The value is how long Windows waits before opening a submenu when you hover over it — like “Send to” in the right-click menu. I recommend 100: with 0, submenus pop open by accident when the mouse just passes over them.

To be transparent: this tweak makes menu navigation snappier, but it does not make the Windows 11 Start menu open faster, which works differently. To go back to the default, run the same command with /d 400.

🔋 8. Power Plan — powercfg

The power plan decides whether the processor favors saving energy or speed. On a desktop, High performance is a good choice. powercfg /list shows the plans and marks the active one with an asterisk; SCHEME_MIN is the internal name of High performance (minimum power saving).

On many Windows 11 laptops, only the Balanced plan shows up. You can try to recreate High performance with:

powercfg -duplicatescheme 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c

If it still doesn’t appear (it happens on laptops with Modern Standby), use the Windows 11 way: Settings → System → Power & battery → Power mode → Best performance. On a laptop, remember that maximum performance means more heat and less battery — use it when plugged in.

🛡️ 9. Repair System Files — DISM + sfc /scannow

Both run in the Terminal as administrator, one after the other. DISM comes first because SFC uses the store that DISM repairs — if the store is damaged, SFC alone can’t fix anything. Together they take 20 to 40 minutes, and DISM sometimes looks stuck at 20% or 62.3%: that’s normal, just wait.

This repair won’t speed up a healthy Windows, but it fixes slowdowns and freezes caused by corrupted files. Every message they show, and what to do when the repair fails, is in the full guide to SFC and DISM before reinstalling.

⏩ 10. Fast Startup — powercfg /h on

The command turns on hibernation, which fast startup is built on. Then check that fast startup is enabled:

1. Run powercfg.cpl and click Choose what the power buttons do.
2. Click Change settings that are currently unavailable.
3. Check Turn on fast startup (recommended) and save.

How it works: when you Shut down, Windows saves the system core to the hiberfil.sys file and, on the next boot, loads it from there. That’s why Restart still does a full boot — and that’s the one you should use after updates.

📦 Bonus: Update All Your Apps at Once — winget

Outdated apps make the PC slower and more vulnerable. Up-to-date Windows 11 and 10 include winget, which updates almost everything with one command:

winget upgrade --all --accept-source-agreements --accept-package-agreements

If you’d like to just see what has an update first, run winget upgrade. The full walkthrough, with the most common errors, is in update all your apps with one command. And to keep Windows itself current, check whether your Windows is really up to date.

🚫 What Does NOT Make Windows Faster

On memory, it’s also worth reading why more RAM doesn’t always make the PC faster.

📊 Summary Table of the 10 Commands

📅 What’s the Recommended Order?

Restart at the end and use the PC normally for a day or two before judging the result — some improvements, like the startup cache, only show up after a few boots.

🔁 Alternatives Table

⚠️ When These Commands Won’t Help

If you applied everything and the PC is still slow, the cause probably isn’t a setting. The usual suspects:

If you’re swapping the HDD for an SSD, you can move your whole Windows over without reinstalling, using a clone with Hasleo Disk Clone.

📖 Quick Glossary

FAQ