7 Windows 11 Privacy and Performance Settings to Review: Startup Apps, Ads and Delivery Optimization

While "features to turn off immediately" lists are a staple of PC maintenance culture, treating all seven as simple on/off switches misses the nuanced reality of how Windows 11 and legacy Windows 10 installations actually work. Some of these toggles genuinely reclaim CPU cycles, memory, and battery life. Others merely govern a single tracking identifier without stopping broader data collection, and one—Activity History—has actually been retired by Microsoft in newer Windows builds.

Before you start flipping switches in the Settings app like an caffeinated air-traffic controller, let's break down what each of these seven mechanisms actually does under the hood, the exact paths to manage them, and the real-world trade-offs you are making when you turn them off.

The Privacy & Personalization Toggles: Trimming the Noise​

The first four items flagged by Analytics Insight fall into the intersection of user privacy, telemetry, and interface clutter. Modern Windows is heavily invested in "connected experiences," a design philosophy where your desktop adapts to how you use it. That can be helpful, or it can feel like a retail clerk following you around the store asking if you want to buy a pair of socks that match the shirt you just touched.

1. Personalized Ads and the Windows Advertising ID​

Analytics Insight notes that Windows assigns an advertising ID to tailor advertisements inside supported apps, pointing out that disabling it limits personalization tied to that specific identifier without acting as a universal ad blocker.

According to Microsoft Support documentation on general privacy settings, Windows generates a unique advertising ID for each user account on a device. When this toggle is enabled, app developers and advertising networks can access and use that ID much like websites use a unique identifier stored in a browser cookie, associating the personal data they collect about you with that ID to serve targeted ads and personalized experiences across Windows apps.

How to configure it:

• Windows 11: Navigate to Start > Settings > Privacy & security > General and toggle off Let apps show me personalized ads by using my advertising ID. (Note: Microsoft states that in more recent versions of Windows 11, the General privacy page is being replaced by the Recommendations & offers privacy settings page, though devices without the latest updates may still display the General menu.)
• Windows 10: Navigate to Start > Settings > Privacy > General and toggle off Let apps use advertising ID to make ads more interesting to you based on your app activity.

The Veteran IT Reality Check: Turning this off does not reduce the volume of ads you see; it simply makes them generic rather than tailored. Furthermore, Microsoft explicitly notes that this setting only applies to Windows apps using the Windows advertising identifier—it does nothing to stop interest-based ads delivered via web browser cookies or third-party applications operating under their own privacy policies. One neat trick documented by Microsoft: if you turn the advertising ID off and later turn it back on, Windows resets the identifier entirely, severing the link to the previous ID.

2. App Launch Tracking​

Have you ever wondered how the Start menu knows which apps you reach for every Monday morning? As Analytics Insight points out, Windows can monitor which applications you open to tailor Start menu recommendations and local search results.

Microsoft Support documentation confirms that this tracking is what populates your list of most-used apps both inside the Start menu and within Windows Search.

How to configure it:

• Windows 11: Go to Start > Settings > Privacy & security > General (or the newer Recommendations & offers page on updated builds) and toggle off Let Windows improve Start and search results by tracking app launches.
• Windows 10: Go to Start > Settings > Privacy > General and toggle off Let Windows track app launches to improve Start and search results.

The Trade-off: Disabling this setting stops Windows from logging your launch frequency for UI personalization. Your Start menu and search bar will still function normally to find installed software, though you lose the convenience of having your most heavily used tools automatically bubble up to the top of the interface.

3. Tips, Suggestions, and Interface Recommendations​

For seasoned power users who already know their way around the operating system, pop-up suggestions explaining how to snap a window or try a new Microsoft service are little more than visual static. However, what Analytics Insight groups together as "Tips and Suggestions" is actually controlled by a couple of distinct levers inside Windows.

According to Microsoft Support documentation, suggestions strictly inside the Settings app are handled right alongside the privacy toggles mentioned above:

• Windows 11: Go to Start > Settings > Privacy & security > General and turn off Show me suggested content in the Settings app.
• Windows 10: Go to Start > Settings > Privacy > General and turn off Show me suggested content in the Settings app.

If you also want to silence broader system pop-ups—such as desktop usage tips or the full-screen "Windows welcome experience" that occasionally appears after feature updates—you should also inspect Settings > System > Notifications > Additional settings in Windows 11, where those notification-based nudges reside.

4. Activity History: Check Your Windows Version First​

Analytics Insight advises reviewing and disabling Windows Activity History to control whether your actions are stored locally or synced with a Microsoft account, while rightly cautioning that doing so does not wipe independent logs held by browsers, websites, or cloud services.

Here is where checking primary documentation saves you a wild goose chase. According to Microsoft Support's documentation on essential services and connected experiences, Activity history—which tracked the apps and services you used, the files you opened, and the websites you browsed on the local device—is only available in versions of Windows released prior to January 2024 and has been discontinued in newer versions of Windows.

If you are running an older Windows 11 build (such as 22H2/23H2 prior to the 2024 transition) or a legacy Windows 10 system (bearing in mind Microsoft ended standard Windows 10 support on October 14, 2025), you may still see the local Activity History page in Settings. On current Windows 11 installations, however, that local timeline feature is gone.

What you should manage instead: If your goal is managing the telemetry and activity logs tied to your cloud identity, Microsoft Support documents that you must visit the online Microsoft privacy dashboard (under the activity history page for your Microsoft account). There, you can view and delete Apps and services activity data associated with your account on a per-day basis.

Section Summary:

• Disabling the Advertising ID stops Windows apps from using that specific system token for targeted ads, but won't block ads or web cookies.
• Turning off App Launch Tracking and Suggested Content cleans up the Start menu and Settings interface at the cost of automated shortcuts.
• Local Activity History was discontinued by Microsoft in Windows releases from January 2024 onward; account-level app and service logs must be cleared via your online Microsoft account privacy dashboard.

Resource Management: Reclaiming Boot Speed, RAM, and Battery​

While privacy toggles mostly affect data flows and UI behavior, the next two items on the Analytics Insight list—Startup Apps and Background App Permissions—directly impact how fast your machine gets to the desktop and how hard your CPU, disk, and battery work when you aren't looking.

5. Startup Apps​

Every piece of software you install seems to think it deserves a front-row seat the moment you sign into Windows. Game launchers, peripheral RGB controllers, cloud sync clients, and PDF updaters all pile into the boot queue. Analytics Insight recommends pruning unnecessary startup entries via Task Manager while leaving critical security software and hardware utilities intact.

Microsoft Support documentation outlines three distinct ways startup applications are registered and managed in Windows 10 and Windows 11, along with the exact metrics Windows uses to grade their performance hit:

How to audit and disable them:

1. Via Settings: Go to Start > Settings > Apps > Startup and flip the toggle to Off for any registered app you do not need immediately upon login.
2. Via Task Manager: Right-click Start, select Task Manager, click the Startup apps tab, right-click an offending application (especially those flagged as High Impact), and select Disable.
3. Via Startup Folders (for legacy apps): Not every program registers itself cleanly with the modern Startup API. Microsoft notes that unregistered apps may launch via hidden startup folders. Press Win + R (or right-click Start and select Run) and enter shell:startup (which opens %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup for the current user) or shell:common startup (which opens %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup for all users). Delete any unwanted application shortcuts sitting inside those folders.

(Advanced note: Microsoft also documents that startup entries can reside in the Windows Registry under HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, though standard users should stick to Settings, Task Manager, and the startup folders.)

6. Background App Permissions​

Even if an app doesn't launch at boot, it might keep running quietly after you close its window—syncing data, polling for notifications, or downloading updates. Analytics Insight points out that restricting background permissions saves resources, while noting that the controls differ significantly between modern Store apps and classic desktop software.

That distinction is crucial. According to Microsoft Support documentation on Windows background apps, traditional desktop applications (classic .EXE or .DLL programs installed from the web or media) do not appear in the Windows background app permission lists and are not governed by these OS toggles. To stop a traditional desktop program (like Steam, Discord, or Spotify) from lingering in the background, you must use that specific application's internal settings menu or close it from the system tray.

For supported modern apps, however, Windows 11 provides two ways to throttle background drain:

• Via Installed Apps: Go to Start > Settings > Apps > Installed apps. Find the app, click the More options (...) icon on the right, and select Advanced options. Under Background app permissions > Let this app run in background, choose between:
  • Always: Runs freely in the background, syncing and sending notifications at the cost of higher power consumption.
  • Power optimized (recommended): Windows dynamically manages the app to save battery while still permitting periodic updates and notifications.
  • Never: Completely blocks the app from running when not actively open. You will save maximum power, but you will not receive notifications or background updates for that app.
• Via Battery Usage: On laptops, you can also go to Start > Settings > System > Power & battery > Battery usage, see which apps are actually chewing through your charge, click More options (...) next to a culprit, and select Manage background activity.

(In legacy Windows 10, this is managed globally or per-app under Start > Settings > Privacy > Background apps.)

Section Summary:

• Use Task Manager > Startup apps to spot apps consuming more than 1 second of CPU time or 3 MB of disk I/O at boot, and check shell:startup if an annoying program isn't listed.
• Setting modern apps to Never run in the background saves battery, but remember that traditional .EXE desktop programs bypass this Windows setting and must be tamed through their own preferences.

Network & Update Bandwidth: Understanding Delivery Optimization​

The final feature on the Analytics Insight list is Delivery Optimization, Microsoft's peer-assisted update mechanism. There is a persistent myth in PC forums that Delivery Optimization is either a security flaw or a mandatory BitTorrent client secretly eating your residential fiber connection for strangers. Let's look at the actual engineering.

7. Delivery Optimization​

As Microsoft Support explains, Delivery Optimization is a cloud-based downloader that fetches Windows Updates, Microsoft Store apps, and Office updates. When peer-to-peer sharing is active, your PC can download update fragments not just from Microsoft's servers, but also from other PCs on your local network or the internet—and upload cached fragments to them in return.

According to Microsoft's documentation on essential services, by default, devices running Windows only use Delivery Optimization to send and receive updates for devices and apps on your local network. That is actually a fantastic feature if you have three or four Windows 11 PCs in the same house or small office: one machine downloads the bulky monthly cumulative update from the internet, and the other local PCs pull the pieces over your fast local Wi-Fi or Ethernet instead of saturating your ISP connection four times over.

However, if you are on a metered connection, a mobile hotspot, or a congested network and want strict control over peer sharing, Analytics Insight rightly suggests adjusting rather than disabling Windows Update itself.

How to configure Delivery Optimization in Windows 11:

1. Go to Start > Settings > Windows Update > Advanced options > Delivery Optimization.
2. Toggle Allow downloads from other devices to Off if you want your PC to pull updates strictly from Microsoft's servers.
3. Alternatively, leave it On and ensure it is restricted to Devices on my local network rather than Devices on the internet and my local network.

Granular Bandwidth Limits (The Pro Move):

Instead of turning local sharing off, Microsoft provides granular throttling right on the Delivery Optimization page:

• Activity Monitor: Click Activity monitor to view an exact breakdown of how many megabytes or gigabytes your PC has downloaded from or uploaded to peers during the current month.
• Download & Upload Caps: You can set background and foreground download limits by fixed Mbps or as a percentage of measured bandwidth, and set a hard Monthly upload limit between 1 and 500 GB.
• Important Caveat: Microsoft notes that download bandwidth limits only apply to automatic background updates. If you manually click "Check for updates" in Windows Update or manually click "Get" on an app in the Microsoft Store, Windows bypasses those limits so you aren't left staring at a slow progress bar.
• Enterprise Note: If the toggle to turn off Delivery Optimization is grayed out and accompanied by a banner stating Some of these settings are managed by your organization, your IT department has enforced peer caching via Group Policy or Intune to keep the corporate network from melting on Patch Tuesday.

The Bottom Line: Audit, Don't Just Obliterate​

The takeaway from Analytics Insight's seven-point checklist —when paired with Microsoft's technical documentation—is that Windows optimization works best with a scalpel rather than a sledgehammer:

1. Flip off the privacy and UI toggles (Advertising ID, App Launch Tracking, and Settings Suggestions) if you want a quieter, less tailored interface, knowing they are preference switches rather than comprehensive anti-tracking shields.
2. Skip hunting for local Activity History on modern post-January 2024 Windows 11 builds, and take your cleanup to the online Microsoft privacy dashboard instead.
3. Ruthlessly prune High Impact Startup Apps and set unused Store apps' background permissions to Never for tangible gains in boot speed and laptop battery longevity.
4. Keep Delivery Optimization restricted to your local network (or turn peer sharing off on single-PC or metered setups) while leaving core Windows Update fully enabled so your security patches arrive right on schedule.