It is fairly normal to have a lot of processes in task manager these days. The days of lean and mean process number in Windows 7 are gone. Even a clean install will have a lot, but that's fine, it's how the OS was built. You mention delays though, without knowing what your hardware specs are, it'll be hard to tell if there is actually something going on there. Do note that on a fresh install of Windows, there will be a bit more going on in the background like indexing your files and that can affect performance a bit until it's done. Answer from Elianor_tijo on reddit.com
Reddit
reddit.com › r/buildapc › task manager says that there are over 125 background processes running. is that normal? is my pc being slowed down from them? i do notice a slight delay between switching tabs/programs.
r/buildapc on Reddit: Task Manager says that there are over 125 background processes running. Is that normal? Is my PC being slowed down from them? I do notice a slight delay between switching tabs/programs.
September 13, 2021 -
Btw this is from a custom gaming PC I built and personally use.
Top answer 1 of 14
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It is fairly normal to have a lot of processes in task manager these days. The days of lean and mean process number in Windows 7 are gone. Even a clean install will have a lot, but that's fine, it's how the OS was built. You mention delays though, without knowing what your hardware specs are, it'll be hard to tell if there is actually something going on there. Do note that on a fresh install of Windows, there will be a bit more going on in the background like indexing your files and that can affect performance a bit until it's done.
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If you have a factory Built PC, delete the bloatware... software that duplicates functions and utilities already built into Windows. Look at your software, if you have software installed that you use once a year, get rid of it. If you have McAffee, AVG or Norton Symantec AV software delete it/them. Enable Windows Defender, download and run scans with MBAM free now and again. Also install uBlock Origin as a browser add-on. Once you've cleaned house on your OS check your startups and disable the ones that you know you don't need running in the back ground. Google them if not sure. I also recommend Glary Utilities (free). If you take the time to dumb this software down, by going into it's settings disabling everything in the "General" settings, it has a pretty small footprint. Besides having a good number of utilities all in one place it also has a registry repair tool. Others may balk at this, but I have used this and cCleaners tool countless times on my own and others PCs over the past couple of decades and if there are corruptions and or conflicts this will make a noticeable improvement in you OS prformance. Much like doing a "sfc /scannow" at command prompt (as admin) for your OS system files. Do this as well just to check and see if you've had any file corruption. It will automatically fix what it can. If you have corruption then you have to find out why that is... and it's likley RAM issues or SSD/HDD issues. Anyhow, this should help. :)
Ten Forums
tenforums.com › performance-maintenance › 161620-number-background-processes-windows-processes.html
number of background processes and windows processes? - Windows 10 Help Forums
July 29, 2020 - For instance I have google chrome open now and only 2 tabs open but there are 9 instances in task manager. It's normal. You can try turning off hardware acceleration in google chrome. and see if that helps. Core2 duo is quite the antiquated processor. Your background processes aren't that high.
Videos
r/computers on Reddit: Background process deletion
02:51
How to Fix Too Many Background Processes on Windows 10/11 [Guide] ...
How to FIX: Too Many Background Processes on Windows 10 ...
01:40
Turn Off Unnecessary Background Processes on Your Computer - YouTube
15:58
Fix Too Many Background Processes on Your Windows PC - YouTube
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Yes, it is normal for the out-of-the-box installation to have 70 processes running. Using SysInternals Process Explorer would show that many of them are actually services that are on by default, and some others are system processes.
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For the most part, I will say yes. With Windows 10 Task Manager you are able to see a number of tasks running as system.
For example, if I run Google Chrome (1x Tab) I have the following processes listed in task manager:
If you are unsure of a process, you can search online using task manager:
There are (to my knowledge) no updated process list for windows applications, however
Quora
quora.com › How-many-processes-should-be-running-in-Windows-10
How many processes should be running in Windows 10? - Quora
Clean install with minimal apps and default Windows services: roughly 70–110 processes. Average consumer PC with antivirus, cloud sync (OneDrive/Dropbox), printer/scanner software, browser(s) and other common apps: 120–200 processes.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/pcmasterrace › how many background processes should i have running at once? (mb for bad pic)
r/pcmasterrace on Reddit: How many background processes should I have running at once? (Mb for bad pic)
June 16, 2024 -
Some of my games have been crashing recently, so I open task manager to see what's sucking up all my ram. I see I have at least 200+ background processes running, taking up about 24 percent of my ram at any given time. (I have 32g of ram btw) Is this normal or should I do a purge?
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Crashing wouldn't necessarily be indicative of processes hogging up your ram. I'd worry about faulty/dying ram, error correction failing, overheating, etc. Run some diagnostic tools To check if you have enough RAM goto perfmon > memory > hardfaults/second. Only if that's high (100+) means you don't have enough ram (for your usage). Even then it'll just make your computer slow, not necessarily crash programs.
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at least 300
Quora
quora.com › How-many-Windows-processes-should-be-running
How many Windows processes should be running? - Quora
Windows 10 will average at some 100–150 processes when no other software is installed, so long as you meet the recommended specifications in terms of RAM capacity.
BleepingComputer
bleepingcomputer.com › bleepingcomputer forums › hardware › internal hardware
My computer has too many background processes and windows processes open. - Internal Hardware
November 10, 2025 - Almost every time when I open task manager, it says 95 background processes and around 109 windows processes are open all the time. Your computer doesn't have too many processes running nor is it using too much memory when little to no apps ...
PC Gamer
pcgamer.com › games
How many background processes are running on your PC? | PC Gamer
October 30, 2019 - I currently have 76 background processes—that's after I close any other open applications—and 105 Windows processes. The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals · Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, ...
Tom's Hardware Forum
forums.tomshardware.com › home › software › windows 11
Question - 100s of processes running in Task Manager | Tom's Hardware Forum
January 10, 2023 - The machine has become slow and when I’ve looked in Task Manager I have around 100 processes running Including many duplicates. Does this sound like some kind of malware? Any steps I can take? cheers Richard · Click to expand... I have 73 service host processes running. this is normal each ...
Tom's Hardware Forum
forums.tomshardware.com › home › software › windows 10
PLEASE HELP I have WAY too many background processes | Tom's Hardware Forum
January 2, 2019 - #1 Go to your search function for ... individually enable a process/program you may need to have start. thanks and no thanks. my startup only has 70 background processes however, it still uses 100 CPU and 30 or 40 memory....
Reddit
reddit.com › r/windows10 › hello windows community :) is it normal to have so many background processes 2 minutes after startup?
r/Windows10 on Reddit: Hello Windows Community :) Is it normal to have so many background processes 2 minutes after startup?
January 29, 2023 - (While you can disable most, and I had Windows 10 installs with less than 70 processes after boot, it is normally not worth it and can have unwanted side effects, and you should not mess with Services if you don't knwo what you are doing)
Quora
quora.com › Why-are-there-so-many-background-processes-running-in-Windows
Why are there so many background processes running in Windows? - Quora
Normal behavior: A modern Windows installation with antivirus, cloud sync and common drivers running dozens of background processes is typical and not inherently problematic.
Windows Report
windowsreport.com › fix › laptop & pc › too many background processes running
How to Stop Background Apps and Processes in Windows 10 & 11
December 2, 2025 - Does your Windows Task Manager list loads of background processes? You need to reduce background processes to free up system resources.
Housing Innovations
dev.housing.arizona.edu › home › finces › how many background processes is normal for your computer to run smoothly
How Many Background Processes Is Normal for Your Computer to Run Smoothly - Housing Innovations
September 14, 2025 - Typical ranges include 50-100 idle processes and 100-200 during typical usage for Windows 10, 30-70 idle and 70-150 during usage for macOS, and 20-50 idle and 50-100 during usage for Linux.
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I have 224 processes running here.
There is no number that you *should* have. The number is irrelevant. The only thing that's important is *what* they are.
Are you having a problem with your computer's performance? If so, please describe the problem in detail. If not, don't worry about it.
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I currently have 176 processes, and my computer runs like a charm. There is no 'right' number - you have what you need. The whole idea behind processes is to break large programs in many small pieces known as processes, and then execute only the processes that are needed. This provides two great advantages: it helps your computer to run faster; and it reduces the possibility that an entire program will crash.
Eleven Forum
elevenforum.com › windows support forums › general support
Seems like too many Background Processes to me. Are there? | Windows 11 Forum
March 20, 2023 - If you’ve installed NVIDIA’s GeForce Experience software, you’ll see quite a few NVIDIA processes running in the background on your PC. We counted ten separate processes in our Windows Task Manager. But what do they all do? ... Okay, this is normal. Good to know!
Microsoft Learn
learn.microsoft.com › en-us › answers › questions › 2766293 › is-it-normal-to-have-97-background-processes
Is it normal to have 97 background processes? - Microsoft Q&A
December 4, 2017 - My laptop has 8gbs of RAM but the amount of background processes are sucking nearly 50% of it, so when I start using apps like browsers, or voice chat apps, it gets up between 70 and 80%, making my laptop fans loud, and hot.
TechPP
techpp.com › how-to guides › windows 11 › 8 ways to minimize background processes in windows 11 - techpp
8 Ways to Minimize Background Processes in Windows 11 - TechPP
March 31, 2024 - If you need to immediately kill ... that is causing the problem. Normally a Windows PC can run 60-90 background processes in addition to the usual system files, and under heavy workload this number can increase to 100-300 ...
MakeUseOf
makeuseof.com › home › windows › 9 windows processes you can end safely to improve performance
9 Windows Processes You Can End Safely to Improve Performance
September 29, 2022 - Some apps require a single process to work, while others might generate several. You could see 70 or 80 processes running immediately after boot, or you could see 200. The longer you use a computer, the more processes will be added.