I believe this is likely the case. Can't say for windows 11, but windows 10 (and specifically Windows Defender) would hammer my hdd so hard the entire os would become unusable for minutes at a time
I have a large folder with stuff. It took over 30 seconds to open that folder because of windows defender. Then it would work fine for a bit, but that didn't last. I had to start excluding large folders from windows defender to actually use the computer.