2 min to read

RIP Mode: Temporary Gaming Mode Explained

RIP Mode is a temporary boost you switch on before playing and off afterwards. It is different from every other part of the app, because nothing it does is permanent.

What it does while it is on

It closes or suspends background programs, clears cached memory, and can stop the Windows desktop shell to free what that uses. You pick which of those you want.

What happens when you stop it

Everything comes back. This is the one part of the app you never need a restore point for.

The options

Background Apps: closes the programs quietly running behind your game
Clear Cached RAM: frees memory Windows is holding on to, up to around two gigabytes
Stop Explorer: stops the desktop and taskbar, up to around a hundred and fifty megabytes
Disable CPU 0: keeps your game off the processor core Windows uses most

How to use it

Choose your options, and optionally pick the game to launch

Tap Launch

Play.

Tap Stop when you are done

About stopping Explorer

Your desktop and taskbar will disappear while it is active. That is expected, not a crash. Your game and RIP Tweaks keep running, and everything returns when you stop RIP Mode.

If you close the app while it is running

Stop RIP Mode before closing, so it can put everything back. If you do end up with no taskbar, restarting your PC always restores it.

How much difference it makes

It depends entirely on what you had running. On a PC with a browser, a chat app and a launcher open it can free a lot. On a clean machine with nothing running there is little to free, and that is worth knowing before you expect a transformation.

Related: Presets and RIP Mode.