Windows 11's Hidden FAQ Could Tell You Why Your PC Is So Slow
If you've ever sat in front of your Windows PC wondering exactly what is causing it to run so sluggishly, some clarity may be on the way: Microsoft is testing a new FAQ page in Windows 11 that will analyze your system specs and give you some advice about why you might not be seeing top performance speeds.
The feature is currently hidden away in the preview release of Windows—it's not even active in the earliest testing version—but developer @phantomofearth.bsky.social has managed to access the relevant screens and find out how they work. The new page will apparently make its home in the System tab of Settings.
As per the screens shared online, an example of a frequently asked question is: "Is my GPU sufficient for high end gaming and video experience? How can having a dedicated GPU enhance my experience and productivity?" The answer then explains that less than 4GB of memory for a GPU can lead to lower performance and visual quality.
Then there's: "How does having 4-8GB of RAM impact my PC's performance? Can I run modern applications smoothly with this RAM capacity?" The response explains that you'll be fine editing documents and browsing the web, though tasks such as photo and video editing may be more of a challenge for your system.
These questions and answers will apparently be tailored to each specific system, so you'll only get information that's relevant to your own setup. This could potentially be pretty useful when it comes to figuring out what's slowing down the performance of your computer, or getting advice on which component needs an upgrade.
It's worth bearing in mind that a huge chunk of Windows users aren't even going to know what RAM is, let alone how it impacts the performance of their system. For those users, I could see the FAQ section being helpful—certainly more helpful than a dry list of system specs, which is all that's available right now.
That said, the responses are a little on the generic side (I really hope Microsoft hasn't given Copilot the job of writing them). Information like "a high-end GPU can provide better graphics, smoother gameplay, and faster processing" isn't exactly a revelation, and doesn't really quantify how much improvement a user might see with a graphics card upgrade—so some estimates on potential performance gains would be welcome.
However, the more precise these FAQs get, the greater the risk of inaccuracies: Microsoft wouldn't want a user to be in the situation of buying an expensive GPU upgrade only to see minimal performance boosts because of a slow CPU, for example. Assessing PC speeds and the contribution of each component is a complicated business, which is probably why these FAQs are rather vague at the moment.
Hopefully, Microsoft can work in some more specifics before this feature actually launches without running the risk of misleading users. Of course, a lot of the details also might change between now and whenever this gets pushed to all Windows users—if indeed it ever does see the light of day. But it's a potentially useful new addition to the OS that will provide some extra context to your system specs.