Disabling Fast Startup to Speed Up Boot Times
Honestly, this one took me by surprise. When Windows 11 felt sluggish right from startup, I first tried turning off Fast Startup. It’s meant to make your PC start quicker, but in my case, it actually made things worse—probably due to hardware quirks or driver issues. Turning it off ended up giving me a more predictable, normal boot process, which I didn’t expect. It took a couple of reboots to notice the full difference, to be honest.
The tricky part was finding the setting because it’s tucked away inside the Control Panel. You’d think it’d be straightforward, but nope—it’s a bit hidden. What finally worked for me was clicking the Start menu, typing “Control Panel,” and hitting Enter. From there, go to Power Options. Sometimes it’s under “System and Security,” other times it’s right there if you set the view to “Large icons” or “Small icons.” If you’re feeling lazy like me, just search “Power Options” directly from the Start menu — faster and easier.
In the Power Options window, click on Choose what the power buttons do on the left-hand side. That’s where the magic happens. But heads up, your user account needs admin rights to change these settings. If some options are greyed out or unavailable, look for a link called Change settings that are currently unavailable at the top—click on that. Sometimes I had to click around a bit or reopen the window after making changes. And watch out for User Account Control prompts—it’s normal to be asked for permission, so just accept them.
Here’s the weird bit — the checkbox labelled Turn on fast startup (recommended) is sometimes greyed out or just missing altogether. That’s because on some setups, hibernation is turned off, which is a prerequisite for Fast Startup. To sort that out, I had to open an Administrator Command Prompt or PowerShell window and run powercfg /h on. That turned hibernation back on, and suddenly I could see the Fast Startup option and uncheck it. Honestly, I didn’t realise that was necessary at first, and I kept wondering why the checkbox was greyed out. So, if it’s missing, don’t skip that step.
Once I unchecked Turn on fast startup, I clicked Save Changes and rebooted. The next startup was noticeably more reliable, and surprisingly, a bit quicker. Just a heads-up—sometimes it takes a couple of goes, especially if you’re using a custom BIOS or have OEM restrictions. Keep in mind that disabling Fast Startup means you’ll be doing a full shutdown rather than a hybrid one, so your cold boots might be a tad slower at first, but overall, everything felt more stable in my experience.
Managing Startup Programs for Quicker Boot Times
Another common reason for slow startup—apps launching automatically and hanging around in the background. I’ve seen this a lot, especially with programs I don’t even use every day. They add clutter and can really slow things down. It’s one of those easy fixes that many forget about, but it makes a noticeable difference.
I usually press Control + Shift + Escape to open Task Manager. Classic shortcut—it feels right. Once it’s open, head to the Startup tab. If you don’t see it, just click More details at the bottom. Here, you’ll see a list of all programs set to run at startup, along with their impact levels. For those I don’t need immediately—like updater tools, chat apps running in the background, or media players—I select them and hit Disable. It’s reversible, so if I need them later, I can turn them back on with a click.
Disabling a few stubborn apps can really help your boot times. Sometimes it’s a small change, but the impact is quite real. Just remember, some programs—especially corporate software or bloatware installed by the OEM—might have policies preventing you from disabling them. But if it’s your own PC, it’s usually straightforward. A quick online search of the program name can help confirm whether it’s safe to disable. Always be cautious though—disabling core system components can cause issues, so only turn off what you’re confident won’t cause problems.
After making these changes, restart to see the effects. Usually, the startup feels snappier after decluttering the list. Combining turning off Fast Startup and trimming startup apps made a noticeable difference for me. I’ve also used msconfig before, but honestly, Task Manager’s Startup tab works much faster these days.
This isn’t a magic fix, and it can take a bit of trial and error to get it just right. Some devices have deeper BIOS or UEFI settings that can influence startup times, but for most users, these Windows tweaks do a lot of heavy lifting. Keep in mind, Fast Startup was designed to help, but in settings like mine, it just caused more headaches—especially with driver updates or hardware quirks. Turning it off might mean a slightly longer initial boot, but the overall stability and consistency tend to improve.
If the slowdown persists even after these adjustments, consider alternatives like cleaning up your disk, running a malware scan, or upgrading hardware (for example, swapping out an HDD for an SSD, or increasing RAM). But for most people, these tweaks are the low-hanging fruit to make your system feel more responsive on startup. It can be a bit fiddly at first, but patience pays off. It took me longer than I’d like to admit—hopefully, this saves someone else a frustrating weekend or hours of trial and error.
Make sure your BIOS settings are optimised, especially if you’re using an SSD. Enable AHCI mode, disable any legacy boot options if you can, and look for “Fast Boot” settings. Those BIOS options can also impact your boot speed.
Anyway, I hope this helps — it took me ages to figure out, but it’s worth the effort. Good luck, and happy booting!