How to fix slow performance in Windows 11

Recently, after updating Windows 11 to version 24H2 or 25H2, we have often seen complaints on social media (such as X) that "the PC has become slower" or "performance has declined."

Of course, not just immediately after an update, but anyone who has been using a PC for a long time will experience symptoms such as slow startup or slow response of Explorer.

So, this time, we will introduce in detail a surprisingly little-known performance recovery method (automatic maintenance) that you can try when you feel that Windows 11 is running slowly.

Automatic Maintenance to restore Windows 11 performance

What is Automatic Maintenance?

Windows 11 automatically performs tasks called "Automatic Maintenance" on a regular basis to maintain the health and performance of your PC.

When I looked into what tasks were running, I found the following 29 tasks in my environment:

*The names and number of some tasks may differ depending on your environment.

These tasks are not always running. Automatic Maintenance runs only when your PC is idle.

Idle state refers to the time when the user is not using the mouse or keyboard. Windows normally determines that the computer is idle if there is no activity for a certain period of time (checked at approximately 15-minute intervals).

However, if you are constantly using your PC or have resident software running in the background, it may take a while for the PC to enter an idle state, and maintenance may not be performed.

So in Windows 11, by default, in case you can't run it during the day,2:00 AM If your PC is in sleep mode at this time, it will automatically wake up and start maintenance (if your PC supports waking from sleep).

Win10/Win11 Solved! Sleep mode is automatically canceled

*If the user operates the PC at this time, some tasks may be interrupted.

If your PC is not turned on at 2:00 AM, maintenance will be postponed until the next idle time (when you are not using your PC). However, if you use your PC all day or turn it off frequently, there may not be a chance for it to be performed and it may be left unattended for a long period of time. For this reason, we recommend that you manually perform "Automatic Maintenance" on a regular basis.

Check if "Automatic Maintenance" is running in Task Scheduler

1. Press Windows Key + R to open Run, type the following command and press Enter:

taskschd.msc

2. The Task Scheduler will open, so double-click "Task Scheduler Library" on the left.

3. Open Microsoft, then Windows, and check the tasks performed in "Automatic Maintenance" using the table above.

If the "Last run time" is a long time ago, we recommend that you manually run "Automatic Maintenance."

How to manually run Automatic Maintenance

1. Press Windows key + R to open Run and enter the following command:Ctrl + Shift + Enter Press.

Rundll32 advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks

2. The "User Account Control" message will appear, so click "Yes".

3. After executing the command, a round icon will appear in the upper right corner of the mouse cursor and will continue to spin around, so please wait without doing anything.

4. Once the round icon disappears, check if "Automatic Maintenance" is running in the Task Scheduler.

*If you already have the Task Scheduler open, you can refresh the contents by selecting a task and pressing F5 once. Also, depending on your environment, some tasks may continue to run even after the circular icon disappears.

Now that Automatic Maintenance is complete, try it out and see the difference in performance.

*After "Automatic Maintenance" is complete, in some environments, the sign-in screen may be displayed instead of the startup logo on the first restart. (A black screen will remain until the sign-in screen appears.)

Old Prefetch files can affect Windows startup and application startup speed.

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Make your PC lighter in minutes! A tool that automatically deletes unnecessary prefetch files Have you noticed that your apps or Windows itself are starting up slower recently? This could be due to outdated prefetch files.