Everyone knows OS and software, browsers, etc all use way more RAM than they used to, and arguably more than they rightfully should. Bloatware, etc.
I saw something recently that alleged MS puts a lot of shit into PCs that say they are doing one thing but are really doing another.
It would be wild if they are basically using the PCs of the world to do something like crunch numbers, mine bitcoin, etc. Oh, hey, this guy has 12 gigs of ram and is only "using" 4, that's 8 for us to sap.
Reinstall Windows. It tends to clog up over time. A friend of mine had serious performance issues in games because she never once reinstalled it in 7 years. Once she did the problems were gone. Also best to install it without all the bloatware crap via an autounattend file.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDEZDD_gEbo
Or better just go for Linux. CachyOS or Bazzite are pretty good. I personally use CachyOS. Runs 10x faster than Windows, haven't encountered a game yet I can't play and I have less shit to deal with than with Windows.
Cachy and Bazzite are both flavor of the month, but heck if you don't need what they offer Ubuntu or Fedora give you long term stability or Arch gives you full control.
If you want someone who just wants a working operating system with which he can game to tweak Ubuntu and Fedora for gaming or God forbid build his own Arch system then yes Cachy and Bazzite are merely flavors of the month.
u/70thLike Also laptops usually come with even more bloatware than just the Windows bloatware.
Ubuntu based distros are usually pretty good. I like Ubuntu MATE.
My fallback is still Debian ---- not quite as beginner friendly, but it's getting a lot better.
So far I'm happy with CachyOS. Might try out different distros in the future but for now I'm too lazy to do it. Although I could just try one on a different hard drive I guess. Either way there is no way in hell I'm ever installing W11. I wouldn't even go back to W10 if Microsoft would keep supporting it.
I think I'll give Linux a shot. Much appreciated, friend