Windows 11 is reaching more and more computers and brings with it its new virtues, its renewed appearance and everything it has to offer regarding its performance.
But, as was the case with Windows 10, there are a series of default settings that are not entirely ideal and that can be somewhat annoying depending on the situations.
Some of these configurations cause discomfort, such as those related to Cortana or advertising, but it is true that others directly slow down the computer, showing a lot of notifications or collecting information.
It is best that we disable or change the configuration of certain parts of the operating system to ensure that everything will go smoothly and without any annoying interruption.
Shared Updates
Windows 11 you can download the relevant updates for your system from Microsoft servers or you can do it from other computers, and our equipment may be used for that exchange of updates between devices.
Obviously, this slows down the operation of the system, so it is quite convenient, especially in computers with limited power, that we deactivate it.
For that we must go to the Setting of the system, enter Windows Update and then click on Advanced Options.
Now inside the section Additional optionswe must search and click on Distribution optimizationthen we must disable Allow downloads from other computers.
Notifications
The Windows 11 Action Center is useful, we already receive notifications from more or less interesting applications or reminders.
The problem comes when all this begins to accumulate and notifications don’t stop appearing, such as Windows suggestions, which often get annoying, trying to teach us things we already know.
To limit all this we must go to the Settingthen to System and then to Notifications.
Yes we disable notifications, we will cut all those that occur in the operating system, something that can be a bit radical. We can choose to go application by application, deactivating the ones that bother us the most.
If we do not want to deactivate all of them, clicking on Notifications A dropdown will open in which we will be able to limit certain parameters such as:
- To show notifications on the lock screen.
- Mostar VoIP calls and announcements incoming lock screen
- Allow the notifications play sound.
We can also enter concentration assistant to configure when and what notifications we want to receive.
choosing between all, only priority or only alarmsin addition to configuring the times and rules to receive them.
Advertisements
In Windows 11, ads of our interest are shown, since what we see or the websites where we enter are analyzed. But these ads even share our profile advertising information with third-party apps through Microsoft’s own store, so it’s a good idea to disable it.
Both because no more advertising appears in the operating system, and so that our privacy is respected a little more.
we must go to Settingthen to Privacy & Securityto find the option Allow apps to show personalized ads using my ID. in advertisingwhich we must disable.
Goodbye Cortana
Cortana is the Microsoft assistant that can be permanently active in Windows 11, causing the system not only to slow down, especially on less powerful computers, but this lack of Privacy may bother us, since it is constantly analyzing what what we do or say
To get Cortana not to be operational you have to go to Settingthen click on Applications and then do the same in Applications and features.
It is time to find where Cortana is to click on the three vertical points on the right and select Advanced Options. If we want it to stop completely, we must search and press where it says To finalize. If we can’t put Never in the dropdown of Background app permissions.
Background app
You can also choose not to let an app run in the background because it’s being annoying with notifications or collecting information of interest.
For that you have to go to Setting > Applications > Applications and features. Then we must go to the app that we want, click on the three vertical points on the right and select Advanced Options.
In the next window, where it says Background app permissionswe mark Never in the takeoff.
disable sync
If you want to deactivate everything that is the synchronization that Windows 11 has to save data from the computer, because we consider that with this the device loses fluidity, we can do it by looking at all the parts.
You have to go to Settingand then click on accountsthen enter windows backup.
Then we’ll see what we can stop syncing OneDrive folderswe can disable remember my apps (so that our apps are synchronized on any device with our account) and remember my preferences (all our preferences will be set on another computer with our account).
Automatic Updates
Automatic updates cannot really be removed in Windows 11, and it is not very convenient either, since they always bring improvements to the system.
Yes, it may be that at a given moment you don’t want it to download them so that the computer doesn’t see its fluidity compromised, something that happens if you have a computer that isn’t exactly powerful.
To achieve this we must go to Setting > Windows update, for later, where it says Pause updates, choose if we want 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 weeks. In this way we stop any update during the time we have chosen.
Disable apps from startup
There may be some applications, such as Microsoft Teams, that we never use and that, however, whenever we activate Windows, it automatically appears and is active.
We can limit those types of applications that we hardly ever use, that we don’t want to delete, but that doesn’t seem like a good idea to load at the start of the operating system either. The way is to go Settingthen go to Applicationsto now click on Start.
Here it is possible to activate and deactivate the applications that we want to start when Windows starts and those that we do not.
With all this you will be able to stabilize Windows 11 and make it run more smoothly, in addition to, in many cases, achieving greater privacy.
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism