How to stop Windows 10 from automatically starting apps in the background? Windows 10 comes with many built-in apps that run in the background by default. Those apps can automatically update live tiles , send notification and stay up-to-date, even if you never use them. This will drain some battery power and consume system resources. In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 ways to prevent Windows 10 apps from running in the background.

Method 1: Disable Background Apps in Windows 10 from Settings

1. Open the Setting app by pressing the Windows logo key + I shortcut.
2. Click the Privacy icon in the Settings window.

   

3. Select Background apps on the left side. On the right pane, you can simply flip the switch to off next to the apps you no longer want running in the background, or prevent all apps from running in the background by switching off “Let apps run in the background“.

   

4. The changes take effect immediately. Using this method you can also prevent third-party apps from running in the background.

If you change your mind then you can turn on certain background apps any time you want. For example, if you start to use the Mail app to send/receive mails, you need to allow the Mail app to run in the background. Otherwise you won’t get notification of new mails.

Method 2: Disable Background Apps in Windows 10 Using Registry Editor

1. Press the Windows logo key + R to open the Run dialog box. Type regedit and press Enter.

   

2. When the Registry Editor appears, navigate to the following key:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\BackgroundAccessApplications
3. Right-click on the BackgroundAccessApplications key in the left pane, and select New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name it GlobalUserDisabled and set its value to 1. (1: Turn off all background apps, 0: Turn on background apps)

   

4. Close Registry Editor. Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

If you want to use Registry Editor to turn off a certain background app only, just set GlobalUserDisabled to 0 and then expand the BackgroundAccessApplications key in the left side of Registry Editor. Locate the subkey for the app that you disallow to run in the background, create two new DWORD values named “Disabled” and “DisalbedByUser” and set the values to 1.

That’s it. Now you have disabled background apps in Windows 10.