Next, she opened Settings > System > Notifications. "Tips and suggestions" was on. So were "Show me the Windows welcome experience" and "Get me occasional fun facts." She turned them off. Fun facts aren't fun at 90% RAM.
She also switched her power plan to "Best performance" (counter-intuitively, power-saver modes often compress RAM, causing stutter) and went into Advanced System Settings > Performance > Visual Effects. She un-checked "Transparency effects," "Animations," and "Taskbar animations." Windows became uglier but breathable . reduce ram usage windows 11
Elara rebooted. The login screen appeared in two seconds. Next, she opened Settings > System > Notifications
The biggest monster was hidden: Microsoft Teams' chat integration. It lived inside File Explorer, sipping 400 MB just to show a contact icon. A quick registry tweak ( HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced ) and a new DWORD called TaskbarMn set to 0 killed it. Fun facts aren't fun at 90% RAM
She opened Task Manager.
Outside, the sun was rising. But she knew the truth: in the digital basement of Windows 11, the ghosts were always waiting to be re-enabled by the next update.
Finally, she opened Edge (yes, Edge) and turned on "Efficiency mode" and "Sleeping tabs." Chrome was a memory vampire.