How to Speed Up Windows 11 by Disabling Background Apps?

All Windows users want to improve the speed of their PC. Apart from the hardware upgrade, you need to take care of running apps on your computer to improve its performance. You might already know that Windows 11 loads with some apps in the background so that they can send notifications and receive updates. Although it is a good feature, if many apps are running in the background, you will notice the poor performance of your PC resulting in low productivity.

Windows 11 ships with a lot of UWP apps that run in the background. A few you may use and want always to want running in the background, but what about others? Why are they using our system resources? The apps you don’t use should not always start with system boot and run when you have no use for them. Luckily Windows 11 allows you to disable running background apps, but one at a time.

The latest Windows 11 operating system allows you to disable running background apps. Disabling from running in the background will not remove the apps; if you require them in the future, you can use them. Basically, you can go through the apps list and see which are important for you and which are useless. Once you decided, you can easily stop useless from running in the background. This decision is definitely going to improve your system performance.

In this gearupwindows article, we will guide you on speed up your Windows 11 by disabling background apps. We will review different ways to put background apps to sleep, resulting in saving system resources, including CPU, RAM, Internet bandwidth, and battery power.

How to disable apps from running in the background on Windows 11 using the Settings app?

The settings app of Windows 11 is quite powerful and allows you to customize your Windows PC with ease. Using this settings app, you can also configure your PC to disable unwanted background apps.

Step 1. Press Windows + I keys from the keyboard open the Settings app. Alternatively, press Windows + X keys simultaneously from your keyboard to open the quick links menu and select Settings.

Step 2. On the Settings window that opens, select theApps category from the left side pane and then click on the Apps & features on the right of it.

Step 3. On the Apps & features settings pane, you’ll see all apps and traditional desktop programs available on your PC, and that may be running in the background. Review the apps here and note down which you don’t want to run in the background. You need to scroll down on the right-side pane to see more apps.

Step 4. Suppose you never use the Maps app, and you want to stop it from running in the background. Click on the ellipsis (three vertical dots) next to them and select Advanced options from the menu.

Step 5. In the Advanced options, under Background apps permissions, click on the drop-down Let this app run in background and select the Never option.

Now desired app will not run in the background. However, you need to repeat the above steps to disable more apps or programs from running in the background on Windows 11.

How to disable Desktop programs from running in the background using Task Manager?

Unfortunately, you can only stop UWP programs from running in the background on Windows 11 PC using the Settings app. However, using Task Manager, you can disable traditional desktop programs from running in the background.

Step 1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc simultaneously from the keyboard to launch the Task Manager.

Step 2. In the Task Manager window, switch to the Startup tab.

Step 3. Select the application that you don’t like to run with Windows startup and then click on the Disable button.

Once you perform the above steps, the selected app will only run when you desire. If you would like to disable more than one program, you need to repeat the above steps from 2 to 3.

How to disable Desktop programs from running in the background via Microsoft Configuration Manager?

If you want to disable all desktop programs from startup on Windows 11 at once, do the following steps:-

Step 1. Bring up the Run dialog box by pressing Windows + R keys from the keyboard.

Step 2. In the Run box, type the following and then click the OK button to open the System Configuration window:-

MSConfig

Step 3. In the System Configuration window, select the radio box Selective startup and then uncheck the checkbox labeled with Load startup items.

Step 4. Finally, click Apply/OK button.

Using the above methods, you can put UWP apps or Desktop programs in background/sleep mode or stop running in the background on Windows 11. By stopping unwanted apps or programs from running in the background, you can save a significant amount of system resources, including CPU, RAM, Internet bandwidth, and battery power.

Good luck.