May 18, 2012

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How to disable dwm.exe

One of the most common complaints about Windows Vista and windows 7 when it was first released, was that it practically crawled. This earned it a reputation for being pretty to look at but lacking in functionality. What most people don’t know, however, is that the very eye-candy that makes Windows Vista and windows 7 so attractive to look at slows down your PC.

Vista and W7 achieves it’s graphic effects using its “Aero” user interface. This is what gives Windows Vista its characteristic 3D graphics, transparency, pretty animations, etc. This feature is powered by a process called the Desktop Window Manager (Dwm.exe) – which runs in the background draining system resources and using up valuable RAM and processing power. Disabling the Desktop Window Manager will remove the graphic effects to which Vista and W7 users are now accustomed too but will also provide a huge boost in performance as its process will cease to put extra strain on your systems resources.

If you would like to disable the dwm.exe follow the steps below.

 

1. Left-click the Start Orb at the bottom left hand corner of the screen.

 

 

 

2. Click “Run” and type in “services.msc”. This will open the services manager utility. (You may be asked by Vista’s overprotective User Account Control to enter your administrator password. Simply do so and continue.)

 

 

3. Scroll down the menu to the label “Desktop Window Manager” Right-click the service and select “Stop”.

 

Assuming you followed the steps above accurately, the Desktop Window Manager Service has now stopped. The Windows Aero graphics will cease to function but your PC will run much faster due to the memory and processing time released by ending the service. A good idea is to prevent it from starting automatically in future as well. To do this you simply need to right-click it again and select “Properties”. Click on the General tab and select “Disabled” as the Start-up Type, in the relevant labeled box. Click OK and you’re set.

 

The Desktop Window Manager Service can be restarted by following the steps above and re-enabling it. Until then, however, more system resources have been made available for other, more important applications – rather than being wasted on pretty effects. As long as this service is disabled, Windows Vista will boot up, and run much faster – with the option available to restart it if you want Windows Vista’s signature pretty, 3D graphical interface back.

 

Here is a video showing you how to disable dwm.exe