It's not a myth, nor an isolated feeling. Past experiences have taught us that Windows "loses the line" over time, and not a few users resist applying updates because the operating system "becomes slower". A study published by the NTDEV portal in February 2021 sought to confirm this, and its results suggest that Windows 10 is much slower than before in aspects such as startup times and opening applications.
Personally, I remember installing the original version of Windows XP on a Pentium II with only 96 MB of RAM. A bad era in which upgrading hardware was impossible, and where I could only get extra performance with endless sessions of optimization and maintenance. In mid-2008, Microsoft released Service Pack 3, and using XP SP3 on that kind of hardware guaranteed a painful experience. Times had changed, and so had the operating system.
Stories like this are not new. Windows 9x, XP, Vista, 7, 8.x. With each major update, operating systems gained new features and improved other aspects, but paid the price in performance. What about Windows 10? This operating system will turn six years old next month. Far behind lies Threshold 1 (also known as 10240), and that fact forces us to ask another question: Is Windows 10 slower than before? A study published by the NTDEV portal helps us get the answer:
Yes, Windows 10 is slower than before
NTDEV's work is based on a total of ten benchmarks:
- Installation time
- Startup and restart time
- Win32 app execution
- UWP app execution
- Windows Search
- GDI performance
- GDI stress test
- Quick scan by Windows Defender
- Input/Output performance
- Shutdown
The study was published in February 2021, and that means the graphs do not include the latest builds, but they reach Windows 10 2004 (19041), which will receive support until December 14, 2021. Another notable detail is that the installations use Hyper-V. Under equal conditions, all differences are the responsibility of each build.
Installation time remained at 12-13 minutes, but it deteriorated with the Creators Update (15063), and reached its worst level with Windows 10 1809 (17763), taking almost 19 minutes.
Startup time also took a hit. Threshold 1 (10240) needed 13 seconds to boot, but Windows 10 2004 (19041) took 2.6 times longer. After the Fall Creators Update (16299), Windows 10 never recovered here. Restart values follow the same trend: Windows 10 2004 takes almost twice as long as Threshold 1.
The execution of Win32 applications managed to maintain its performance until the April 2018 update (17134), however, Windows 10 1809 went from 10 to 20 seconds, recovering some ground with later builds. On the UWP side, the performance loss develops a very similar graph, and ends up exploding between 1809 and Windows 10 1909 (18363).
Windows Search results are erratic from start to finish. GDI suffered a sort of crisis with Windows 10 1909, but it was fixed in the 2004 build. Windows 10 1809 again caused problems with File Explorer, taking more than twice as long as the Fall Creators Update, and never returned to that level.
The good news comes through Windows Defender. While 2004 is slower than 1909, it takes seven minutes less than Threshold 2 (10586). Input/Output performance has definitely improved in more recent builds, and shutdown speed shows no drastic changes, averaging 10 seconds.
In summary
Startup times, application execution, and GDI performance basically define the 'slowness' of Windows 10 in its current builds. Windows 10 1809 shows a very significant regression, and all arrows point to the introduction of new security measures, including the famous Spectre/Meltdown mitigations. Windows 10 will receive support until October 2025, and we hope Microsoft will invest it in optimizing its performance. Dreaming costs nothing....
Access the study: Click here
