PowerShell Speed Test: A No-Nonsense Way to See If Your PC's Slowing Down

Grrr... Bundle of miseries! So, the other day I felt like my laptop was dragging its feet… apps taking forever to open, browser tabs hanging. Instead of jumping straight into Task Manager, I cracked open PowerShell to run a few checks. Nothing fancy, just some quick commands that give a rough idea of what’s going on under the hood.

Ah! “PowerShell” … Don’t Be Scared!

PowerShell might sound intimidating, but it’s just a powerful command-line tool built into Windows that lets you talk directly to your computer. Think of it like a tech-savvy notepad where you type simple commands to check your system, automate tasks, or troubleshoot issues… no coding degree needed, just a little curiosity.

To get started… first we need to… Open PowerShell (Run as Admin)

1. Hit Start, type “powershell”
2. Right-click on “Windows PowerShell” > click Run as administrator
3. When prompted, click Yes to continue.

And that’s it… You're in.

PowerShell is open with administrative privileges and ready.

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Check CPU Load: Let’s check Usage and if it is maxed out?

Just copy the command below into PowerShell and press Enter.

Get-CimInstance Win32_Processor | Select-Object Name, LoadPercentage

Tells you what percentage of your CPU is currently being used. If it’s sitting above 80–90% and you’re just staring at the desktop, something’s off.

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Check Memory (RAM) Status

Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem | Select-Object TotalVisibleMemorySize, FreePhysicalMemory

These numbers come out in KB (kilobytes)… a bit annoying, but a quick Divide by 1048576 math gives you value in GB. Helps you know if RAM is choking when you’ve got 20 tabs open (we’ve all been there).

Bonus: Use PowerShell to Check RAM Status

Get-CimInstance Win32_PhysicalMemory | Select-Object BankLabel, Manufacturer, Capacity, Speed, SerialNumber

This tells you what RAM sticks are installed, their size, speed, etc.
But this doesn't check health… just configuration.

Quick Tip (No Commands Needed):
You can also just open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) → go to the Performance tab → click Memory.

There, you’ll see:

• How much RAM is being used
• How much is free
• How many slots are occupied
• The speed and form factor of your memory

 

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How Fast Is Your Drive?

When it comes to speed, SSDs make a night-and-day difference…  no kidding.
Sure, you might know whether you’ve got an SSD or an HDD, but what most people don’t know is how fast (or slow) it’s actually performing.

To check your drive’s real-time read/write performance, open PowerShell and run:

winsat disk -drive c

This will test the speed of your C: drive (you can change the letter for other drives).

After a few seconds, you'll see results like:

• Disk Sequential Read Throughput = 120 MB/s
• Disk Random Write = 60 MB/s, etc.

What Do These Numbers Mean?

• Below 100 MB/s = Slow (typical old hard drives)
• 100–300 MB/s = Decent (entry-level SSD or fast HDD)
• 300–550 MB/s = Good (standard SSD performance)
• 700+ MB/s = Very Fast (NVMe SSDs)

This tells you more than just what kind of drive you have… it shows how well it’s performing right now.

 

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When Did You Last Reboot?

(Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem).LastBootUpTime

This checks when your system was last restarted.

People forget to reboot for days… even weeks. Seriously, it happens more often than you’d think!

Why does this matter?

• Rebooting clears memory leaks and temporary junk
• It resets background services that may have glitched
• It helps install updates properly
• And most importantly… it often fixes random slowness

So, before you assume your PC is broken or slow for good… check how long it’s been on. A simple restart might be all it needs.

 

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Quick Network Check (Ping)

Test-Connection google.com -Count 5

Basic ping test to see if your internet is slow or just dead.

This sends a small signal to Google and checks how fast you get a reply… it measures network latency, not your computer's performance.

What it tells you:

• Whether your internet connection is responsive (low lag)
• If you're experiencing delays or network hiccups

What it doesn't tell you:

• It doesn't measure your PC’s speed
• It won’t show CPU, RAM, or disk performance
• It doesn’t reflect your download/upload speed

Bottom line:
Useful if your system feels fine but websites are slow… otherwise, this has nothing to do with your computer's actual speed. Feel free to skip it if you're only checking hardware performance.

 

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💥 The Most Important One: Windows Experience Index (WEI)

Here’s where you get the big picture. Run:

Get-CimInstance Win32_WinSAT

You’ll see scores like:

• CPUScore            : Processor performance
• MemoryScore      : RAM speed
• GraphicsScore     : Desktop graphics
• GamingScore       : 3D/game graphics
• DiskScore            : Storage speed
• WinSPRLevel      : Overall system score ← This one’s the real deal

 

Why This Score Matters

This is your system’s "power rating" is from 1.0 to 9.9. It helps you answer the big question:

Is my PC strong enough for what I need… or should I finally replace it?

 

Interpreting the Score

• < 4.0       :  Barely hanging on. Basic stuff only.
• 4.0 - 5.9 : OK for docs, emails, browsing. Multitasking will hurt.
• 6.0 - 6.9 : Decent. Can handle light editing, mild multitasking.
• 7.0 - 7.9 : Fast and responsive. Great for most work setups.
• 8.0 +       : High-end. Gaming, editing, dev work… all good.

So yeah… if your score’s around 4 or lower, it’s probably time. Upgrading RAM or swapping to SSD might help. But if the whole setup scores low? Might be time for a new machine.

 

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 Wrap-Up

PowerShell gives you a no-BS way to gauge your PC’s health:

• CPU
• RAM
• Disk
• Boot time
• Internet
• Overall system power

No tools to install. No gimmicks. Just raw data you can act on.

This kind of check takes 5 minutes and gives you a decent gut feel for how your system’s doing… way better than guessing. Plus, no need to install anything.

Nothing scientific, but helpful when your machine feels like it's half-asleep. You can throw all these into a script (But how?!… Just Google up… 😉) if you're the kind of person who likes pushing buttons once and getting all the answers.

I run these every now and then… especially before blaming the laptop. Sometimes it is just me opening 23 tabs of YouTube and forgetting about them.

What I’ve mentioned here is just a pinch of salt… a quick peek into the basics. There’s a lot more to system performance than meets the eye: things like faulty RAM, issues with your network card (NIC), the type and generation of your processor, background processes, driver glitches, and even thermal throttling. We’ll dive deeper into all that in the next article.

For now... enjoy… until your next tech tantrum!!! 😅