How to stop apps from running in the background on Windows 10

On Windows 10, many apps you download from the Microsoft Store will continue to run in the background to take advantage of additional features, such as the ability to download data, update Live Tiles, and show notifications.

Although these features can be useful in a number of scenarios, apps running in the background (even when you didn’t start them) can drain battery, waste bandwidth and system resources. Luckily, if keeping apps updated isn’t something important for you, Windows 10 ships with settings to control which apps are allowed to operate in the background.

In this Windows 10 guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to prevent apps from running in the background.

How to stop background apps using Privacy settings

To disable apps from running in the background wasting system resources, use these steps:

1. Open Settings.
2. Click on Privacy.
3. Click on Background apps.

Under the «Choose which apps can run in the background» section, turn off the toggle switch for the apps you want to restrict.

Alternatively, under the «Background Apps» section, you can turn off the Let apps in the background toggle switch to prevent any app from running in the background toggle switch.

Once you’ve completed the steps, you can still use the apps normally, but when you close them, all the processes will be terminated until you launch the app again.

How to stop background apps using System settings

Alternatively, on laptops and tablets, it’s also possible to prevent apps from running in the background enabling the Battery Saver mode.

While the feature will enable automatically as the battery life drops below 20 percent, you can enable the mode manually at any time using these steps:

1. Open Settings.
2. Click on System.
3. Click on Battery.

Under the «Battery saver» section, turn off the Battery saver status until next charge toggle switch.

Quick Tip: It’s also possible to turn on Battery saver by clicking the battery icon in the bottom-right corner of the taskbar and clicking the Battery saver button.

After completing the steps, none of your apps will be allowed to run in the background while the feature is enabled.

These instructions only apply for apps you acquired from the Microsoft store. If you’re looking to stop classic applications from using background resources, you need to close the program manually and make sure to stop the program from running at startup.

Update January 28, 2019: This guide has been revised to make sure it’s current with the latest version of Windows 10.

More Windows 10 resources

For more helpful articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10, visit the following resources:

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How to make a C++ program process in background until the computer’s shut down?

Is it possible to make a C++ program executing in background without any display of Console or GUI ? And, How ?

How do I to make it process until the computer’s shut down ?

How do I maintain a function executing while this program is active, please?

IDE : Visual Studio 2013

3 Answers 3

Step 1: If you are using an IDE then during project-creation it will most likely ask ‘console-app’ vs. ‘window-app’. Choose window-app, which means that it will start without opening a console.

Step 2: Now within the code your IDE probably will have generated some code that makes a Window visible. Remove that code:

Your program now runs but is not visible on the task-bar:.

For running your own code you have 2 options. Which of them is appropriate depends on your situation, but the second one is generally preferred:

either use one of the generated methods like WinMain to start your own method which should contain a loop and within that loop your code plus a call to Sleep().

use windows-messages to run some of your code on-demand. (preferred)

The program will run until your computer is shut down; then it will no-longer run.

A few notes on when to use option 1 vs. option 2:

Option 2 is what is typically considered better because it works with the operating system (Windows), it only executes code when the OS tells it that something changed. Option 1 on the other hand does not depend on windows messages — sometimes you need this independence. It comes at a price though: your code will probably ‘manually’ check if something changed, sometimes do something, but most of the time choosing to Sleep(). This is called ->polling btw. so prefer Option 2.

And this is how to modify WndProc for option-2-apps. Example: make a beep every second.

Can I run a GUI program in the background on the windows command-line?

For example, in Bash, I can do this:

Is there any equivalent in Windows? I can’t seem to figure out a way to do this with the windows version of emacs.

7 Answers 7

The command to launch programs from the command-line in Windows is «start»

You may want to use the MIN option to start a program minimized

I don’t know if it will be sufficient, but try

It will not go into background but it will rather start separate cmd.exe window for the command.

HaHa,I successed ,To use sublime text3 as a server of markdown preview is my propose,after I closed sublime text’s window,i won’t work. I’d try many methods,at last it works. first,you should create a bat to start this program.

sencond,run this bat by schedule task.

This result is that it works to avoid to show sublime text window.and it work conflict with sublime text normally opened.

Maybe you had guessed ,I use OmniMarkupPreviewer plugin to preview markdown.I had fixed this bug(or not perfect feature) that it uses different view id every time.

Depends on which version of Windows you’re using.

In Vista you should be able to type the name of the exe in your path and have it live after the command prompt is closed.

The START command is used at an MS-DOS prompt to start an MS-DOS-based or Windows-based program. The program is started as a separate task that can be run in the foreground or background.

Unfortunately I do not think that this is possible.

You can do this in a Windows Scripting Host script, with something like:

Where the «0» states that the resulting window should be hidden (for other options, see the documentation at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/d5fk67ky(VS.85).aspx) and the «true» states that you want to wait for the command to complete before your script carries on.

It would be a simple exercise to wrap this up in a generic «run this command hidden» script that you could use from the command line.

If you have Microsoft’s new new PowerShell installed, then there may be an easier way to do this (I’ve not worked with PowerShell yet).

If you are happy to have the window minimised then you can do that with the «start» command that other mention. Unfortunately the «/B» option (which sounds like it is what you want) is only for commands and it doesn’t stop windowed applications appearing on screen.

Note: which ever of the above you use to you start a program with a hidden/minimised main window, there is nothing to stop it creating new windows that are visible, or bringing the main window up and into focus, once it is running.

How can I execute a Windows command line in background?

How can I execute a windows command line in the background, without it interacting with the active user?

11 Answers 11

Your question is pretty vague, but there is a post on ServerFault which may contain the information you need. The answer there describes how to run a batch file window hidden:

You could run it silently using a Windows Script file instead. The Run Method allows you running a script in invisible mode. Create a .vbs file like this one

and schedule it. The second argument in this example sets the window style. 0 means «hide the window.»

This is a little late but I just ran across this question while searching for the answer myself and I found this:

which, on Windows, is the closest to the Linux command:

From the console HELP system:

One problem I saw with it is that you have more than one program writing to the console window, it gets a little confusing and jumbled.

To make it not interact with the user, you can redirect the output to a file:

I suspect you mean: Run something in the background and get the command line back immediately with the launched program continuing.

Which is the Unix equivalent of

the above one is pretty closer with its Unix counterpart program &

You can use this (commented!) PowerShell script:

Save it as a .ps1 file. After enabling script execution (see Enabling Scripts in the PowerShell tag wiki), you can pass it one or two strings: the name of the executable and optionally the arguments line. For example:

I confirm that this works on Windows 10.

This is how my PHP internal server goes into background. So technically it should work for all.

A related answer, with 2 examples:

1. Sometimes foreground is not desireable, then you run minimized as below:

call START /MIN «my mongod» «%ProgramFiles%\MongoDB\Server\3.4\bin\mongod.exe»

Hope that helps.

If you want the command-line program to run without the user even knowing about it, define it as a Windows Service and it will run on a schedule.

You can see the correct way to do this in this link:

Summarizing, you have to checkbox for ‘Run whether user is logged on or not’. Task user credentials should be enter after pressing ‘Ok’.

I did this in a batch file: by starting the apps and sending them to the background. Not exact to the spec, but it worked and I could see them start.

Programs open in the background instead of the foreground

‎03-17-2017 01:47 PM

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Basically when I open a new window or a program it opens behind the already existing programs and windows. And I cant seem to find a solution anywhere. A solution would really be helpful. Thanks in advance.

‎03-18-2017 03:54 PM

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Welcome to HP Forums, this is a great place to get support, find answers and tips.

Thank you for posting your query, I’ll be more than glad to help you.

I understand that you are unable to open a new window or a program as it opens behind the already existing programs and windows and hence not visible.

Let’s go through a few steps to resolve this issue.

You can try closing your open programs/windows, right-click on the task bar and unlock your task bar. Once unlocked, simply click again to lock. Try opening your programs now.

Let me know how this works.

You have a good day ahead.

Rainbow23
I am an HP Employee

If you found this post helpful, you can let others know and also show your appreciation by clicking the “ Accept as Solution ” button, “ Thumbs up » button!

‎03-19-2017 08:40 AM

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I tried that . doesnt seen to solve the issue

‎03-20-2017 08:04 AM

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Thank you for stopping by the HP forums. A Good day to you. 🙂 I read the post about programs running in the background instead of the foreground. I will be delighted to assist you with this.

A stupendous effort, brilliant description and very smart diagnosis of the issue before posting. Kudos to you on that score. 🙂 You are an important HP customer and it is paramount to assist you here. I also take it as a privilege to share this platform with you. 🙂

Fist off, to assist you better I would require more information regarding this.

• Did this happen after a windows or software update? Do you remember?
• What applications are you trying to launch?
• Are they Apps like MS Word, excel, or games?
• Have you tried multiple apps and checked to isolate the issue.

If it is a recent occurrence, then please try a system restore to an earlier time before the issue started to try and correct the issue from this link: http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03327545

please follow the option “Restore your computer when Windows starts normally” and follow the on-screen instructions.

If this does not fix the issue then please check this Third-party link from ten forums: https://www.tenforums.com/general-support/26060-starting-new-program-opens-program-window-background. Please do not click on any image, link, following or download. This link is only for viewing purposes only and to follow instructions.

Please check this link and let me know if this fixes the issue also: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/windows-7-explorer-window-do. Although it is for windows 7 it should work for windows 10 also. Please backup your registry before performing the registry tweak. Please keep me posted.

Hope this helps. Let me know how this goes. I genuinely hope the issue gets resolved without hassles and the unit works great. 🙂 Please reach out for any issues and I’ll be there to assist you. 🙂

To simply say thanks , please click the «Thumbs Up» button to give me a Kudos to appreciate my efforts to help.

If this helps, please mark this as “Accepted Solution” as it will help several others with the same issue to get it resolved without hassles. 🙂

Take care now and have a splendid week ahead. 🙂