As I’m sure you’ve experienced, the way your computer is set up can make all the difference in productivity and overall comfort when using your PC. After resetting Windows 11 recently, I immediately turned off a few settings to get started on the right foot.
5Enhanced Pointer Precision
I frankly don’t understand why enhanced pointer precision, also called mouse acceleration, is enabled by default on almost every desktop operating system I’ve installed. The feature causes your mouse pointer to move at a faster rate than you’re moving your mouse. It’s intended to be more “intuitive” but there’s nothing intuitive about it to me.
Maybe standard mouse speeds are just a preference I’ve developed through habit, but an accelerated mouse annoys me to no end—not to mention the way it harmsaccuracy in FPS games. I like having precise control of the mouse, and when the pointer is slingshotting itself across the screen, I don’t feel like I’m in control.
To turn off mouse acceleration,open the Windows Settings appand go to Bluetooth & Devices > Mouse > Additional Mouse Settings, and in the Mouse Properties dialog that appears, click the “Pointer Options” tab. There you’ll find a check box for “Enhance Pointer Precision,” which I uncheck.
If you’re not used to a decellerated mouse, movement may feel slow and stilted. you’re able to try shifting the pointer speed up to make it more snappy, or just re-enable enhanced pointer precision if you find you liked it better.
4Animation Effects
On other desktop environments, most animations don’t bother me: windows wobbling, notifications materializing, menus sliding up and down. They’re present on macOS and onmy current Garuda Linux Dragonized Edition desktop. Within reason, these things don’t bother me and can make the computing experience feel more organic.
For whatever reason, though, the kinds of animations you see in Windows 11 don’t sit right with me. The way of notifications to slide onto my screen, for example, feel too aggressive. Since I’m getting notifications all day for work, it really starts to irk me.
Animations also consume processing power on yourGPU, so there are slight resource savings to be had when you turn off animation effects. It won’t be anything dramatic, but considering how bloated Windows 11 feels to me, every bit counts.
Toggling animation effects is actually an accessibility feature. So to disable animations, you have to go to Accessibility > Visual Effects and switch off the “Animation Effects” option.
3Notification Sounds
I’m a big believer in shutting up computers. I’m rarely looking away from the screen while I work, so a visual notification is usually enough. Like I said before, I get notifications all day long for work, so with sound they can turn into a real cacophony.
I treat my phone the same way: it spends more than 99% of the time on silent or vibrate. I understand that audible notifications can be helpful in some situations, and for some people more than me. Most of the time, though, I just don’t want to hear anything from my devices except the music I’m listening to.
To disable notification sounds, open the Settings app and go to System > Notifications. Next to the toggle for “Notifications” click the down arrow icon to expand its options. Then uncheck the “Allow Notifications to Play Sounds” box.
While you’re at it, you might want to disable notifications on your lock screen, especially if you’re using a laptop that you bring out in public. That way, locking your screen for security purposes means you also keep anyone looking at your lock screen from knowing what apps you’re using.
2Bing in the Start Menu
When I search the start menu on Windows, it’s because I want to find an app or file I know I have on my computer. The start menu, though will also search the web for your query. That to me is a useless feature whose function adds unneccesary overhead to my PC because, like I said, I’m only searching for files local to my computer.
What’s worse, it isn’t always clear whether a result links to something on your computer or something on the web. For example, if I search for Discord, whether or not I’ve installed it already, Windows will show me a result for the Discord app as a “best result.”
It’s separate from the web results, implying this result is local to my computer. So if I’m not sure I’ve installed Discord already, I’m not sure what will happen when I click it. If Discord isn’t installed, Edge opens and I’m brought to a Bing search results page. It annoyingly doesn’t even take me directly to Discord’s website.
Speaking of Edge, that’s another problem for me: I don’t use Edge, and every web result in the start menu opens in Edge. It doesn’t change when I make Firefoxmy default browser.
That means that even if I decided to change my workflow to do my web searches in the start menu, I’d still be forced to make Edge my primary browser and Bing my search engine. Switching browsers and search engines is a huge ask just for a minor perk to the start menu.
Changing this setting involves a registry edit, so I won’t go into it here. It’s all laid out for you in our guide todisabling Bing in the Windows 11 start menu.
1Automatic DNS
By default, your computer automatically resolves internet browsing requests using aDNSservice typically operated by your internet service provider (ISP). That means your ISP has a record of your browsing requests, which brings privacy and security implications. Not only that, but your ISP may not be the fastest at resolving requests, so you could get yourself a little speed boost by opting for another DNS provider.
In my case, my ISP is one of the fastest around, which I found out byclocking DNS providers near me. I still want to minimize my attack surface, though, so I prefer to turn off automatic DNS and select my own provider instead.
To do this, you’ll need to go to Network & Internet in the settings app, select Wi-Fi (or Ethernet, if that’s what you’re using), followed by “[Your SSID] Properties.” Scroll until you see the the “DNS Server Assignment” option and click its “Edit” button.
There you’ll need to enter your preferred DNS addresses. If you’re not sure what to enter, see our list ofsecure DNS providerswe recommend.
If you want more ways to optimize your PC, you may want to look intodisabling Windows 11 tips and suggestions. We’ve also put together a list ofprivacy-specific Windows 11 settings to change.
