How to turn off applications running in the background in Windows 11, reduce RAM consumption on Windows 11

On Windows 10 you can easily find a page dedicated to managing applications running in the background. However, on  Windows 11  this will be a bit more difficult. However, Windows 11 still allows you to turn off background applications. You can set the settings to turn off background applications, set up for a single user to enable all users on the computer.

Note:  What WebTech360 instructs you in this article only works with apps you install from the Microsoft Store. All apps you download from other sources will not have settings to set to run in the background. Also, stopping apps from running in the background doesn't mean you can't use them. You can still run these apps normally.

There are several ways for you to turn off background applications on Windows 11. Here are the details on how to do it:

Turn off background apps in Settings

1. Open  Settings  in Windows 11. You can use the shortcut  Win + I  to quickly open or use other methods.

2. Click  App  then continue to tap  Apps & features .

3. Find the app you want to disable from running in the background. Click the 3 dots and then select  Advanced options .

4. Find the  Background apps permissions section  and select the mode you want. By default, Windows 11 will set to  Power optimized mode . It allows Windows to self-manage how an application behaves in the background. For example, the system will automatically turn off all background applications if you enable battery saving mode.

5. Select Never mode   to prevent apps from running in the background. However, if after selecting  Never  , the application crashes, does not send notifications, does not update data, you should switch its settings back to  Power optimized  or  Always.

6. Repeat the above operation with other applications.

In Windows 11's Settings, there is no button for you to turn off all background applications at once. Therefore, we will continue to go to the next section, using the Registry.

Turn off all background applications on Windows 11 using Registry

1. You press  Win + R  to open  Run  then type  regedit  and press  Enter.

2. Access the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\BackgroundAccessApplications

3. In the right pane, edit or create a DWORD (32-bit) Value named  GlobalUserDisabled.

4. Put  1  in the  Value data box  to prevent all background applications on Windows 11.

5. Reboot the device to apply the change.

To undo the changes, simply adjust the value of  GlobalUserDisabled  to  0 and you  're done.

Use pre-made REG files

If you don't want to waste time editing the Registry, you can download the REG file that TipsMake.com makes available.

1.  Download the ZIP archive of the pre-made REG file .

2. Extract to any folder.

3. Double-click the file  Tatappchayngam.reg  to close all apps running in the background.

4. Confirm the action and then restart the machine.

You can undo the change by double-clicking on the  Batapchayngam.reg  file in the ZIP file you just downloaded.

Turn off apps running in the background on Windows 11 for all users with Group Policy

Besides the Registry, you can use Group Policy to turn off apps running in the background on Windows 11 with all users on a computer. With Windows 11 Home unable to open Group Policy, we will also provide a pre-edited REG file.

1. Open  the Local Group Policy Editor  by pressing  Win + R  and then typing  gpedit.msc  then pressing  Enter.

2. Navigate to the folder:  Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\App Privacy

3. On the right pane, find and click  Let Windows apps run in the background  and select  Enabled.

4. In the  Default for all app menu , select  Force Deny . Click  Apply  and  OK.

So you have turned off the background app for all users on a computer running Windows 11.

With that said, Windows 11 Home doesn't allow you to use the Local Group Policy Editor, so you have to use the Registry to turn off background apps for all users.

Turn off apps running in the background on Windows 11 for all users using Registry

1. You press  Win + R  to open  Run  then type  regedit  and press  Enter.

2. Access the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\AppPrivacy

If you can't find  AppPrivacy  , you can create a new one yourself by right-clicking on  Windows  and then selecting  New > Key .

3. Once you have  AppPrivacy , click in the right box to create a  DWORD (32-bit) Value  named  LetAppsRunInBackground  and set the value to  2 .

4. Restart the computer.

Use pre-made REG files

As usual, TipsMake.com has created a REG file for you to download to quickly change the Registry. There are two REG files,  Tatappchayngamalluser.reg  and  Batappchayngamalluser.reg  , respectively with the function of turning off and on the app running in the background, you download the ZIP file and then extract and use:

• Download the REG file to turn off the app running in the background for all users

The above are brief instructions to help you set up and turn off applications running in the background, making your computer run better. Good luck!

Explore more:

• Hardware configuration requirements you need to know when installing Windows 11
• Installing Windows 11 for computers does not have enough hardware configuration