Slow Is Slower With Windows 11

I dreaded having to change to Windows 11, didn't want to take time out of my day to figure it out. But my Windows 10 laptop I bought in 2019 was getting slower and slower, and someone suggested Windows 11 might speed it up. Nah, I thought, but last week I hit the end of the line. The last Windows 10 update took 3 days for my computer to complete, and I thought that was a sign that it was time.

So, last week I upgraded. And it....is....slower.

Today, I turned it on. It took awhile to get going, but once it was there I was able to check my email with an irritating but not earth shattering wait time for firefox to come up. After that I closed the window, made toast, came back to open a window again, and nothing happened. So I did a load of laundry, and still no browser window appeared. I tried to click it again, still nothing. Wait, wait, wait. Couldn't get the task manager to open to see what was going on. Finally restarted it. That did not help.

I've been scolded in the past for relying on Avast free antivirus and IObit's smart defrag when Windows does it all better, and would not slow my computer. I hesitated to follow this advice, because I am weary of change and my dad never relied on Windows security.

Since upgrading to Windows 11, Avast's behavior sheild and ransom sheild keep turning off randomly sometimes when I restart no matter how many times I turn them back on. This did not happen before.

IObit likes to sneak Advanced System Care onto my laptop continually, and that always really slowed it down.

So I said to myself, you changed to Windows 11 already, so get rid of Avast and Smart Defrag.

So I uninstalled those; disabled what start up apps I thought I could; read that I should turn on and run Storage Sense, so I did that; in Advanced System Settings-performance settings-visual effects tab I changed it to adjust for best performance.

Then I read up on Windows Security. I read that it only protects you when browsing if you are using Edge. Is this true? I always use Firefox because (yes, I have a reason for not changing this time) Edge really slows down my computer a lot. Even when my computer was new, a Firefox window would open in 3 seconds while it took Edge 5 to 7 minutes and then my computer stayed slow after that.

I thought maybe Edge works better in Windows 11 than it did in 10, but that is not the case. After closing Edge, I came to MajorGeeks, read up on how to speed up my PC, downloaded CCleaner, and ran it. It said I had to close Edge before it could run. So even though I'd closed Edge 15 min+ prior, it was still open?

I know not what is going on, other than my eyes are preparing to run me out of Kleenex because I'm so frustrated. My computer is not faster. My CCleaner did not quite look like it did in your video, so I don't know if I did it right. I cannot get edge to work, but now that I have Windows Security only I'm afraid to use anything else. I have a lot of work to do, and my computer is not working for me. I am however, catching up on my reading, as I'm able to finish 2-4 pages while waiting on my computer to respond to my commands.

With Windows 11, my computer is acting like it always did with Windows 10 when it was trying to install updates and would be out of commission until the update was complete (for about 1/2 a day). But Windows 11 should be done, and updated, it's been a week.

Sorry to carry on, it's 2 a.m. and I'm at the end of my rope. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

 

Update:
I got some sleep and came back to it fresh. It seems to be running faster now, so maybe removing Avast, Smart Defrag, and the cleanup did some good.

I did more research and it seems the security that comes with Firefox browser may equal or exceed Windows Security with Edge, does anyone have thoughts on comparing the two?

Has anyone else had the Windows 11 upgrade slow your PC?

 

Another update:
I have another computer which has been having the same issues as the one above. It's newer (got it new in 2021, I think). I upgraded them both to windows 11 at the same time. I haven't uninstalled Avast on that computer yet, and random shields keep getting turned off when it restarts (behavior shield, ransom shield, etc).

I'm wondering if this could be something nefarious, or just a glitch with windows 11.

I'm wondering if I should uninstall Avast from this computer (since Windows Security has been remaining turned on on my other computer); or if I should put Avast back on my other one, because what I think looks to be improvement is really just the calm before the storm after I let in what Avast was keeping out...