Windows 11 is sooooooooo slow and apps keep crashing

Question

In August, I upgraded my Dell Precision workstation with Intel Xeon W-2123 CPU @ 3.60GHz 3.60 GHz and 32GB RAM from Win 10 Professional to Win 11 Pro for Workstations, and now I wish I had decided to stick with Win 10, even after it is no longer supported next year.

I started by upgrading to Win 11 (twice) while keeping my files, but when both installations took over 24 hours each and Windows 11 slowed down everything, I performed a clean install and re-added all of my programs and files. Ever since the upgrade, my computer runs so slowly that I really am unable to use it and my Office programs keep hanging, especially Outlook and Excel, which I use the most. Opening an app can take minutes, and randomly apps and Settings won't open at all.

Here's what I have done:

• Verified with Dell tech support that there are no hardware issues.
• Ran repairs on Windows 11 three times (and each time, corrupted files have been repaired).
• Ran repairs on Office 365 twice; once the simple repair and the second time the full repair.
• Uninstalled my Adobe products and re-installed them, since I know from past experience the Adobe products can wreak havoc on Windows PCs.
• Ran troubleshooters until I am blue in the face.
• Scoured the MS community and Google, trying all kinds of suggestions, but nothing improves the situation.

The installation mess itself took over a week. Thank goodness I have an employer-supplied laptop or I wouldn't have been able to work.

Nothing gets better - it just seems to get worse. I can't even get the Event Viewer to work properly to see what's happening. I keep Task Manager open, and the CPU usage never goes above 10% and the Memory shows @ 30% most of the time, so it's not like my system is should be bogged down.

I just don't know where to go from here. Any expert advice would be greatly appreciated.

*** Moved from Windows / Windows 11 / Performance and system failures ***

Answer 1

Hello Melissa,

One thing that could be tried is to use the "Windows Performance Recorder" (WPR) to capture information about system performance. The captured information would probably need to be shared (e.g. here) because it is difficult to interpret.

A command line interface to "Windows Performance Recorder" is included in the basic Windows installation; a tool for examining the captured data ("Windows Performance Analyzer" (WPA)) can be downloaded.

I would suggest issuing the command "wpr -start GeneralProfile" to start a capture, then starting an application that is slow to start but does not take too long and finally stopping the capture with the command "wpr -stop why.etl -skipPdbGen" (the file "why.etl" will be created and contain the trace data).

I tried the above, with about 30 seconds elapsed time between the start and stop steps; this produced a why.etl file about 200 megabytes in size - hence the wish to keep the trace period short.

There may be confidentiality concerns about sharing the trace data.

This might also be only the first step of a lengthy diagnosis process. The command "wpr -profiles" shows a list of the predefined trace "profiles"; the output starts like this (with my bold emphasis):

    **GeneralProfile              First level triage** 

    CPU                         CPU usage 

    DiskIO                      Disk I/O activity 

    FileIO                      File I/O activity 

    Registry                    Registry I/O activity 

    Network                     Networking I/O activity 

    Heap                        Heap usage 

    Pool                        Pool usage 

    VirtualAllocation           VirtualAlloc usage 

    Audio                       Audio glitches 

    Video                       Video glitches 

    Power                       Power usage

Even though the trace data will probably be voluminous, the data is intended as a "first level triage" to give a rough indication of potential performance issues when one has no a priori knowledge that could be used to focus the troubleshooting process.

Gary

Answer 2

Hello,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community forum.

Based on the description, I understand your question is related to win 11.

First try check if your machine meet the requirement of running windows 11:

• Processors/CPUs (Central Processing Units): 1 Ghz or faster with 2 or more cores and appearing on our list of approved CPUs. The processor in your PC will be a main determining factor for running Windows 11. The clock speed (the 1 Ghz or faster requirement) and number of cores (2 or more) are inherent to the processor design as it was manufactured and are not considered upgradable components.
• RAM: 4 GB. If your PC has less than 4GB of memory, there are sometimes options for upgrading to get additional RAM. You may want to consult your PC manufacturer’s website or with a retailer to see if there are easy and affordable options to meet the minimum requirements for Windows 11.   Storage: 64 GB or larger storage device. If your PC does not have a large enough storage drive, there are sometimes options for upgrading the drive. You may want to consult your PC manufacturer’s website or with a retailer to see if there are easy and affordable options to meet the minimum requirements for Windows 11.    System Firmware: UEFI (for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, a modern version of the PC BIOS) and Secure Boot capable. If your device does not meet the minimum requirements because it is not Secure Boot capable, you may want to read this article to see if there are steps you can take to enable this. Secure Boot can only be enabled with UEFI and this article helps you understand potential options to change settings to make this possible.  TPM: Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0. If your device does not meet the minimum requirements because of TPM, you may want to read this article to see if there are steps you can take to remediate this.  Graphics Card: Compatible with DirectX 12 or later with WDDM 2.0 driver. Display: High definition (720p) display that is greater than 9” diagonally, 8 bits per color channel. If your screen size is less than 9”, the intended user interface of Windows may not be fully visible.  Internet Connectivity and Microsoft Accounts: Windows 11 Home edition requires internet connectivity and a Microsoft Account to complete device setup on first use.
• Windows Version for Upgrade: Your device must be running Windows 10, version 2004 or later, to upgrade through Windows Update. Free updates are available through Windows Update in Settings > Update and Security.

Have a nice day. 

Best Regards,

Molly