Background Apps That Hurt Gaming Performance: How to Check and Turn Them Off

Apps that open in the background can use processor time and memory that a game could use. This guide shows a safe way to see what is running, how to stop apps from starting with Windows, and what to leave alone. It uses two published how-to guides, and where they give no numbers we do not invent any: the effect depends on which apps you have.

Step 1: Look at what is running

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager. If you see a small window, click More details.
2. On the Processes page, click the CPU column, then the Memory column, to put the heaviest apps at the top.
3. Before you start a game, right-click an app you do not need that is using a lot of resources and choose End Task. Repeat if needed.

Closing an app that is running only stops it for now. It may start again next time you sign in, which is why the next step matters.

Step 2: Stop apps from starting with Windows

1. In Task Manager, click Startup apps in the left pane. On Windows 10 and older Windows 11 builds, the page is called Startup.
2. Click an app you do not need at sign-in.
3. Click Disable in the top bar, or right-click the app and choose Disable.
4. Check that the Status column now says Disabled.

The change applies the next time you sign in, and you do not need to restart to save it. The Startup impact column is Windows' estimate of how much an app slows sign-in, shown as High, Medium, Low or Not measured, and you can sort by it to see the heaviest apps first. Note that this column is about sign-in time, not about how much an app uses while you play, so use the Processes page for that.

What to leave alone

The guide that explains the Startup page gives clear warnings:

• Leave security software enabled, including the Windows Security notification icon.
• Leave device helper apps for the touchpad, graphics and audio enabled. If a feature stops working after you disable one, enable it again.
• If you cannot identify an entry, search its name online first, or right-click it and choose Search online.
• Disabling an entry does not uninstall the app or delete its data.

Some apps add themselves back to startup. If one returns, disable it again or turn off its own startup setting.

Two quick extras

The Make Tech Easier guide also suggests turning on Game Mode (Settings, Gaming, Game Mode) while gaming, and updating your graphics driver, because Windows does not always install the latest one. See our guide on how to update graphics drivers safely for the safe way. It also describes an Ultimate Performance power plan, but warns that it uses more power, which means battery drain, fan noise and heat, so use it only when you are about to play and only on a PC that can handle it.

How to test whether it helped

1. Pick a scene you can repeat in a game.
2. Note your frame rate and frame time before you change anything. Our guide to FPS, frame time and 1 percent lows explains how to read them.
3. Close the background apps, play the same scene and compare.
4. If nothing changes, your limit is probably the graphics card or the processor. Read CPU or GPU bottleneck.

Quick checklist

• Task Manager, Processes: sort by CPU and Memory and end unneeded heavy apps before you play.
• Task Manager, Startup apps: disable what you do not need at sign-in.
• Keep security software and device helpers on.
• Update graphics drivers and consider Game Mode.
• Test before and after, because the benefit depends on your PC.