How Windows 11 will speed up your slow PC

If your PC feels faster, is it faster? That’s Windows 11’s aim with some smart under-the-hood tweaks.

- MARK HACHMAN

Windows 11 (go.pcworld. com/wn11) sure looks different, but under-the hood performance improvements may make it feel different, too—specifically in how the operating system handles multiple apps, as well as how your PC resumes from sleep. Microsoft detailed the changes in a video, where Steve Dispensa, vice president of enterprise management at Microsoft, explained how Windows 11 will deliver more performance in three different scenarios.

RUNNING MULTIPLE APPS ON AN OVERLOADED PC

Take a PC with multiple applications running: email in the background, instant messaging, browsers with multiple tabs, and so on. A PC without much memory or CPU cycles available will run slowly, probably causing you to close an app or two to improve performance. In Windows 11, Microsoft promises that the way in which those apps are prioritized, called foreground prioritization, will make your PC feel faster even with a heavy load.