Microsoft currently offers Windows without the need to pay a license to ensure user security. Anyone can install and use it without paying for it, just some features are disabled. There is an internal element called virtualization-based security (VBS) that helps protect the system against threats, but does it have an impact on the gaming performance?
In addition to making the operating system free and adding VBS, other measures have been implemented. One of the measures has been to force the TPM 2.0 module to exist in order to install the operating system. On the other hand, Windows Defender is considered one of the best antivirus today.
Virtualization Based Security (VBS)
What this technology does is use the virtualization of hardware and software to improve system security. In simpler terms, it creates an isolated environment independent of the operating system where different security solutions can be run.
Isolating the software from the host system prevents malicious software from causing damage or mishaps. Basically, we have a small fish tank inside a big fish tank that you can only enter. This allows you to safely manage any interaction that exists with the hardware and other applications.
The VBS system has a drawback and that is that it consumes system resources. This means that there is a small part of the computing power that is allocated to this virtualization process. But, you should know that modern processors are already designed with this factor in mind, so the impact on performance should be minimal.
Impact of VBS on Windows 11
The test was carried out with different virtualization functions disabled. Firstly, we must stop Hyper-Vso we will follow these steps:
- Write the term “Control Panel” in the Windows search engine and click on it once it appears.
- We have to access the “Programs” section.
- Now we have to enter “Programs and Features”.
- The next step is to click on “Turn Windows features on or off.”
- We will go down in the new window until we find the “Hyper-V” option and we will deactivate it, to do this we must remove the selection.
- We simply accept and close.
Now, we need to perform another step to completely disable the VBS feature. For this you must follow these steps:
- We write in the search engine “Core isolation” and click on the option that appears.
- Within the “Memory integrity” section we must verify that the position is “Disabled”. If it is activated, we simply deactivate and close, there is no need to do anything else
We can verify that it is deactivated simply in the search engine by entering the term “System information” and we enter. We look among the last options for the one that indicates “Security based on virtualization.” If it appears as “Not enabled” it indicates that the function is deactivated. Otherwise, we will have to repeat the previous processes.
Should I be worried when playing?
Surely reading that there is a small consumption of resources worries you, since you will think that you will find a loss in performance. At the end of the day, every FPS counts in the game. On the other hand, there are users whose system barely meets the minimum requirements and of course, a loss of performance, no matter how small, has a significant impact.
This virtualization process requires a certain amount of resources. The impact on the games will depend a lot on the capabilities of our team. Thus, the difference in performance will depend greatly on the capacity of our system.
The difference is not very big actually. The 3DMark Time Spy software with VBS shows a total result of 11,028 points and in graphics it shows a result of 10,478 points. Once deactivated, it shows a total result of 11,125 points and a graph score of 10,515 points.
We see that with VBS disabled, performance improves slightly, but the impact is minimal. The difference is so low that it is even negligible, since it will not make a difference in terms of playability.
