A couple of weeks ago, I was setting up a laptop for someone in my family. For years, they’d been on Windows 10, and this was the first time I got their system loaded with a fresh copy of Windows 11. Installing Windows 11 wasn’t the only task I had, and since this was an 8GB PC, I knew I had to make additional tweaks inside the computer for such a low-memory configuration to work.

What surprised me most was how much the OS was eating into resources, even without any additional apps installed. My curiosity led me to the Task Manager, and upon a closer look, I found six programs and services running in the background that had no reason to be there.

A news feed that keeps a web engine loaded all day

Windows Web Experience Pack powers the Widgets board, which runs on WebView2 and keeps the news and weather feed loaded in the background. Few people open it, yet the Widgets process uses a major portion of your RAM.

To turn off Widgets in Windows 11, here’s what you’ll need to do:

1. Open Settings.
2. Go to Personalization.
3. Open Taskbar, and there, you’ll see a toggle for Widgets. Turn it off.

While I love the convenience of looking at the calendar, weather, and the newsfeed updates, the WebView2 and Web Experience Pack make the cost too high, and there’s a much better alternative that does more than Windows 11’s default widgets.

Microsoft Teams

A chat app most people never open, still using memory

Microsoft claimed that Teams was much more responsive earlier this year, but that claim amounts to little because Teams consumes nearly 600MB of RAM while doing nothing. The main reason is the WebView2 runtime, which makes it consume so much memory. Even so, I don’t understand why Teams is a preloaded app on Windows 11. While Microsoft pitches Teams for personal communication as well, only a handful of people use it that way.

For users like me who have never used Microsoft Teams, the app has no reason to continue working in the background. You can either uninstall the app from Settings or disable it from Startup apps in Task Manager if you still want to keep it around, but prevent it from running in the background.

Phone Link

Running in the background with no phone paired

Don’t get me wrong. I love Phone Link, and it’s vastly improved since the app first launched, but why is the application even running by default if I don’t have a phone paired with a fresh Windows 11 installation? While it doesn’t use many resources on its own, all the other Microsoft services and apps add up to the count and make the overall consumption much worse.

For a work machine or someone who doesn’t want to pair their phone with the Windows 11 PC, here’s how to disable it:

1. Open Settings.
2. Navigate to Bluetooth & devices.
3. Open Mobile devices, then toggle off the settings for “Allow this PC to access your mobile devices” and “Show me suggestions for using my mobile devices with Windows.”

Also, disable Phone Link from the Startup section in Task Manager to prevent it from launching at boot.

Xbox Services

Gaming components on a PC that may never run a game

By default, Gaming services and the Xbox app run in the background, even when you don’t need them. Though Windows 11 is the dominant PC gaming platform, not every Windows 11 PC is used for gaming.

I understand that Microsoft wants to create a unified ecosystem for gaming across Xbox and Windows, which is why Xbox services are so heavily integrated into the OS, but for someone who doesn’t even game, it’s of little use.

To disable the Xbox app from running in the background, here’s what you’ll need to do:

1. Open Settings.
2. Go to Gaming.
3. There you’ll find a section for Xbox Mode; disable it.

To turn off the rest of the Xbox Services, stop all Xbox-related services and set their startup type to Disabled under Services, i.e., Xbox Accessory Management, Xbox Live Auth Manager, Xbox Live Game Save, and Xbox Live Networking Service.

Do keep in mind that disabling these services can break Game Pass, Xbox sign-in, and Microsoft Games.

SysMain

A Windows Vista-era pre-loader that matters less on an SSD

SysMain is one of the many legacy Windows services in Windows 11. Originally called SuperFetch when introduced in Windows Vista, this service preloads apps into RAM by predicting usage habits. It made sense for DDR2 and DDR3 RAM back when HDDs were the standard, but with how fast RAM and SSDs are now, it barely moves the needle, and turning off SysMain frees up considerable RAM.

Modern SSDs are already fast enough to load an application quickly, and turning off SysMain can free up more RAM. Here’s how to turn it off:

1. Open Services via Win + R and then type in services.msc in the Run dialog.
2. Find SysMain.
3. Double-click the service, stop it, and then set startup to disabled as well.

For someone who is still booting up Windows 11 from an HDD, keep SysMain on, since it helps apps load up fast.

Connected User Experiences and Telemetry

The one that costs you privacy, not RAM

Windows 11 collects required diagnostic data by default through a service called DiagTrack, which is enabled by default, so Microsoft can quickly identify crashes, bugs, and errors, and push fixes faster. The data that DiagTrack monitors includes device settings, hardware configuration, and error reports.

Though it barely touches your RAM, this service is more about privacy, and not everyone is comfortable sharing their data, including me.

You cannot completely disable Telemetry since required diagnostic data can’t be turned off, but there is a way to reduce the data sent to Microsoft. For that, follow these steps:

1. Go into Settings.
2. Open Privacy & Security.
3. Open Diagnostics & Feedback.
4. From there, turn off Send Optional Diagnostic Data and Tailored Experience.

To erase existing data Microsoft has already collected from your device, click on Delete Diagnostic Data under the same section.

Low-memory PCs pay for services most people never open

For a much easier way to remove these services, the faster method is debloating, but most of the methods wipe out a lot of apps and services in bulk, which might be useful to others. Instead, you can use Winhance to customize what you want to keep and what not to.

In attempts to tie together Microsoft’s various products, like Xbox, Microsoft Office, and more, Windows 11 has become stuffed with services and apps enabled by default that not everyone will use. This is why, straight out of the box, resource consumption is so high in low-end configurations, which affects everything from browsing to multitasking.