That's three reinstalls in a week.

[Harry Bloomfield]

My most used laptop, I tried to update to Win11 from Win10. It failed and completely screwed up Win10, so I did a full repair install back to Win10.

Madam, lacked a laptop, so I pulled a spare WinXP one out of the cupboard and gave it a fresh install. She only needs it for a bit of browsing and basic email.

My second most used laptop had become like stirring treacle, click and go make a cuppa. So I did a Win10 reinstall on that and now it flies.

Options on the reinstalls were to set the entire system back to how it came for the factory, with all files deleted, or simply reinstall Win10, with user files left in place, but no other software working. I took the latter option - reinstalling the apps did pick up many of the original settings.

 

[Mottie]

Thought you were talking about live-in partners again Harry!

Only joking, couldn't resist.

 

[ETAF]

i gave up on windows a little while ago, having i5's 8GB ram , they run so slowly after a year or 2 and need a re-install
have a couple of windows 7 laptops i have to get out occasionally
But i switched to Apple macbook pro in 2018 , and its still going strong, and works fast and when i need it
Only downside was i left the battery plugged in all the time, so it stopped working on battery for hours , only last about 40mins.

I purchased one of the new high spec Macbook pro, 2 weeks ago, as I had a inheritance come through and did not want to see it go to waste. Along with a iphone 13 mini - replacing my very old SE with a slight cracked screen
I can close and open the lid and it starts up and works
I make a point of rebooting it about once a month

syncs with the iphone , via icloud , runs most applications i need
Gimp, thunderbird , office etc

Other Half has a macbook air

They work , dont update when you need it, no need to go make a coffee while opening basic apps
New operating system each year,

On my latest windows laptop - 2016 , even MS could not get it going fast ......

 

[opps]

i gave up on windows a little while ago, having i5's 8GB ram , they run so slowly after a year or 2 and need a re-install
have a couple of windows 7 laptops i have to get out occasionally
But i switched to Apple macbook pro in 2018 , and its still going strong, and works fast and when i need it
Only downside was i left the battery plugged in all the time, so it stopped working on battery for hours , only last about 40mins.

I purchased one of the new high spec Macbook pro, 2 weeks ago, as I had a inheritance come through and did not want to see it go to waste. Along with a iphone 13 mini - replacing my very old SE with a slight cracked screen
I can close and open the lid and it starts up and works
I make a point of rebooting it about once a month

syncs with the iphone , via icloud , runs most applications i need
Gimp, thunderbird , office etc

Other Half has a macbook air

They work , dont update when you need it, no need to go make a coffee while opening basic apps
New operating system each year,

On my latest windows laptop - 2016 , even MS could not get it going fast ......

I have no idea what you were doing to your Windows laptops but I have not needed to reinstall Windows on any of my SSD based laptops since my first i7 SSD laptop in 2010 (Sony Vaio Z11).

My current laptop was 2 years old when I purchased it on eBay 3.5 years ago. It was reset to factory default by the seller but I have never noticed a SSD based Windows laptop slowing down.

My Dell XPS runs w10 pro, it doesn't force updates. I tend to send it in to hibernate so that it uses no power. Wake up from hibernate is about 12 seconds, I could put it in to sleep and have an immediate wake up but I often don't use it for about 8 hours whilst it is in my rucksack. Reboot is about 7 or 8 seconds.

Is it possibly the case that your last Windows laptop had a spinning HDD? If so, you really aren't comparing like with like.

The last Macbook Pro that I had to fix for a customer refused to boot, the Mac recovery process kept failing. I fitted a new SSD to replace the old HDD, the customer commented that it was much faster than it had ever been.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

My current laptop was 2 years old when I purchased it on eBay 3.5 years ago. It was reset to factory default by the seller but I have never noticed a SSD based Windows laptop slowing down.

Only my most recent HP laptop has an SSD, the one that the Win11 managed to mangle up. That one has never slowed down, I simply thought I was due a new faster laptop. The much older one had the slowing down issue, which I just couldn't fathom, all I could see in Task Manager was that interrupts were occupying the processor for 100% of the time. That laptop very gradually slowed down. The reinstall has fixed it, it isn't lighting fast, but it's fine for what I need it for - just a laptop for use whilst away in the caravan.

 

[DiyNutJob]

Slow downs are usually caused by extra stuff running. Download autoruns from microsoft. It will show you everything that gets started with windows. Uninstall anything you see that you don't care for. An advanced technique I use is to internet firewall everything except for the few games and programs I use. Most MS stuff phones home, and windows update is always doing stuff. I have blocked microsoft completely for a few years now and very satisfied with the result. I did that after they killed 3 of my SSD's simultaneously. My windows isn't up to date but it works. I am not worry about security threats. Any threat that can't access the internet is not much of a threat.