How to turn off Windows 10 background applications to speed up your computer

You can stop background apps to save battery, data usage and (some) system resources, and in this guide we’ll show you how on Windows 10.

On Windows 10, many of the apps you download from the Microsoft Store will continue to run in the background to take advantage of additional features, such as the ability to download data, update Live Tiles, and display notifications.

While these features can be useful in some situations, apps running in the background (even if you don’t start them) can drain your battery, waste bandwidth and system resources. Luckily, if updating apps isn’t something that matters to you, Windows 10 has settings to control which apps are allowed to run in the background.

In this Windows 10 guide, we will walk you through the steps to prevent apps from running in the background.

• Turn off Windows 10 background apps using Settings.
• Use Registry Editor to disable Windows 10 background apps.
• Turn off Windows 10 background apps using Command Prompt.
• Use Windows PowerShell to turn off Windows 10 background apps.

Turn off Windows 10 background apps using Settings :

1. Open menu Start and type Settings in the search bar. Click the app Settings to continue.
   
2. In the Settings menu, click the tab Privacy there is a padlock icon.
   
3. Scroll down menu Background apps in the Privacy tab and click it to bring up Settings.
   
4. You can disable all background apps using the main switch at the top, or you can disable individual apps that consume more power and data.
   
5. Disabling all applications will save significant energy and bandwidth.
   

2. Use Registry Editor to turn off Windows 10 background applications:

1. Open menu Start and type run in the search bar. Click the app Run to continue.
   
2. Type regedit in the command bar Run and press OK to continue.
   
3. Windows will prompt you for permission to open Registry Editor . In Registry Editor, enter the command below in the highlighted space and press Enter .
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\BackgroundAccessApplications
   
4. Right click on the menu BackgroundAccessApplication and choose new . Click DWORD (32-bit) Value to create a new entry.
   
5. The new entry will prompt you to rename it. Knock on GlobalUserDisabled and click anywhere to save it.
   
6. Right click on the newly created entry and select Modify .
7. Change the Value data: from 0 to 1 and click OK to save the changes.
   0 = Background apps enabled
   1 = Background apps turned off
   

3. Turn off Windows 10 background apps with Command Prompt:

1. Open menu Start and type cmd in the search bar. Right click on the application Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator .

2. Type the command below into Command Prompt and press Enter to save the changes.
Reg Add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\BackgroundAccessApplications /v GlobalUserDisabled /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

3. If you want to revert the changes and re-enable background apps, follow the command below:

Reg Add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\BackgroundAccessApplications /v GlobalUserDisabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Using Windows PowerShell to disable Windows 10 background apps:

1. Open menu Start and type powershell in the search bar. Click the app Windows PowerShell to continue.

2. Enter the command below into Command Prompt and press Enter to save the changes.

Reg Add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\BackgroundAccessApplications /v GlobalUserDisabled /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

3. If you want to revert the changes and re-enable background apps, follow the command below:

Reg Add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\BackgroundAccessApplications /v GlobalUserDisabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

With these steps, you can disable or enable background apps in Windows 10 as you please. You can do it individually through Settings or you can enable/disable all apps through Command Prompt, PowerShell or Registry Editor in Windows 10.