Discord is a social media platform for gamers, but if left running can take a toll on your computer’s resources. In this post, we will see how to stop Discord from running in the background on a Windows computer so that, you can save over exhaustion of your resources and stop your system from crippling.
Why is Discord still running in the background on PC?
Discord needs to always be connected to its server in order to exchange messages. That is why, Discord always has to work in the background. Not just that, Discord also has a feature called Overlay which works on top of an app and gives additional features to it.
How to stop Discord from running in background on Windows PC?
Discord has a number of features because of which it runs in the background. It has an overlay, which as the name suggests works on top of a running application to give it additional features. Not just that, on most devices it launches on startup. If you leave it unattended it will consume your system’s resources such as CPU and RAM.
The following are the things you can do to stop Discord from running in the background.
- Kill Discord from the Task Manager
- Make permanent changes to Discord settings
- Disable Discord Overlay
- Stop Discord from running at Startup
Let us talk about them in detail.
1] Kill Discord from the Task Manager
You must have realized that Discord stays open even when you click on the Cross (X) icon to close Discord. To close it completely, we need to end its task from the Task Manager. For that, open Task Manager either from the Start Menu or by Ctrl + Shift + Esc, right-click on Discord and select End Task. If you see any other process related to Discord, kill it as well. This will stop Discord from running in the background.
2] Make permanent changes to Discord Settings
You can make permanent changes to the Discord Settings so that it never runs in the background. Do keep in mind that stopping Discord from functioning in the background will have a few consequences. First of all, if you are on a call with someone and you close the Discord app, the call with get disconnected. However, your voice channel will not show idle or inactive unless you decide to do so.
To stop Discord from running in the background we need to make a few adjustments to the application and its properties. Follow the steps given below to do the same.
- Launch the Discord client application on your computer.
- Click on the cog icon to open its settings.
- Select Windows Settings from User Settings.
- Navigate to Minimize to Tray and then disable its toggle.
This will do the job for you.
3] Disable Discord Overlay
Even though it is not recommended for gamers, you can stop Discord from displaying over other games by just disabling Overlay. So, go ahead and disable Discord Overlay and then check if the issue is resolved.
4] Stop Discord from running at Startup
Last but not least, we need to stop Discord from running at startup. Without doing it, Discord will open automatically when your computer starts. You can close the app and it will not run in the background if you have made the adjustments mentioned earlier in this post, but there is no need to put up with this hassle by following the steps mentioned below.
- Open Task Manager by Win + Shift + Esc.
- Go to the Startup Apps tab.
- Look for “Discord”, if the Status is Enabled, right-click on it and select Disable.
- Now, open Discord.
- Go to its Settings by clicking on the cog icon.
- Navigate to Windows Settings and then disable Open Discord.
Once done close the app and then restart your system. Discord will not open without you manually launching it.
Read: How to completely uninstall Discord?
Hopefully, with these methods, you have stopped Discord from running in the background and consuming your system’s hardware resources.
Read: How to stop Background processes from running in the background?
How do I stop Discord from running in the background Windows?
There are various ways to stop Discord from running in the background on a Windows computer. And we have mentioned all of them earlier in this post. However, we would recommend you go through each one of them and execute them one by one. It would take five minutes at the most to make the aforementioned changes and Discord won’t eat all your resources.
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