How to Prevent Background Apps from Running In Windows 10

Windows 10 has many built-in apps that continuously run in the background. Although these apps help the operating system function smoothly and give you the best user-experience, some of them eat resources, thus hindering the overall performance of the computer, and consuming more battery when on a laptop PC. Luckily, there’s a way you can keep the apps from running in the background. In addition to this, you can even configure Windows 10 to automatically limit the background activities when your laptop is on battery. Here’s how to prevent background apps from running:

1. Get to the Privacy window
Click Start, click the Settings icon, and click the Privacy tile from the Windows Settings window. This opens the Privacy window. From here you can configure your privacy settings such as how your device connects to other wireless devices, whether or not the installed apps can control and use the radio devices on your PC, etc.


2. Get to the Background apps category
Click Background apps from the Privacy list in the left. This selects the Background apps category, and displays all the apps running in the background in the right pane. From here you can choose which apps should and shouldn’t run in the background.


3. Prevent background apps from running
Turn off the switches for the unimportant apps (Voice Recorder and Weather for this example). This keeps the disabled apps from running in the background, thus improving the performance of your PC, and reducing the battery consumption when the laptop is not plugged in to the power supply.

Note: Although you can disable all the apps available in the Background apps window, changing the settings of the apps you’re not aware or sure of might put your PC in unstable or unusable state.
Limit Background Activities When On Battery
Note: Although Windows 10 is by default configured to limit the background activities as soon as the battery level gets below 20%, you can increase the threshold to decrease battery consumption. This gives your laptop more hours to work without charging.
1. Get to the Battery settings window
Click Start, click the Settings icon, click the System tile, and click Battery from the System list in the left. This displays the current battery level and all the available battery settings in the right pane.



2. Increase activity threshold
Move the slider under the Battery saver section to the right to increase the value (threshold) from 20% to your preferred one (50% for this example) (check the Turn battery saver on automatically if my battery falls below box if it’s unchecked), and turn on the Battery saver status until next charge switch. Where increasing the threshold ensures that Windows 10 limits the background activities as early as possible, enabling the Battery saver status until next charge switch keeps your PC in battery saver mode until the next time you connect it to the power supply.



Note: The Battery saver status until next charge switch remains grayed out as long as your laptop is connected to the power supply. To manage the option, unplug the laptop from the power outlet, and let it run on battery.