10 Tips to Do Right After Installing Windows 11 (IMMEDIATELY)

In this video tutorial I show you 10 tips to do right after installing Windows 11, on supported and unsupported PCs. Follow them and your computer will run faster. They also make the move from Windows 10 easier: if you worry that Windows 11 will be slow on your old or new laptop, or that its new look is hard to get used to, I show you how to customize Windows 11 and make it look a little more like Windows 10.

In this article

1. Downloads used in this video
2. Tip 1: Install all Windows updates and drivers
   1. If Windows does not find your drivers
3. Tip 2: Move the Start menu to the left
4. Tip 3: Bring back the old right-click menu
5. Tip 4: Remove bloatware with a Windows 11 debloater
6. Tip 5: Disable startup apps and uninstall apps you don’t need
7. Tip 6: Turn off transparency and animation effects
8. Tip 7: Turn off notifications and ads
9. Tip 8: Use the High performance power plan
10. Tip 9: Delete temporary files
11. Tip 10: Scan for viruses without a third-party antivirus
12. 3 more suggestions for a faster PC

Downloads used in this video

Download Windows 11 Debloater

GitHub page of the debloater: https://github.com/LeDragoX/Win-Debloat-Tools

Download W11 ClassicMenu

Get AdwCleaner (free, official website)

Tip 1: Install all Windows updates and drivers

Do this first, on an old unsupported computer and on a new laptop alike.

1. Open Settings > Windows Update. If updates are paused, click Resume updates.
2. Turn on Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available.
3. Click Check for updates, install everything (in the video it was a cumulative update for Windows 11 23H2) and restart your computer.
4. For drivers, go to Windows Update > Advanced options > Optional updates > Driver updates. Select the drivers you need and click Download & install.

Note: Windows 11 23H2 Home and Pro stopped getting security updates on November 11, 2025. If your PC is still on 23H2, install the latest feature update from Windows Update.

If Windows does not find your drivers

1. Find the model of your laptop or PC. On a laptop, it is usually on a sticker on the bottom (my laptop in the video is a Dell Latitude 3500).
2. Search Google for your model followed by “drivers”, for example Latitude 3500 drivers.
3. Open the official website of the manufacturer (Dell, Lenovo, HP and so on) and go to Drivers & Downloads.
4. Choose your model and your operating system. If Windows 11 is not in the list, choose Windows 10: most drivers will still work.
5. Download and install the drivers you need, such as chipset, audio and video drivers, and BIOS updates.

Tip 2: Move the Start menu to the left

Let’s make it look like Windows 10.

1. Right-click the taskbar and choose Taskbar settings.
2. Turn off Widgets and Task view if you do not use them. You can also hide system tray icons you do not need.
3. Open Taskbar behaviors and set Taskbar alignment to Left.

Tip 3: Bring back the old right-click menu

In Windows 11 you have to click Show more options to see the old right-click (context) menu. The small W11 ClassicMenu tool brings it back:

1. Download W11 ClassicMenu with the button above and extract the ZIP.
2. Double-click W11ClassicMenu.exe and click Enable Win11 Classic Context Menu Style.
3. Restart Explorer (or your computer). Now the old menu opens when you right-click.

To get the new menu back, open the tool again and click Enable Win11 Default Context Menu Style. The ZIP also contains two registry files that do the same thing. I explain the registry method in how to enable the old right-click menu by default on Windows 11.

Tip 4: Remove bloatware with a Windows 11 debloater

This tool removes pre-installed apps and small games you never use, so Windows 11 has more space and resources to work better. I use Win-Debloat-Tools from GitHub.

1. Download the debloater with the button above and extract the entire ZIP to a folder, for example on your desktop.
2. In that folder, run OpenTerminalHere.cmd. If nothing happens, right-click it and choose Run as administrator.
3. Copy the command for the GUI version (below, also on the GitHub page), paste it into the Terminal with a right-click and press Enter.
4. In the window that opens, click Apply Tweaks. It removes the bloatware apps and applies privacy and performance tweaks. Wait until it is complete, then close it.

Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope CurrentUser -Force; ls -Recurse *.ps*1 | Unblock-File; .\"WinDebloatTools.ps1"

The tool also has separate buttons to remove OneDrive and the Xbox apps. After the debloat, my Start menu looked smaller and the theme changed to dark, which you can change back in Settings.

Note: The developer has archived Win-Debloat-Tools, so it no longer gets updates. Apply Tweaks creates a restore point first, and the Undo Tweaks button reverses most changes if something breaks. Back up your files before you use it.

Tip 5: Disable startup apps and uninstall apps you don’t need

Many programs start automatically with Windows and stay in your RAM, and you do not need most of them.

1. Right-click the taskbar and open Task Manager.
2. Open Startup apps, right-click every app you do not need at startup and choose Disable. You can also turn them off in Settings > Apps > Startup.
3. Go to Settings > Apps > Installed apps and uninstall the apps you do not use and that the debloater did not remove. In the video I uninstalled TikTok LIVE Studio and Xbox, because I do not play games.

Tip 6: Turn off transparency and animation effects

Visual effects and animations put extra load on your graphics card, which is better used for other work.

1. Open Settings > Accessibility > Visual effects.
2. Turn off Transparency effects.
3. Turn off Animation effects. Windows no longer animates when you minimize a window, and your computer feels faster.

Tip 7: Turn off notifications and ads

1. Go to Settings > System > Notifications and turn notifications off.
2. Go to Settings > Privacy & security > General.
3. Turn off Let apps show me personalized ads by using my advertising ID, Let Windows improve Start and search results by tracking app launches and Show me notifications in the Settings app.

Tip 8: Use the High performance power plan

1. Click Start, type Edit power plan and open it.
2. Go to Power Options (in the address bar at the top).
3. Select High performance instead of Balanced or Power saver. If you do not see it, click Show additional plans.

Power saver can make your computer laggy. On a laptop, High performance uses more battery. Some laptops only offer the Balanced plan: then go to Settings > System > Power & battery and set Power mode to Best performance.

Tip 9: Delete temporary files

1. Click Start, type Temporary files and open it (it is in Settings > System > Storage). I had 15 GB of temporary files.
2. Select Temporary files and Device driver packages. You can also select Downloads, but this deletes everything in your Downloads folder, so check it first.
3. Click Remove files and then Continue. Now you have more free space on your C drive.

You can leave Storage Sense (automatically free up space) as it is.

Tip 10: Scan for viruses without a third-party antivirus

Do not install a third-party antivirus, because it can slow down your computer. Windows already has one:

1. Open Windows Security > Virus & threat protection and click Quick scan.
2. Then scan with Malwarebytes AdwCleaner, a small free tool (download button above). Run it and click Scan now.
3. AdwCleaner may flag some programs as suspicious. Quarantine the ones you do not want.

3 more suggestions for a faster PC

• Add more RAM to your computer.
• Switch from a hard drive to an SSD. If your old computer still runs on a hard drive, it is very slow. Follow my guide: how to replace a laptop hard drive with an SSD without reinstalling Windows.
• Create a D drive. Partition your C drive so your files are safe if you ever reinstall Windows: how to partition the C drive in Windows 11 without formatting.

Thank you for watching. Don’t forget to like the video, subscribe to my channel and share it with others. God bless you!