Desktop Window Manager: Optimize your PC and avoid high CPU usage! ⚡🖥️
Desktop Window Manager (DWM) is a legitimate Windows process developed by Microsoft. 🖥️ It's essential for creating the graphical user interface and allows Windows to use modern and attractive visual effects. In Windows 11, the visual effects are very advanced and detailed; therefore, this process can consume a considerable amount of CPU or GPU resources. ⚙️
Thanks to DWM, you can enjoy 3D animations, taskbar thumbnails, custom themes, vibrant wallpapers, and eye-catching transparency effects, enhancing your everyday viewing experience. 🌟
Why is Desktop Window Manager important?
The role of DWM in Windows is to compose each application's buffer to display all windows as a single desktop image.
To put it more simply, applications don't display windows directly on your screen; instead, they write data to various buffers in Windows memory.
DWM takes those buffers and merges them to display all the windows as a single image on the desktop.
Why does DWM consume so much RAM and CPU?
The process Desktop Window Manager It should use a minimal amount of RAM. If you find it's consuming too much CPU or memory, we share effective solutions to optimize it here.
1. Turn off visual effects
An easy way to free up resources consumed by DWM is to disable unnecessary visual effects in Windows.
From Performance Options, you can uncheck effects you don't need. This will reduce RAM and CPU usage and extend battery life on laptops.
If you want a detailed guide, check out our article on as Disable visual effects in Windows 11 to follow the step by step.
2. Turn off transparency effects
Another option to improve performance is to disable transparency effects. You can also use a still image as your desktop background to reduce resource usage.
- Right click on the desktop and select Personalize.
- Choose the tab Topics and select the Windows theme.
- Open Configuration and go to the section Accessibility.
- Under Accessibility, click on Visual Effects.
- Turn off the switch for the transparency effect.
3. Update your graphics drivers
Outdated graphics drivers can cause high CPU and RAM usage in Windows. To resolve this, update your drivers by following these simple steps.
1. Write Device Manager in search of Windows 11 and open it.
2. When the Device Manager opens, expand the section Display adapters.
3. Right click on your graphics driver and select Update driver.
4. In the window that appears, select Automatically search for updated drivers.
Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the driver update.
4. Update your Windows operating system
Just like with drivers, keeping Windows updated is key to good performance. We'll show you how to do it easily.
- Click on Windows search and open Configuration.
- Go to the section Windows Update.
- On the right side panel, press Check for updates.
Can Desktop Window Manager be malware?
Desktop Window Manager is a legitimate and safe process, it is not a virus or malware.
However, if you frequently download files or use torrents, it's recommended to run a full scan to rule out threats.
To verify if DWM is infected, check its location. Right-click dwm.exe in Task Manager and select Open file location.
The correct location should be C:\Windows\System32. If it's there, you PC is safe.
This article explains what dwm.exe, or Desktop Window Manager, is and what it does. Need more help? Leave your questions in the comments. 💬👇
