How to Stop Programs Running in the Background in Windows 11

On Windows 10, you can easily find a page dedicated to managing background applications. However, on Windows 11, this will be a bit more difficult. However, Windows 11 still allows you to disable background applications. You can set it for each application or for all applications, set it for a user or all users on the computer.

Note: What Network Administrator guides 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 up background running. In addition, preventing applications from running in the background does not mean you cannot use them. You can still run these apps normally.

There are several ways to disable background apps on Windows 11. Here are the details:

1. Disable Background Apps in Settings

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

2. Click on Apps then continue to click on Apps & features.

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

4. Find the Background apps permissions section and select the mode you want. By default, Windows 11 is set to Power optimized mode. This allows Windows to manage how an app runs in the background. For example, the system will automatically turn off all background apps if you turn on battery saving mode.

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

6. Repeat the above steps for other apps.

2. Turn off background apps via Power & battery settings

The Power & battery page in Windows 11 Settings provides data on the battery usage of installed apps. This is really useful if you want to turn off background apps based on battery usage to save power.

1. Press Win + I to open the Settings page.

2. In the System tab, scroll down and click Power & battery.

3. Scroll down to the Battery section and click Battery usage.

4. Click the Battery levels drop-down menu and select Last 7 days. Windows will load all apps that have used battery power in the last 7 days.

5. To change background app permissions, click the three-dot menu next to the app name and select Manage background productivity. This option is only available for Microsoft Store apps.

6. Click the (Power optimized) drop-down menu under Background apps permissions and select Never. This will disable the app from running in the background. If you set it to Always, the app will continue to run in the background regardless of your power status.

7. Repeat the steps for all apps that may be draining battery or affecting system performance.

There is no button in Windows 11 Settings to disable all background apps at once. So, we will continue to the next part, using the Registry.

3. Disable all background applications on Windows 11 using Registry

1. 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 window, edit or create a DWORD (32-bit) Value named GlobalUserDisabled.

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

5. Restart the device to apply the changes.

To undo the changes, you just need to adjust the value of GlobalUserDisabled to 0.

4. Disable background apps on Windows 11 for all users using Group Policy

In addition to Registry, you can use Group Policy to disable background apps on Windows 11 for all users on a computer. With Windows 11 Home, you cannot open Group Policy, we will also provide a pre-edited REG file.

1. Open the Local Group Policy Editor by pressing Win + R, then type gpedit.msc and press 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 apps menu, select Force Deny. Click Apply and OK.

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

As mentioned, Windows 11 Home does not allow you to use the Local Group Policy Editor, so you must use the Registry to turn off background apps for all users.

5. Turn off background apps in Windows 11 for all users using the Registry

1. 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 by right-clicking on Windows and selecting New > Key.

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

4. Restart your computer.

Good luck!