linux mint became super slow

so im not sure if this is update related or storage related. somewhere online told me to check 'page faults' and theyre at 16998 MINFL and 114 MAJFL. i ran out of storage on my ssd so i clesred half of it by deleting timeshift snapshots (and disabled it). it's still running like a slug. once an application is open, it's fine. but beforehand? it takes 20 seconds to open vlc. loading a new .mp3 audio for vlc takes maybe 10 or so. it started before the update when i totallt ran our of stroage so i assume it's that. im confused as to if it's some process stealing resources.