Stop all background Apps running on Windows 10

Background Apps on Windows 10 waste huge data along with making your system slow and ineffective. In addition to this, they also increase the CPU usage leading to a sudden crash of several operations. Today, in this article, we are going to discuss on how to Stop all background running apps on Windows 10.

Windows apps are a part of the Microsoft Store. These apps run continuously in the background even when they are closed. Thus your PC starts to get numerous issues and troubles. If that’s the case, it would be best to stop background apps running in the background on your System. This will let the current apps run smoothly and efficiently. There are four different settings to stop background running apps on Windows 10. They are by using-

Privacy Settings
System Settings
Registry Editor
Group Policy Editor

Stop all background Apps running on Windows 10

Here are the step-wise solutions on how to stop apps running at the background-

1. Turn off background app using privacy settings

Step-1: Press Win key & X shortcut. Here select Settings from the list.

Step-2: Hit the Privacy category.

Step-3: On the left column, scroll down the cursor and tap Background apps.

Step-4: Move to the right pane and turn off the toggle switch of the app (as per your choice). We have selected 3D viewer here, see snapshot below-

Step-5: At last Reboot your PC. The item disabled above won’t run again in the background until commanded otherwise.

Note: This method does not work in Windows 10 build version 1803. However, you can use the below workaround.

2. Turn off background apps using System settings

If you are a tablet or laptop user, you can stop the background running apps using Battery Saver mode. Here are the steps-

Press Win logo & I to launch Settings.
Click on the System icon thereafter Battery option.
Move to the “Battery saver” section and disable the toggle switch under Battery saver status.
Note: You can apply these quick tips to enable the battery saver mode.
Go to the right corner of Taskbar and right-click on the Battery icon. Here select the Battery saver button.
Once you have performed this procedure, all apps in the background will stop running unless this setting is enabled.

3. Disable the app using the Registry editor

Registry editor also provides a quick way to disable background running apps on your system. To forbid the application, you need to follow these steps:

Go to search and type Registry Editor.
Right-click on the same and select Run as administrator.
If the UAC prompt appears up, click Yes to access the window.
Henceforth navigate to the path written below.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\BackgroundAccessApplication

Create a new DWORD (32-bit) value here with name Default and set its value to 1.

Similarly, create another DWORD (32-bit) value with name Migrated and change its value to 4.
Lastly, close Registry Editor and reboot your system.

This process will disable all apps running in the background only for the individual user. If you want to prohibit background running apps for all users (Local and Administrator), you need to use Group Policy Editor.

Warning: Wrongly applying the changes under Registry Editor might create unwanted trouble. Sometimes it can corrupt the OS too.

4. Disable the app using group Policy

The Group Policy provides an easy and simple way to prevent the Windows App running in the background. Here is the procedure-

Press Win & R altogether and type gpedit.msc in the void area, hit Enter to launch Local Group Policy Editor.
Explore the route:

Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → App Privacy.

Scroll down the cursor and locate the name “Let Windows apps run in the background” and double-click on the same.
Now hit on the Enabled radio button followed by Default for all users using the drop-down menu.