Hey all! I recently got an Asus Zephyrus G14 after returning an HP Omen Transcend 14 that had issues. I love the G14’s design and performance, especially the RTX 4070—it’s my go-to laptop when I’m traveling for uni or work since I also have a desktop with an RTX 4080. That said, I’m running into a frustrating problem: some programs, like Steam, take forever—like 20 to 30 seconds—to launch from desktop shortcuts or the Start menu, though if they’re already open in the system tray, they open instantly. Also, sometimes mouse clicks on certain UI buttons don’t register. I tried factory resetting with a clean Windows 11 install to ditch bloatware, but the delays and click issues remain. The laptop has 4x8GB soldered DDR5 6400 RAM, and I’ve checked speeds and benchmarks, which look fine. If anyone has ideas on what might be causing this or how to fix it, I’d really appreciate the advice! I’m not super tech-savvy, so please keep it simple :)
4 Answers
With 4x8GB DDR5 at 6400MHz, your RAM looks solid, so memory bandwidth probably isn’t the issue. However, sometimes NVMe drives running in PCIe modes that aren’t optimal or having power saving features kicking in can cause app launch lag. You might want to check your BIOS settings to ensure the NVMe SSD is in its fastest mode and disable any aggressive power saving options for storage devices. Also, Windows fast startup sometimes causes weird issues—consider turning that off.
Sounds like Windows 11’s built-in bloat or some background processes might be causing sluggish program launches, which isn’t uncommon. Even factory resets don’t always get rid of everything. You might want to try disabling unnecessary startup apps and background services via Task Manager or using a lightweight third-party software manager. Also, checking for firmware or driver updates for your laptop could help, especially those related to storage and chipset.
That delayed clicking and slow program launch could be related to touchscreen or touchpad drivers conflicting with Windows UI or some overlay software. Some Asus laptops come with extra utility programs that might mess with normal input responsiveness. Try uninstalling or disabling Asus-specific utilities one by one to test if that helps. Also, running Windows in safe mode and checking if the issues persist can help isolate if it’s a software conflict.
Great tip! I didn’t think Asus utilities could cause this. I’ll try disabling them and see if safe mode runs better.
You might want to consider using a clean and minimal Windows image with tools like NTLite or even switching to a lighter OS for testing, like a Linux live USB, to see if the problem persists. If the slow loading is mostly Windows-related, this will help confirm it. Meanwhile, consider running system integrity checks like ‘sfc /scannow’ and ‘DISM’ commands to repair any possible corrupted Windows components.
Thanks, I’ll look into managing startup apps and drivers updates. Hopefully, that speeds things up.