How to stop Windows ‘Photos’ app from automatically running, slowing down your PC?

There are several ways to view photos and videos on Windows, but most use the Microsoft Photos app, which is the default photo viewer app. However, the Photos app has been found to slow down some users’ computers.

There are two main reasons for this issue. First, Microsoft moved the Photos app from UWP to the Windows App SDK last June, and second, Microsoft is adding new AI features to the Photos app. This has caused the app to become slower and take longer to launch than before. This can be especially problematic if the Photos app launches automatically when Windows boots up.

Currently, this issue does not affect all Windows users. For now, only users using Windows 11 version 2024.11050.3002.0 are affected. However, Windows Insider BlogAccording to , more users are likely to be affected once this new Photos app is integrated into Windows 10 as well.

Unfortunately, the Photos app is an essential component of Windows, so you can’t completely remove it. However, you can prevent the app from automatically launching when Windows starts. Here’s how.

• Option 1: Go to Settings on your PC, then go to Apps and click on Startup. Here, find ‘View Windows Pictures’ and toggle the switch to Off.
• Option 2: Open Task Manager using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Esc. Click on the ‘Startup’ tab in the left navigation menu, then find and select ‘View Windows Picture’ and click on the Disable button in the top toolbar.

Are there any downsides to setting the Photos app to not launch automatically? Actually, there aren’t any major issues. There may be the inconvenience of having to launch the Photos app manually when using it, but that’s about it.
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