In Windows 10, it’s possible to prevent apps from running in the background to save battery, data, and (some) system resources.
Windows 10 comes with an array of apps pre-installed.
Apart from the preinstalled apps, one or more apps may have been installed from the Microsoft Store.
It goes without saying that many of these apps run in the background, even when they are not being used.
Many of these apps are serving no useful purpose by running in the background, but they do have a couple of major disadvantages:
Background applications use some of your system resources (RAM, CPU cycles, etc.), and that makes your machine run just a bit slower than it would have if they were not active.
A couple of private background apps are able to communicate with Microsoft or the company that provided them in order to check for available updates or to provide usage information.
This uses some Internet data, and that isn’t a good thing if you are on a limited plan.
Even worse, sending data back to a remote server can potentially compromise your privacy.
You will be able to see how it is not advisable to keep all apps running in the background all the time.
Some apps need to run in the background, such as an email application which periodically checks the mail server to determine if new messages have been received.
This is true for the majority of installed applications, however many do not require background running.
It’s fairly straightforward to prevent apps from running in the background. In fact, you can disable all the background programs in one go, or just those that you have never used. That’s entirely up to you.
In my opinion, blocking an app from running in the background doesn’t mean that you can’t use it; it means you will not be able to use it when it’s not open.
In order to launch and use an application on your computer you must click its icon in the Start Menu.
- Go to Start Menu , then select Settings > Privacy > Background apps.
- Under Background Apps, make sure Let apps run in the background is turned On.
- Under Choose which apps can run in the background, turn individual apps and services settings On or Off.
To stop most apps from running in the background
- Go to Start , then select Settings > Privacy > Background apps.
- Under Background Apps, make sure Let apps run in the background is turned Off.
There’s nothing more to it. The background apps you disabled should no longer run.
