Microsoft has revived the topic that has been a hot issue within the gaming community on PCs recently regarding Windows 11’s security capabilities. After Windows 11 launched, there was a ruckus from PC gamers over the security features that are disabled as a default feature in Windows 11. Particularly, Virtualization Based Security or VBS.
PC GamerS wEE furious when they saw an increase of 28% within Shadow of the Tomb Raider, but Windows 11 at the time was experiencing performance drops of up to 15% in certain instances; therefore, the results weren’t out of line.
Out Of the six games we tried, Assassin’s Creed Valhallareturned the most dramatic difference, with an astounding 4.5 percent increase with security features turned off. Uncharted Legacy of Thievessimilarly did not see a 2.8 percent increase, while far Cry 6 returned a 1.8 percent rise. Gears Tacticsshowed an increase of 4.6 percent ; however, the most impressive result was obtained with HVCI disabled.
What exactly is VBS?
Microsoft’s support guide gives instructions on how to disable Memory Integrity and Virtual Machine Platform (VMP). VBS has been regarded as the standard of Windows 11 security, but it’s an umbrella term that allows other security features that are available in Windows 11. Hypervisor-Enforced Cod Integrity (HVCI) is the most prominent feature and is enabled via VBS.
VBS takes a small amount of memory away from Windows and separates its operating system. It can host features such as HVCI, which check drivers before they are stored in memory. It can also verify the integrity of your code as you load apps, making sure that malicious programs don’t encase certain codes under the OS. VMP is an application that allows virtualization. Turning off the feature disables VBS for the computer. It’s not a major issue for the majority of people.
This VBS discussion is a little over a year old at the moment; however, Microsoft brought it back to the forefront with its support guide. It’s not a mistake however; it shouldn’t bother anyone else, also. New installs from Windows 11 don’t have HVCI disabled by default, only VBS. My data suggest that HVCI accounts for the majority of performance decreases (though some other benchmarks suggest VBS generally plays a part also).
Desktops that you purchase off the shelves could have HVCI disabled, in particular when they’re designed for gaming. Laptops, on the other hand, are likely to include HVCI activated. This is a great thing for login options, such as the fingerprint reader that laptops have. Like Microsoft’s Jeremy Chapman showed near Windows 11’s release and the absence of HVCI permits things as absurd as using the gummy bear as a way to authenticate fingerprint scanners.
If your gaming computer isn’t performing to the standard you’d like, you should consider looking into different options to get more performance from your PC without spending the money to buy new equipment. However, VBS isn’t on the list of priorities, even with Windows 11.
A small amount of data suggests that some Ryzen 7000 processors experience approximately a 15% decline in gaming performance because of how Windows handles multi-threading. This is a far more important issue rather than the tiny margins VBS could represent.
