To fix slow laptop startup, switch off the apps that launch with Windows, make sure fast startup is on and check whether the laptop still has a hard disk (HDD). The first two are free and take five minutes; on an HDD laptop, an SSD is the fix that turns minutes into seconds.
This guide is only about boot time. If the laptop stays slow after it’s on, see how to speed up a slow laptop.
Measure your boot time
Time it with your phone’s stopwatch from pressing power to a usable desktop (not just the login screen).
| Drive | Typical boot |
|---|---|
| SSD | about 10 to 25 seconds |
| HDD | about 45 to 90 seconds, and often minutes on a cluttered ex-UK laptop |
Also open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) > Startup apps. The Last BIOS time in the top corner shows how long the laptop takes before Windows even starts; a few seconds is normal.
Disable startup apps
This is where most of the delay hides.
- In Task Manager > Startup apps, sort by Startup impact.
- Right-click anything High you don’t need the moment you log in (game launchers, chat apps, updaters, cloud tools you rarely use) and choose Disable.
- Leave your antivirus, touchpad, audio and graphics entries alone.
On Windows 11 you can do the same in Settings > Apps > Startup. Disabling doesn’t uninstall anything; the app still opens when you click it.
Restart and time it again. Trimming a long list often saves a noticeable chunk on an HDD laptop.
Fast startup and BIOS settings
Fast startup saves part of Windows to disk when you shut down, so the next start is quicker.
- Open Control Panel > Power Options > Choose what the power buttons do.
- Click Change settings that are currently unavailable.
- Tick Turn on fast startup (recommended) and save.
No tick box? Hibernate is off. Open Command Prompt as administrator and run powercfg /hibernate on. Fast startup doesn’t apply to Restart, only to Shut down.
High Last BIOS time? Many laptops have a Fast Boot option in the BIOS/UEFI setup that skips some hardware checks. It can make the BIOS key harder to reach, so change it only if you’re comfortable there.
Slow only since a big update? Windows may still be indexing; see laptop slow after the Windows 11 update.
When the drive is the bottleneck
Check what you have: search Start for defrag, open Defragment and Optimize Drives and read the Media type next to C: (Hard disk drive or Solid state drive).
- HDD: still common in budget and older ex-UK laptops. Trimming apps helps, but an SSD typically cuts boot time by half or more. See SSD vs HDD and ask a fundi to clone your existing system across so nothing is lost.
- SSD already, still slow? Check that it isn’t nearly full (keep 15–20% free), install pending updates and run a malware scan.
- Clicking noises or very long boots on an HDD can mean it’s failing. Back up first, today.
Quick answers
Disable unneeded startup apps in Task Manager, turn on fast startup in Power Options, and if it has a hard disk, upgrade to an SSD.
Usually too many startup apps, an old hard disk, or pending updates. Check Task Manager’s Startup apps tab, and the Media type in Defragment and Optimize Drives, to see which.
