Windows uses your bandwidth and CPU to distribute Windows Update files to other PCs on the internet — like a built-in BitTorrent client running in the background. Disabling it only stops you from being a relay. Your own updates are unaffected.

1. Open Settings → Windows Update
2. Click “Advanced options”
3. Click “Delivery Optimization”
4. Toggle “Allow downloads from other PCs” to Off

SysMain pre-loads programs you “might” use into RAM to speed up their launch. On 16GB or less, this directly competes with your game for memory — the service holds RAM that your game needs and then releases it when your game asks, creating a small but constant lag spike.

1. Press Win + R, type “services.msc”, press Enter
2. Find “SysMain” in the list
3. Double-click → set Startup type to “Disabled”
4. Click “Stop”, then OK

Microsoft Copilot runs background AI processing across the taskbar, Edge, and Notepad. Even when you’re not using it, it phones home constantly and consumes CPU cycles for model inference. If you don’t use it, there’s no reason to keep it running.

1. Open Settings → Personalisation → Taskbar
2. Toggle “Copilot (preview)” to Off
3. In Settings → Privacy & Security → Inking & typing personalisation → Off

OneDrive silently syncs files in the background even when you’re mid-game, consuming disk I/O, network bandwidth, and CPU. Pausing sync during gaming sessions can eliminate unexpected frame dips caused by background file scanning.

1. Click the OneDrive cloud icon in your system tray
2. Click “Settings” (gear icon)
3. Under “Account” → Unlink this PC, or pause sync
4. Alternatively: Startup tab in Task Manager → disable OneDrive

Windows runs dozens of UI animations — minimize/restore, fade effects, taskbar transparencies, shadow rendering — that all consume GPU compositor time. Disabling them moves those cycles to your game’s render pipeline instead.

1. Press Win + R, type “sysdm.cpl”, Enter
2. Click “Advanced” tab → “Settings” under Performance
3. Select “Adjust for best performance”
4. Click Apply and OK

Windows continuously collects usage data, crash reports, typing patterns, and app events and sends them to Microsoft servers. The telemetry service runs at scheduled intervals and on events, creating CPU spikes you didn’t ask for.

1. Open Settings → Privacy & Security → Diagnostics & Feedback
2. Set “Diagnostic data” to “Basic” (or Required only)
3. Turn off “Improve inking & typing”
4. Turn off “Tailored experiences”

If you don’t have a printer, the Print Spooler service runs perpetually for no reason. It’s also a known attack surface — multiple high-profile Windows exploits have targeted the spooler service specifically. Zero benefit if you have no printer.

1. Press Win + R, type “services.msc”
2. Find “Print Spooler”
3. Double-click → set Startup type to “Disabled”
4. Click “Stop”, then OK

Windows Acrylic blur and transparency effects render every window frame using your GPU. While the GPU is compositing these effects, it’s not using those cycles on your game. The visual difference in gaming contexts is zero — you’re fullscreen anyway.

1. Open Settings → Personalisation → Colours
2. Toggle “Transparency effects” to Off

Xbox Game Bar runs a background recording buffer that reserves a portion of your GPU memory and CPU for potential clips. Even when you never use it. If you use Discord, Steam, or a dedicated capture card for clips, this is pure overhead.

1. Open Settings → Gaming → Xbox Game Bar
2. Toggle “Open Xbox Game Bar” to Off
3. Open Settings → Gaming → Captures
4. Toggle “Record in the background while I’m playing a game” to Off

Windows Search Indexer continuously scans your drive to build a search database. During gaming sessions, this causes random disk I/O spikes — particularly noticeable on SATA SSDs and HDDs. The search bar still works without background indexing, just slightly slower for rare searches.

1. Press Win + R, type “services.msc”
2. Find “Windows Search”
3. Double-click → set Startup type to “Manual” (not Disabled — you still want it when you search)
4. Click “Stop”, then OK

Remote Desktop Services keeps a network listener active at all times for incoming remote connections. If you never remote into your PC from another device, this is a running service with an open network port that contributes nothing. It’s also a known attack surface.

1. Open Settings → System → Remote Desktop
2. Toggle “Remote Desktop” to Off
3. Confirm when prompted

Every program that auto-launches at startup consumes RAM from the moment Windows loads — before you’ve even opened a game. Discord, Steam Web Helper, Epic Games Launcher, Spotify, and OneDrive are common culprits that can add 500MB–1GB to your baseline memory use.

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager
2. Click the “Startup apps” tab
3. Right-click any High-impact app you don’t need at boot
4. Click “Disable” — the app still works, it just won’t launch at boot

Windows assigns each user an advertising ID that apps use to track behaviour across applications and serve targeted ads. Disabling it won’t break any functionality — it only stops apps from cross-referencing your activity. Worth disabling on privacy and performance grounds.

1. Open Settings → Privacy & Security → General
2. Toggle “Let apps use advertising ID” to Off
3. Also toggle “Let Windows improve Start and search results” to Off

Every notification that pops over a fullscreen game forces Windows to briefly render the notification layer on top of your game’s frame. In borderless fullscreen mode this causes a micro-stutter. Enabling Focus Assist (or Do Not Disturb) during gaming eliminates this entirely.

1. Open Settings → System → Notifications
2. Turn on “Do not disturb” or set automatic rules
3. Under “Automatic rules” → enable “When playing a game”

The “Balanced” power plan throttles CPU frequency dynamically to save power. During gaming, this causes the CPU to run at reduced clock speeds during moments when the game demands a fast response — producing 1% lows that are much worse than average. High Performance keeps clocks stable.

1. Press Win + R, type “powercfg.cpl”
2. Select “High performance” from the list
3. If not visible, click “Show additional plans”
4. For desktop PCs: no downside. For laptops: your battery drains faster

Windows automatically manages the pagefile (virtual memory on disk), but its defaults are overly conservative — often allocating 3–4x your physical RAM on disk. Setting a fixed, reasonable size prevents Windows from constantly resizing it during gameplay, which causes disk I/O spikes.

1. Press Win + R, type “sysdm.cpl”, Enter
2. “Advanced” tab → “Settings” under Performance
3. “Advanced” tab → “Change” under Virtual memory
4. Uncheck “Automatically manage” → set Custom size: Initial = 1x RAM, Max = 2x RAM