Why do windows computers get slow after a while?

[AION]

My laptop is only 4 years old. 
 

Haven’t installed any new stuff on it. Only using it for browsing and office stuff. 
 

32 gb of ram and Ryzen processor. 
 

So with light use, having onenote, browser open, and YouTube for music, it should work fine to say the least. But it is not. It is very draggy and slow. 
 

The thing is when I open a game it works fine but with light stuff in Firefox. It gets laggy. I got the most problems with Firefox actually. 

[Leo Gura]

They don't get slow if you operate it properly.

Win11 is very laggy due to new Explorer code. Win10 is much faster.

[AION]

@Leo Gura I have windows 11

[Buck Edwards]

I've noticed that if you open too many tabs at a time, the laptop usually gets slower after a while. 

[Leo Gura]

25 minutes ago, AION said:

@Leo Gura I have windows 11

I uninstalled 11 and switched to 10. It's far faster. Windows Explorer in 11 is awful. It uses new code which is buggy and poorly optimized and there is no fix for it. No one should be using Win11.

If you install Win10 your PC will feel 50% faster. Or you can be lazy and suffer with Win11 for years.

I made this switch a month ago and my PC is silky smooth now.

Edited December 30, 2024 by Leo Gura

[Abe27]

20 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

I uninstalled 11 and switched to 10. It's far faster. Windows Explorer in 11 is awful. It uses new code which is buggy and poorly optimized and there is no fix for it. No one should be using Win11.

If you install Win10 your PC will feel 50% faster. Or you can be lazy and suffer with Win11 for years.

I made this switch a month ago and my PC is silky smooth now.

What specs do you have?

My Zenbook duo is fast enough to not notice any slowing on win 11 vs win 10

[FourCrossedWands]

This may sound like a cliché response, but the main problem is that you have a laptop. My desktop PC is 8 years old and it's as fast as the day I built it.

Before that desktop PC, I had like 4 different laptops and all went to shit after like 3-4 years.

They just don't last.

[Leo Gura]

4 minutes ago, Abe27 said:

What specs do you have?

Very high.

It's not about the specs. It's a Win11 issue.

I had clean installs of Win11 and Win10 on the same machine. The difference in performance is big.

Edited December 30, 2024 by Leo Gura

[shree]

57 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

 Win10 is much faster.

I didn't know that.

I will also revert to Win10 now.

[Leo Gura]

32 minutes ago, shree said:

I didn't know that.

I will also revert to Win10 now.

To be clear, I don't know about reverting.

I do clean re-installs. Reverting an upgrade may cause issues. I never even bother with such iffyness.

Edited December 30, 2024 by Leo Gura

[Schizophonia]

I noticed the same thing + the best os exept for gaming is from far OSX. 

[AION]

2 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

I uninstalled 11 and switched to 10. It's far faster. Windows Explorer in 11 is awful. It uses new code which is buggy and poorly optimized and there is no fix for it. No one should be using Win11.

If you install Win10 your PC will feel 50% faster. Or you can be lazy and suffer with Win11 for years.

I made this switch a month ago and my PC is silky smooth now.

So it doesn’t matter how you use windows 11. It will remain slow. 

I always refresh driver software, bios, software and OS updates, do weekly virus and malfunction cleaning and I still get this laggy bullshit. 

All while I maxed out on ram. This shouldn’t be happening for normal office and internet explorer usage. 

The thing is I could go back to windows 10 but on that OS my computer would freeze because of some AMD video card problems. 
 

It is 2024 and we still have to deal with this bullshit. 

[AION]

2 hours ago, FourCrossedWands said:

This may sound like a cliché response, but the main problem is that you have a laptop. My desktop PC is 8 years old and it's as fast as the day I built it.

Before that desktop PC, I had like 4 different laptops and all went to shit after like 3-4 years.

They just don't last.

I have the same issue with my desktop pc. It is a software issue. Not hardware. My laptop or desktop should be able to run office and internet explorer without an issue. Back in the day on my windows 10 days I would be able to run 20 tabs, YouTube videos and play games on steam at the same time. And now it can’t even run YouTube and OneNote.  

[Soulbass]

It's possible to keep Windows fresh by constantly re-installing it.

You can create a system image with all your apps & settings (after a fresh install) and restore the image anytime you want.

I often crack software (which isn't ideal for security reasons) and install a bunch of bloat.

Backup & restore is a native feature of Windows.

You might say "How do I work with project files, if I'm constantly re-installing my OS?"

You can manage that with .bat files, and 7-Zip archive utility.

I'm like everybody, I don't like to deal with computer problems, it took me years to get to a point where I can just use computers and have no hassles.

About dumbphone/smartphone, this is a secondary ecosystem that I ignore for the most part.

I have different rigs with win7/win10, tho i wouldn't recommend win7 unless for offline use.

Linux is probably the answer, but I can't re-learn everything and I need proprietary software.

Windows mods are the answer imo, I use WIN10 AME https://ameliorated.io/
 

*Message sent from a Windows 7 device*

Edited December 30, 2024 by Soulbass

[Leo Gura]

If you do a proper clean install and you use your PC properly it should last you 5+ years before you need to do a fresh re-install.

[mmKay]

Windows 10 is garbage. My 1000€ Laptop barely can run Google chrome without overheating . Looking into some Linux alternatives. 

Edited December 30, 2024 by mmKay

[FourCrossedWands]

2 hours ago, AION said:

I have the same issue with my desktop pc. It is a software issue. Not hardware. My laptop or desktop should be able to run office and internet explorer without an issue. Back in the day on my windows 10 days I would be able to run 20 tabs, YouTube videos and play games on steam at the same time. And now it can’t even run YouTube and OneNote.  

OK, then just reinstall Windows 10 and see, there can be some bad updates, drivers, etc.

If it doesn't help, open the PC and clean all components, then repaste your CPU/graphics card. The components may be overheating, which can cause thermal throttling and laggy performance. The hard drive can also be corrupt.

Also, don't forget to reset your BIOS settings, and maybe update the BIOS firmware.

I have never used Windows 11, so can't tell if that one is the issue. But I wouldn't be surprised.

Edited December 30, 2024 by FourCrossedWands

[AION]

@FourCrossedWands I already updated everything I can update from drivers, bios to all kind of software updates..

My pc's run a good firewall and virus scanner. And I use software to defrag and clean the integrity of my pc.

I think it is just windows that starts bloating after a while. The thing is I never install bloat software. It just happens.

With my desktop PC I could repaste my components but with my laptop it is not possible I think. The only thing I could repaste is my processor and actually my processor is doing fine. It is not overheating and only running on 10-20% most of the time. Ram usually runs at 40-50% although I have 32 gb.

Only option left is re-installation of the OS which is a pain in the ass.

Edited December 31, 2024 by AION

[UnbornTao]

Install Linux Mint, depending on your needs and hardware. 

I use a tool call WinUtil which debloats stuff, optimizes services, etc. 

Try Brave, if that improves your browser situation.

[AION]

Just now, UnbornTao said:

Install Linux Mint, depending on your needs and hardware. 

I use a tool call WinUtil which debloats stuff, optimizes services, etc. 

Try Brave, if that improves your browser situation.

Linux is even more crap than windows from my experience. I have no time to fuck around with drivers that are not working. Last time I lost hours trying to fix my second screen or audio that is not working. There is always some annoyance with linux waiting to happen.