Edit: I forgot to mention that all of this I've learned on my own, via. Google, or otherwise from others... zero AI was utilized (I don't even trust AI).
Never play in the exclusive full screen mode; use windowed or borderless instead.
While many games perform better, it can cause games to bug out and crash. The reason for this is the "drawing context", or in simpler human terms, "where the program is drawing the game output to". When the game loses focus in any way, be it by
Note: If you get lag from being in borderless, change your screen's resolution to a lower size before playing (make sure that the game is using the same resolution too).
Make sure your OS is using 100% DPI scaling for every screen.
Some programs and games, especially old ones, are not DPI-aware, and thus will get chopped off on two sides of stuff, or otherwise will be blurry (especially for old games that are supposed to be pixelated, or emulators with graphics shaders / etc.). In Windows 10 and 11, this is within the new Windows Settings app -> System -> Display.
Note: While this will make everything look smaller once you change it to 100%, the change actually means your native screen resolution is actually now really what it should be in size instead of being a smaller size that is just getting upscaled with blur (150% would mean a 2x2 source of pixels becomes 3x3 pixels on the screen).
For games that you need the high frame rate, tell Windows to stop capping it.
By default, Windows 10 and 11 will frame rate cap any program not running in the exclusive full screen mode. To get around this, it is in the new Windows Settings app -> System -> Display -> Graphics (something similarly named in Windows 10). Add the game's main executable (and likely the launcher / crash handler / etc. too, unless you are certain they will not be ran by the game). Select the entry and make sure it is set to use the proper GPU (graphics card).
Note:I don't know what the per-program "Optimizations for windowed games" toggle does on Windows 11, so fiddle with it if necessary. Changes to these settings will apply immediately but will only be used for the next time the program starts up, meaning if you have the game / program running, fully quit out of it (properly, of course) and reopen it.
Random stutters no matter if gaming or not / programs acting up until you restart the computer
This is due to something in Windows 10 and 11. If you open up Task manager and go to where you see the RAM usage stats, you will notice that below the live graph there is a single bar graph... On the right of the colored blocks should be two empty blocks. The one on the left is for the part of memory called Standby RAM. This contains cached program code that is not being used by any program at that moment (meaning it was used but no program is needing it at all). Windows is horrible at managing this that not only does it cause system-wide lag spikes when a program needs some RAM (when the amount that is "Free" is low), Windows will often times corrupt this cache and make whatever program that part of the cache was supposed to be assigned with to act up, maybe not even start up (some of the programs in the cache are only ever ran once during the time you are turning the computer on and are not needed afterwards, but they stay in that code cache anyways... this includes "restart to finish install / uninstall / update" programs).
Note: What I use to fix this is a Windows batch script that doubles as its own C# source code (in the Reddit post I originally got it from, the link to the file is no longer valid)... the only issue is I am reluctant to share it at this time due to not being well-known on these forums (I'd probably share it if an admin or moderator would give the go-ahead).
Finally, I should mention about why programs on Windows 10 and 11 take so long to start up after you restart the computer, power on after a system update, etc.
The reason: This is due to every program getting its code cache recreated on the very first time the program is started that session. Every time after that while the device is powered on is going to be the expected normal time instead of a slow time. The reason why a normal power off does not make it slow down is because that isn't a normal power off, but actually a hybrid shutdown. This means that Windows takes that code cache, saves it to disk, and loads it back up when you turn on the computer.
I have my system to do true shutdowns every time, but due to growing up with computers being slow (long before Windows XP), I can handle the wait.
Never play in the exclusive full screen mode; use windowed or borderless instead.
While many games perform better, it can cause games to bug out and crash. The reason for this is the "drawing context", or in simpler human terms, "where the program is drawing the game output to". When the game loses focus in any way, be it by
Alt+Tab, or some other program taking focus, the Windows OS will minimize it and remove this drawing context without warning... figuratively like the phrase of "pulling the rug from under you" where you'd be standing but fall down when the rug is pulled so quickly.Note: If you get lag from being in borderless, change your screen's resolution to a lower size before playing (make sure that the game is using the same resolution too).
Make sure your OS is using 100% DPI scaling for every screen.
Some programs and games, especially old ones, are not DPI-aware, and thus will get chopped off on two sides of stuff, or otherwise will be blurry (especially for old games that are supposed to be pixelated, or emulators with graphics shaders / etc.). In Windows 10 and 11, this is within the new Windows Settings app -> System -> Display.
Note: While this will make everything look smaller once you change it to 100%, the change actually means your native screen resolution is actually now really what it should be in size instead of being a smaller size that is just getting upscaled with blur (150% would mean a 2x2 source of pixels becomes 3x3 pixels on the screen).
For games that you need the high frame rate, tell Windows to stop capping it.
By default, Windows 10 and 11 will frame rate cap any program not running in the exclusive full screen mode. To get around this, it is in the new Windows Settings app -> System -> Display -> Graphics (something similarly named in Windows 10). Add the game's main executable (and likely the launcher / crash handler / etc. too, unless you are certain they will not be ran by the game). Select the entry and make sure it is set to use the proper GPU (graphics card).
Note:I don't know what the per-program "Optimizations for windowed games" toggle does on Windows 11, so fiddle with it if necessary. Changes to these settings will apply immediately but will only be used for the next time the program starts up, meaning if you have the game / program running, fully quit out of it (properly, of course) and reopen it.
Random stutters no matter if gaming or not / programs acting up until you restart the computer
This is due to something in Windows 10 and 11. If you open up Task manager and go to where you see the RAM usage stats, you will notice that below the live graph there is a single bar graph... On the right of the colored blocks should be two empty blocks. The one on the left is for the part of memory called Standby RAM. This contains cached program code that is not being used by any program at that moment (meaning it was used but no program is needing it at all). Windows is horrible at managing this that not only does it cause system-wide lag spikes when a program needs some RAM (when the amount that is "Free" is low), Windows will often times corrupt this cache and make whatever program that part of the cache was supposed to be assigned with to act up, maybe not even start up (some of the programs in the cache are only ever ran once during the time you are turning the computer on and are not needed afterwards, but they stay in that code cache anyways... this includes "restart to finish install / uninstall / update" programs).
Note: What I use to fix this is a Windows batch script that doubles as its own C# source code (in the Reddit post I originally got it from, the link to the file is no longer valid)... the only issue is I am reluctant to share it at this time due to not being well-known on these forums (I'd probably share it if an admin or moderator would give the go-ahead).
Finally, I should mention about why programs on Windows 10 and 11 take so long to start up after you restart the computer, power on after a system update, etc.
The reason: This is due to every program getting its code cache recreated on the very first time the program is started that session. Every time after that while the device is powered on is going to be the expected normal time instead of a slow time. The reason why a normal power off does not make it slow down is because that isn't a normal power off, but actually a hybrid shutdown. This means that Windows takes that code cache, saves it to disk, and loads it back up when you turn on the computer.
I have my system to do true shutdowns every time, but due to growing up with computers being slow (long before Windows XP), I can handle the wait.
