How to Disable Game Mode in Windows
With the Windows 10 Creators Update released back in 2017, Microsoft added a feature to its operating system named Game Mode. The intentions behind this mode were for it to help PC gamers squeeze much more performance from their computers when playing demanding video games. Game Mode was supposed to allocate the available resources smartly, the GPU and CPU mainly, by giving the running game priority over other processes on the system.
Unfortunately, in practice, Game Mode delivered mixed results. While the feature did work as intended for some games, in others it caused annoying stuttering, significant frame drops, or other game-affecting issues that simply turned it into an unwanted annoyance. The fact that Game Mode was turned on by default also made it even less appealing in the eyes of its intended users.
Despite the consensus being that it is better to turn Game Mode off to avoid any potential issues, Microsoft appears to be sticking to its opinion that Game Mode is essential and has made the feature enabled by default, even in the next iteration of their operating system, Windows 11. Fortunately, disabling Game Mode can be achieved in just a couple of steps.
Turning Game Mode off on Windows 10
- Right-click the Start menu button and from the available choices pick 'Settings.'
- From the 'Settings' window, find and open the 'Gaming' tab.
- From the options listed on the left pane, select 'Game Mode.'
- All that is left is to disable the feature by turning the corresponding toggle to 'Off.'
Disabling Game Mode in Windows 11
- Locate the Start menu button and right-click it.
- Find 'Settings' and click on it.
- Now, from the right-side pane select 'Gaming.'
- Locate 'Game Mode,' select it, and switch the toggle to 'Off.'