Instructions to play games smoother on Windows

If you’ve ever looked through the Task list after the Ctrl+Alt+Del key combination, you’ve probably wondered if these background apps are affecting your computer’s gaming performance. Even freshly installed Windows already has a long list of running applications, tasks, and services.

Oftentimes, older laptops or computers will have limited performance, so it is helpful to know which background applications can help your game run smoother. Let’s find out what you can disable in Task Manager to make the game run faster!

Which apps should I disable?

We need to understand Windows well when deciding which applications (apps) or services can be disabled and still ensure Windows works properly. When it is unclear what an application does, knowing where it is located solves a lot of problems. To know the folder where the running application is stored, right-click it in the Task Manager and select Open File Location from the menu.

Services are accessible from many built-in Windows applications, and they are usually clearly named with a description of their function. The services we are ready to disable right away are Superfetch, Themes, services that automatically update third-party software, cloud storage software, and screen sharing software.

Service and Start up (start up)

The best interface to understand the services in the system is through the Windows MMC Services tool, which can be opened with the “Services.exe” command. Another super-efficient way to check available services is with the System Configuration application. After doing a little research, you’ll probably find services you don’t need, and didn’t even know existed. Note, take a screenshot, and make System Recovery ready before playing, to make sure any trouble can be restored to its original state.

Type “msconfig.exe” from the Start menu and press Enter to open the System Configuration application, one of Windows’ most handy tools. Click on the “Services” tab and check “Hide all Microsoft services” to show only the third-party services installed on your system. While some of these services are required while playing a game or using something else, like the Steam client, many of them are unnecessary. Therefore, this is where you should start first.

If you feel that disabling (disabling) services through System Configuration is too risky for your computer, you can suspend (instead of disabling) them through Services. They will automatically run again the next time the computer boots without your intervention.

If you find a service or built-in function in Windows that you know you won’t use but it starts with the system, consider removing it instead of disabling it. This can be done through the Control Panel, Programs and Features. At the bottom, select “Turn Windows feature on or off”. Note, if a service allows removal in this way, it is unlikely that it is needed in the daily work of the computer.

Task Manager, opened with Ctrl-Alt-Del or the “Taskmgr.exe” command, is also quite handy for tweaking the system and cutting out unnecessary things. The Startup tab shows a list of applications that run when your computer boots, along with their impact on startup. It somewhat tells you how each application affects the system. Right-clicking on it allows you to turn it on/off, and you should Google the name of the application on the Internet if you are unsure what its function is. The applications here are usually not needed, but do not turn off the necessary software to run the game.

Reality check

Windows 10 freshly installed and fully updated usually installs MS Office, Steam, Avast, Photoshop, Dropbox, Chrome and the latest drivers for the computer. We will use the Lenovo 110S Ideapad Netbook as a test subject because the configuration of the machine is not high and the price is less than $200, suitable for the needs of students/students. The device only has 2GB of RAM and a Celeron N3060 2-core CPU without a fan. This CPU is similar to Intel’s Atom series. It’s only 1/3 of Kaby Lake’s single-core performance.

Three games and a benchmark software are used to test with all applications starting, running in the background and services opening normally. After that, we will disable to leave the necessary things in Windows only.

We will close all desktop applications, except for the Explorer screen and a browser tab, to simulate a normal computer usage process. The system will disable initial startup applications such as system tray applications, unnecessary services and applications running in the background before opening the game.

Torchlight

Torghlight is the perfect RPG to play on a laptop. This is the only game out of the three that can be played on low. Torchlight runs fine in medium settings with 1366×768 resolution and shadows enabled.

Two areas were selected for testing: one in the town with many people passing through, and the other at the entrance to the dungeon. While the frame rate stays above 30 most of the time, sometimes the motion feels choppy when multiple monsters appear at the same time. When standing still, the aspect ratio is around 30.

Disabling services and applications in the system improves 3-6 fps in both areas. It gives a 10-20% increase and increases the frame rate to 40. That should be enough to give you smoother gameplay, better motion, and less problems when monsters appear.

Left 4 Dead 2

Let’s move on to Valve’s famous zombie shooter and this is considered a great challenge for Netbook. In addition to having to run Steam in the background, Left 4 Dead 2’s Source engine requires more resources than Torchlight’s OGRE, and FPS games always want the highest fps possible.

Two areas from the Dead Center, one inside the safehouse and one overlooking the street, were used to check the aspect ratio. In addition, we also played a bit at level two to check for jerks and other gameplay issues.

Using the default configuration, Lenovo achieved 30 fps indoors and 25 fps outdoors with low settings, using the screen’s native resolution of 1366×768. However, the game stalled and lost more frames than Torchlight, making the gameplay uncomfortable at all.

The results are again improved when we turn off the redundant things from the system. Although the fps only increased from 4-10, the game played better this time. Although the frame dropped at times, the game no longer stalled and no longer affected shooting. In general, the fast-paced and fast-paced Left 4 Dead 2 is still almost complete.

DiRT 3

Although DiRT’s engine is famous for its optimization, we had to turn off all the game features to make sure DiRT 3 works on this laptop. Averaged 28 fps with a low of 21 fps, which is the most resource-intensive of the three games we tested. DiRT 3 plays a bit annoyingly at the laptop’s native resolution of 1366×768. Racing games are often optimized when running at low frame rates, but when you don’t reach 30 fps, the racing experience is almost lost.

When cutting down on apps, the numbers increased by about 10% on average but the lowest fps increased by more than 20%. This helps the average frame rate exceed 30 fps and raise the lowest fps to nearly 26.

This change is enough to help DiRT return to playable state and is really a savior for low-end computers. All three games have marked improvements in performance and gameplay after cutting down on apps and services.

Benchmark

After getting convincing results from running the games, you might believe that 3DMark brings about the same changes, but that’s not true. Although Ice Storm Unlimited scores are always higher when disabling services and applications, the results are not much different and the difference cannot be felt with the naked eye. This parameter is always true no matter what the 3DMark run configuration is.

There are some who think that these virtual results are not important compared to the actual running test, since you are playing the game, not the benchmark, but we still get some valuable data. 3DMark results tell us there is not too much difference between the default system and the optimized system. This is completely understandable because the hardware of the machine remains the same.

If with a computer that is not powerful, reaching 30 fps when playing games makes a big difference. Only 5 fps more, but the game world will become more vivid, making the game experience more wonderful.

This tutorial will hopefully improve your game’s FPS a bit, but don’t expect it to work miracles. Please upgrade your computer hardware if possible!