Several apps run in the background on your computer at any given time. These apps, even when not in use, can drain your battery quickly and significantly reduce your system’s performance. Thankfully, you can stop these background apps quite easily. In this article, we’ll show you four methods to disable background apps on Windows 11. Let’s get started.
Disable Background Apps from Installed Apps in Settings
You can disable background apps directly from the Windows 11 settings app. All you have to do is find the app and change its background permissions. Here’s how to do it:
Press Windows key + I to open Settings.
Click on the Apps option on the sidebar.
Click on the Installed Apps option on the right panel.
Find the app and click the Menu (…) icon on the right side of the app name.
Choose “Advanced options.”
Choose “Never” from the “Let this app run in background” dropdown.
Do the same for other background apps and you are done. Remember that if you don’t see the Advanced Options option for an app, it doesn’t support disabling background permission.
Disable Background Apps From Power & Battery Settings
On laptops, Windows 11 keeps track of apps running in the background and drains the battery on the Power & Battery settings page. You can stop these background apps directly from here. Here’s how:
Open the Settings app by pressing the Windows key + I shortcut.
Navigate to the System > Power & Battery page in the Settings.
Click the expand the Battery usage section to see all the background apps.
Click the Menu (…) icon next to the app name and select the Manage background activity option.
Select Never from the Let this app run in background dropdown menu.
Do the same for other apps in the Battery Usage list to disable all the background apps.
Note: If you don’t see the Manage background activity option in the app menu, that specific app doesn’t support managing background activity via the Settings app.
Disable Background Apps for All Users Using Group Policy
For those managing multiple users, Windows 11 Pro users can use the Group Policy Editor to disable the background app. Here’s how:
Press Windows key + R to open the Run dialog box.
Enter gpedit.msc in the Run dialog box and click OK to open the Group Policy Editor.
Go to the Computer configuration > Administrative templates > Windows components > App privacy folder.
Double-click the Let Windows apps run in the background policy to open its properties.
Select Enabled and click the Apply & OK buttons.
Close the Group Policy Editor and restart your computer.
Once the computer has been restarted, background apps for all users have been disabled.
Disable Background Apps for the Current User Using Registry
If you are looking for a simpler way to disable all background apps for your user account at once, you can use the Registry Editor. Before proceeding with the below steps, back up the registry.
Open the Start menu, search for Registry Editor, and click on the top result to open the Registry Editor.
In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following folder.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
Right-click on the Windows folder and select New -> Key.
Set the new folder name as AppPrivacy.
Right-click on the AppPrivacy folder and select New -> DWORD Value.
Set the new value name as LetAppsRunInBackground.
Double-click on the value you just created.
Enter 2 in the Value Data field and click OK.
Close the Registry Editor and restart your computer.
With that, the background apps are disabled in Windows 11.
After rebooting, all the background apps are disabled for your user account.
And there you have it! It’s that simple. You can follow any of the four methods to completely stop the apps from running in the background. I also recommend you disable startup apps or delay their startup for improved startup time.
