What power plan settings in windows 11 could slow file explorer?

[Sophia_M]

I just installed a fresh copy of Windows 11, but my machine feels noticeably slower during basic tasks like opening File Explorer. I’m wondering if the default power plan is set to “Balanced” and if that’s the culprit, even though I’m plugged in.

[Jerry_W]

Yep, on a fresh Windows 11 install the default plan is Balanced when you’re plugged in. It shouldn’t feel this slow for basics like File Explorer, so something else is likely happening (indexing, a background service starting up, or a driver/SSD state).

[Scarlett_M]

I tried switching to High performance for plugged-in use, and File Explorer opened a touch faster, but the overall feel was still not great. The difference was small and inconsistent.

[Kyle93]

I’d check disk health and what Windows is indexing or syncing in the background. After a clean install I’ve seen first-day slowness fade once indexing finished and updates settled.

[Hannah22]

Do you want me to walk through a simple, no-guess checklist to see if the problem is really the power plan or something else?