Are you a gamer running Windows 11? Here’s Microsoft’s advice to speed up games
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Windows 11 has some tweaks to security settings that can help PC gamers get smoother frame rates, Microsoft has advised.
In a blog post (opens in new tab) spotted by Tom’s hardware (opens in new tab)instructs Microsoft on how to disable two features that provide better security for Windows 11 PCs, delivering better performance in games – with the trade off making your system more vulnerable to attack if this functionality is disabled.
The features in question are Memory Integrity (in Windows Security, Core Isolation) and the Virtual Machine Platform, known as VMP (under Windows Features). Both are simple switches (well, a slider and a checkbox, respectively) that can be turned off if desired.
Microsoft notes, “As part of ongoing testing and user feedback, Microsoft has seen that in some scenarios and some configurations of gaming devices, there may be a performance impact with Memory Integrity and VMP on.”
The company further notes, “Gamers who want to prioritize performance have the option to disable these features while gaming and re-enable them when they’re done playing. However, if the device is turned off, it could be vulnerable.” for threats.”
As Microsoft makes clear, Memory Integrity helps ensure that all installed drivers are fully signed and trustworthy, blocking one route for injecting malicious code that could use malicious types.
Analysis: How much performance hit are we talking about here?
Unfortunately, Microsoft doesn’t elaborate on what kind of impact on frame rates these two security features mentioned could have, and how much you could gain by disabling them (roughly – no doubt that will vary slightly based on all sorts of factors).
It’s average maybe not that much, judging by what we see anecdotally online. (Tom’s may be theorizing a 5% to 10% slowdown, though the latter end of that estimate would be more concerning — and the fact that Microsoft has admitted there’s a problem here also seems to suggest any impact isn’t entirely trivial) .
However, as noted, be careful about leaving these features permanently off, even if it’s a bit of a hassle to toggle VMP and Memory Integrity off and on again. At first glance, this task may seem like a matter of a few clicks in Settings, but the caveat is that you may need to restart the PC — and that’s when it can be a bit more tedious to turn these features off and On.
But if you only play a competitive shooter once a week and you absolutely crave the smoothest frame rates possible for those gaming sessions, it’s helpful to know what actions you can take in Windows 11. forget to roll back things afterwards.