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DanielRodriguez's avatar
DanielRodriguez
Iron Contributor
Aug 31, 2026

Windows 11 has been running terrible lately – lag, black screen, disk struggling

I've been having some issues with Windows 11 over the past few days and honestly, my PC just feels worse overall. When I'm playing a game and hit the Windows key, everything starts lagging hard—disk ...
device management
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Jamony's avatar
Jamony
MCT
Aug 31, 2026

You are seeing several related symptoms: heavy lag after opening Start during a game, high disk activity, and repeated black screens around sign-in. That combination does not identify one Windows defect; storage pressure, a graphics driver, startup software, or an incomplete update can produce it. Open Task Manager after the slowdown and sort Processes by Disk, CPU, and Memory. Record the process causing the spike. Install Windows and optional driver updates, then obtain the current graphics, chipset, and storage drivers from the PC manufacturer. When the screen goes black, press Windows+Ctrl+Shift+B once to reset the graphics driver. Test Safe Mode; if the symptoms disappear, perform a clean boot to isolate third-party software. Check free disk space, then run DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth followed by sfc /scannow. If this began immediately after an update, use System Restore or roll back the display driver instead of repeatedly forcing shutdowns.