As a fan of fancy visuals and a good-looking UI, I upgraded to Windows 11 right after its launch. And while some of my colleagues have a hard time finding legitimate reasons to move to Windows 11, I never looked back.
Still, credit where it is due: Windows 10 is still more responsive than Windows 11 (not as Windows 8 was, though). Even when running on a virtual machine, Windows 10 is snappier, and overall, it feels "lighter" than its successor. Animations in Windows 11 feel heavy and a bit wonky even on my pretty capable PC with a Radeon RX 7800 XT and a 144Hz display. While coming back to Windows 10 is not an option, I found a simple solution that not everyone is aware of.
My tip of the weekend for Windows 11 users: turn off all animations (genius, I know).
As soon as I turned off animations, everything became much snappier: the start menu, virtual desktop switching, context menus (not much faster, but still noticeable), Task View, and other user interface elements. The most notable improvement was virtual desktop switching: instant and without the taskbar going haywire.
There are two ways to turn off animation effects in Windows 11. One is in Settings > Accessibility > Visual Effects. Toggle off "Animation effects."
The second option is in the legacy "System Properties" applet. Press Win + R, type sysdm.cpl and go to the Advanced tab. Click "Settings" in the Performance section and untick the following options:
- Animate controls and elements inside windows
- Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
- Animations in the taskbar
Of course, you can leave some of those options enabled if you wish. Toggling all three will also turn off the "Animation effects" in the Accessibility settings section. Note that these settings affect not only the general Windows 11 UI but also animations in various apps, which, in turn, can make them feel snappier.
I should also add that this simple tweak will not make your computer run faster or generate more FPS in games. It will only address janky animations, which, unfortunately, are still present in Windows 11. While my PC runs perfectly and without performance issues, slow animations play a big role in how it feels. And if you ask me, no animations are better than fancy yet choppy animations (I spoke about it in my recent "Windows 11 still grinds my gears with these 5 things" article).
I recently published another guide with five important things every Windows 11 user should do. Therefore, if you want to make the OS run a bit better for you, check out that article here as well. Meanwhile, share your thoughts about Windows 11 animations in the comments.
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