Although useful, these apps can sometimes consume a considerable amount of system resources, including CPU, RAM, Internet bandwidth, and battery power. Fortunately, you can choose which apps and programs can run in the background. In this article, we discuss ways to put programs to sleep selectively so they can’t wake without being actively used or how to disable the background apps feature altogether.
Put programs to sleep from Windows Settings
Open Windows Settings (Windows key + i)Click on Privacy optionIn the left hand pane, scroll down until you find “Background Apps“You will find two options here:Toggle On/Off “Let apps run in background”. Choose this option if you want to completely disable background apps feature. All apps will go to sleep mode once they are closed.Choose which apps can run in the background. If you choose this option by selecting the specific app, only that app will go to sleep. All other apps will keep consuming data and other resources in the background while keeping themselves up to date.
Disable programs from running from Task Manager/Configuration Manager
Unfortunately, the above mentioned settings only apply to Windows Universal apps (also known as Metro Apps). If you want to prevent traditional Windows programs and executables from running in the background, you will need to follow the steps below:
Open the Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc)Open the Startup tabSelect the programs you don’t want to run in the background and then click on the Disable button
To disable all startup items at once, follow the steps below:
Open the Microsoft Configuration Manager by going to Run –> msconfigIn General tab, select “Selective startup” and uncheck “Load startup items“
This will make your system faster. The apps and programs will not consume any system resources until you start them. This may slightly increase the startup time of each application but will also increase system performance.
The Verdict
I usually keep selective background apps running as they are very useful in providing timely information and updates. For example, my currently enabled background apps include Mail and Calendar, Microsoft Store, Microsoft To Do, OneNote for Windows 10, Skype and Windows Security. What apps do you prefer running in the background? Also see:
How to Enable Startup App Notifications In Windows 11How to Force A program To Use specific GPU in Windows 10How To Restore Missing Sleep Option In Windows 11/10How To Find Which Apps Are Draining Battery On WindowsHow To Enable Hibernate In Windows 11/10
