Background activity

On this page

Path: Optimization → Background activity.

What the page shows

The page gathers in a single list everything that actually runs in the background — one row per program. BoosterX matches running processes with their services, drivers, Startup apps entries and Task Scheduler tasks by installation paths and other startup sources, so for each program everything is visible at once: name, running processes, services with state and startup type, Startup apps, tasks and open ports. For each row, “CPU cycles” and “Memory” are shown, and if several services run in a shared host process, BoosterX explicitly notes that the CPU and memory belong to the host process rather than to an individual service.

To see the same thing manually, you would have to open Task Manager, service management and Startup apps one after another and guess what belongs to what. Here the startup source is already matched to the program, and its card expands into a full list: processes, services, Startup apps, tasks, ports.

Recommendation

Manage background activity selectively: disable or delete only familiar third-party programs, startup sources and services that you do not need — this is also stated in the recommendation on the page itself.

The page is especially useful for spotting the forgotten: old utilities, server components and “helpers” installed long ago often keep starting silently at system startup and are not visible through ordinary means. The same list also covers recent installations — their background components are visible here just as they are for long-installed programs.

Exceptions and differences

For important components, when disabling, the page shows the warning “When disabled: …”. For example, disabling Microsoft Gaming Services will stop the installation and updating of individual Xbox, Game Pass and Microsoft Store games, while GameInput Redist Service affects controllers in individual games.
System services cannot be deleted from this page; for some services the action is unavailable if the service is protected or its safe startup type is unknown.
If no Startup apps or services are found for a process, the startup source toggles are hidden, and the hint explains: “No Startup apps or services found, most likely the process was started manually”.
The full list of services (“All services”) and some actions (for example, deleting related services and Startup apps when the installed program is not found) are available when “Tweaker mode” is enabled in the application settings.

How to verify the result

After disabling startup sources, restart the PC and open the page again: the program should have no enabled Startup apps and services left, and its processes should not appear in the background. Check that the functions you need — updates, synchronization, notifications, game services — keep working.

How to change and revert

Expand the program card and toggle its services and Startup apps — each row immediately shows the outcome: “Will be enabled”, “Will be disabled” or “Will be deleted” — then apply the change. “End all processes” stops the program’s current processes, and the “Delete” button deletes the program itself (if no uninstall command is found for it, BoosterX will report this). To revert, enable the disabled startup sources with the same toggles.