Your Windows PC does more than just run your apps. It also tracks usage, shares updates, and quietly reports data back to Microsoft. All of this is made possible by a bunch of background services that are constantly running.

But the more I looked into it, the more I realized a lot of these so-called helpful services were doing things that weren’t really necessary, or in some cases, only benefiting Microsoft. So I decided to turn them off, and honestly, I’m glad I did because my PC felt lighter and far less cluttered than before.

Disabling the following services on your PC is easy enough. Open the Windows Services app, double-click the service and change the Startup type to Disabled. Click Stop if the service is running and hit Apply followed by OK.

Task Manager showing memory usage in Windows 11.
I freed up 6 GB of RAM on my PC with these simple tweaks

Most of your RAM isn’t used by what you run, but by what you forget is running.

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Delivery Optimization

Saving Microsoft’s servers at your expense

Delivery Optimization is a service that lets your PC share update files with other systems, both on your local network and across the internet. In return, your system can also download update files from those sources instead of relying solely on Microsoft's servers. This service seems harmless until you look a little closer.

For one, since your PC is uploading updates, your internet connection can take a hit at the worst possible moments. This means you might notice slower speeds while streaming, gaming, or just browsing. Also, to make this work, Windows stores update files even after they’ve been installed, and they can easily take up several gigabytes of storage.

That’s why Delivery Optimization is one of the first things I disable on any Windows PC.

Quiz
8 Questions · Test Your Knowledge

Windows services, registry, and settings
Trivia challenge

Think you know your way around Windows under the hood? Put your knowledge of services, the registry, and system settings to the test.

RegistryServicesSettingsSecuritySystem
01 / 8
Registry

Which Windows Registry hive stores configuration settings specific to the currently logged-in user?

Correct! HKEY_CURRENT_USER (often abbreviated HKCU) holds settings and preferences tied to the active user session, such as desktop backgrounds and application preferences. It is actually a pointer to a subkey within HKEY_USERS that matches the current user's security identifier.
Not quite. The answer is HKEY_CURRENT_USER, which stores user-specific settings like wallpaper, theme choices, and per-user application data. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, by contrast, holds system-wide settings that apply to all users on the machine.
02 / 8
Services

Which built-in Windows tool is the primary interface for viewing, starting, stopping, and configuring Windows services?

Correct! The Services console (services.msc) is the dedicated snap-in for managing Windows services, letting you set startup types, view dependencies, and control service states. You can launch it by pressing Win + R and typing services.msc.
Not quite. While Task Manager and msconfig can show some service information, the dedicated tool is services.msc — the Services console. It gives you full control over startup types, recovery options, and service dependencies.
03 / 8
Registry

What command-line tool can you use to import, export, and query Windows Registry entries from a command prompt?

Correct! The 'reg' command is a powerful command-line utility that lets you add, delete, query, copy, and export registry keys without opening the graphical Registry Editor. It is especially useful for scripting and automation tasks.
Not quite. The answer is 'reg', a command-line tool built into Windows for scripting registry operations. Regedit is the graphical editor, regsvr32 registers COM components, and sfc checks system file integrity — none of them are primarily registry command-line tools.
04 / 8
Services

What does it mean when a Windows service is configured with the startup type 'Automatic (Delayed Start)'?

Correct! 'Automatic (Delayed Start)' means the service launches automatically after boot, but intentionally waits until after services marked plain 'Automatic' have started. This helps reduce the system load during the critical early boot phase and improves startup performance.
Not quite. 'Automatic (Delayed Start)' services still start without user intervention, but they wait a short time after the main Automatic services have loaded. This is different from Trigger Start (event-based), Manual (user-initiated), or Disabled (blocked) startup types.
05 / 8
Settings

In modern versions of Windows 11, which Settings page allows you to control which apps can run in the background and consume resources?

Correct! In Windows 11, background app permissions are found under Apps > Advanced app settings > Background apps. This lets you choose whether individual apps can refresh content, receive notifications, and run processes when not actively in use.
Not quite. The correct location in Windows 11 is Apps > Advanced app settings > Background apps. This consolidated many per-app background permission controls that were previously scattered across the Privacy settings section in Windows 10.
06 / 8
Security

Which Windows feature prevents unauthorized changes to the registry and system settings by prompting for administrator confirmation?

Correct! User Account Control (UAC) is the security feature that intercepts attempts to make system-level changes — including registry edits to protected hives — and prompts for administrator approval. It has been a core part of Windows since Vista and significantly reduces malware impact.
Not quite. The answer is User Account Control (UAC). While Secure Boot protects the boot process and BitLocker encrypts drives, it is UAC that specifically gates changes to system settings and protected registry areas by requiring administrator elevation.
07 / 8
Registry

What is the maximum size of a single registry value's data in the Windows Registry?

Correct! A single registry value can hold up to approximately 1 MB of data, though Microsoft recommends keeping large data in files and storing only the file path in the registry. Storing large binary blobs directly in the registry is considered bad practice and can affect performance.
Not quite. The practical limit for a single registry value is around 1 MB. Microsoft's own guidelines discourage storing large amounts of data directly in the registry and instead recommend saving large data to files and referencing them by path.
08 / 8
System

Which Windows service is responsible for managing the installation, modification, and removal of software using the .msi package format?

Correct! The Windows Installer service handles the entire lifecycle of .msi-based application packages, including installation, repair, and uninstallation. It also manages rollback capability, meaning that if an installation fails, it can undo partial changes to keep the system clean.
Not quite. The answer is Windows Installer, the service purpose-built to process .msi packages. The Software Protection service manages licensing and activation, Application Identity verifies app identities for AppLocker, and the Program Compatibility Assistant helps run older software — none of them handle .msi installations.
Challenge Complete

Your Score

/ 8

Thanks for playing!

All that RAM usage for mediocre results

Windows search service on Windows
Screenshot by Pankil Shah -- No attribution required

Windows Search is one of those features that feels essential. It’s designed to make finding files, apps, and settings instant, which is why it constantly indexes your system.

But that processing doesn’t come free. On systems with multiple drives and thousands of small files, this service can chew through CPU, RAM, and disk usage. What makes this frustrating is that even with all that background activity, Windows Search isn’t always the fastest or most reliable way to find things.

An easy way to cut all that background usage is to use a lightweight tool like Everything. It’s much faster because of its lightweight indexing method and supports all the necessary filters and operators you might need.

Everything
Everything
OS
Windows
Price model
Free

Everything is a Windows filename search engine that guarantees fast and accurate file search even without typing entire file names. 

See at VoidTools

SysMain

A speed boost that backfires in most cases

SysMain service properties on Windows
Screenshot by Pankil Shah -- No attribution required

SysMain is one of those background services that’s supposed to make your PC faster. It observes how you use your PC and tries to predict which apps you’re likely to open. It then preloads those apps into memory so they can launch quickly. To be fair, on older PCs with traditional hard drives, this actually makes a difference.

But on modern PCs running SSDs, where apps already open fast enough, the benefits are far less obvious. On top of that, SysMain itself can be surprisingly aggressive with disk activity and RAM usage, which can affect the overall performance.

In a way, a service meant to speed up things ends up slowing everything down. So yes, unless your PC has old hardware, you don’t really need SysMain.

Connected User Experiences and Telemetry

Data collection in plain sight

Telemetry service properties on PC
Screenshot by Pankil Shah -- No attribution required

The Connected User Experience and Telemetry service is responsible for collecting diagnostic and usage data from your PC and sending it back to Microsoft. The idea is to help improve Windows by understanding how people use it and how it runs. This service gathers all sorts of information from system performance and app usage to how you interact with your PC.

Windows Error Reporting works in a similar way. Wherever something crashes or behaves unexpectedly, it collects error data and reports back to Microsoft.

All this data collection means more background activity, which doesn’t really benefit you. Also, not everyone likes the idea of Microsoft collecting all this information. The good thing is, disabling this service won’t break anything, and your PC will operate without constant reporting.

Program Compatibility Assistant Service

Fixing problems you don’t have

Program compatiblity assistant service on Windows
Screenshot by Pankil Shah -- No attribution required

Program Compatibility Assistant is designed to monitor apps as they run and step in if something seems incompatible with your version of Windows. When it detects any issues, it suggests fixes or applies settings to help the program run properly.

But the thing is, unless you’re running some decade-old program that’s no longer supported today, you don’t need this service running all the time. It simply adds to the growing list of background processes that use system resources. If you still want to keep it around, it’s better to set the service to Manual so it only runs when you need it.

Honestly, when I was tweaking these services, I expected at least something to go wrong. Maybe a feature would break or Windows would start behaving unpredictably, but nothing happened. Still, you shouldn't go around disabling just about any service. There are some services you should never touch even if you know what you’re doing.