How to Disable Background Apps in Windows 11, reduce consumption RAM on Windows 11

On Windows 10 you can easily find a page dedicated to managing background apps. 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 up for individual applications or for all applications, setting up a single user to activate all users on the computer.

Note: 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 disable 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

2. Tap 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 be 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 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. Restart the device to apply the change.

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

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 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 on 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.

As mentioned, Windows 11 Home does not 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.